I know it's a commonplace around here, but I just have to vent.
I would like to meet the marketing people who expect me to believe that a 16-gallon ShopVac is 4 times more powerful than a $500 contractor's saw, which also is supposedly just a shade over half as powerful as my $50 skilsaw. Who the hell makes this stuff up?
That's all. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.
Sears has had more ways to sidestep specifications and other features than any distributor I can recall. Remember 'starting horsepower'? That is probably what started their credibility gap with us older farts. You never know what they are talking about.
If you're measuring electrical input power, then I've got a 4 horsepower kitchen toaster, and that doesn't even move. If you allow electricity wasted as heat into the calculation, then you can get some perverse measurements. As vacuums move a lot of air that they also use for cooling, they're usually designed to be woefully inefficient in the search for cheap power. It might even _be_ mechanically quite powerful
- some of them are, despite their small size and weight.
My table saw is not only rated at 3HP, that's real 3HP at almost any speed, without risk of burning out.
Me too. Perhaps you should understand more about horsepower ratings.
The purveyors of this stuff rate motorins things like the Shop Vac as the product of the maximum amperage times the maximum voltage. And, they don't worry about such niceties as temperature rise.
However, motors for machinery such as table saws are rated at the average power (which is 1/2 of what the above calculations show) and for an intermittent load. This load results in a temperature rise of 60F above ambient temperature. Thus, machinery motors are conservatively rated whereas those other are wildly optimisticall rated.
"RonB" wrote in news:_NDQg.1487$Go3.1277@dukeread05:
From RepairFAQ.orgs humour page: About Sears Shop Vac HP Ratings (From: Kevin AstirCS "1U" KO0B ( snipped-for-privacy@aquilagroup.com).) I note that air compressor manufacturers have taken after the vacuum sweeper folks, and are re-inventing the horsepower. Imagine, 6HP at 15A, 115VAC!
(From: sam).
Have you seen Sears shop vacs lately? I think they are also up to 6 HP. Every week or so, they seem to come out with one that is a little higher in their HP ratings - I guess internal cold fusion or something.
(From: Pin 2 Hot ( snipped-for-privacy@io.com).)
Let's see, RPM X Torque = Horsepower.
Thus: No-load RPM X Locked-rotor Torque = Sears Horsepower
Notes:
testing done at 177V DC, equal to peak of 120V AC (AC-DC motors).
Sears Horsepower: How "hoarse" you get trying to talk over one of their shop-vacs while it's on.
Or maybe it's got something to do with vacuuming performance out at the stables.
formula: HP = T * RPM / 5252 (T in lb/ft). Thus T = (HP*5252)/RPM
Let us assume that the peak HP is at 4000 RPM (induction engine), this means that to generate 3 HP, the ST will need around 4 lb /ft of torque. with a 10 " blade (5" radius), this mesures to 9.5 lbs at the teeth...
same calculation: .7 lbs /ft of torque on the router, with a 1/2 radius bit, this is 17 lbs of pressure at the teeth...
yep, directly proportional... note, it is easier to make a fast spining engine have high power than a slow spining engine as less power torque needs to be generated...
the overall weight of the cutter is negligeable compared with the weight distribution (ie: how far from the axis is the weight).
note, 1 HP = 745 W and 1 W = 1 V*A so if your tool is rated to draw up to
15A at 120V = 1800W = 2.4HP, you know, that, because of various losts in heat, friction and the fact that this is a maximum that probably never gets reached, the tool is capable of at max 2.4HP, and likely to be much closer to 1/2 to 3/4 of that value.
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