Hi Phil, just joined and read the entire forum. Thanks for the effort you have put in on this subject. Now the question. Appears you've had experience with both the HF motor/blowers. The universal motor powered 1hp, and the 2hp induction. I'll be going down to the local HF tomorrow to purchase one or the other and while I think the smaller one will suit my needs, as most everything I own has 2 1/2" dust ports, I'm a bit concerned with the apparent excessive noise level. A. Is it really that loud? B. Will the 2hp unit work OK with a primarily 2 1/2" system. I already have the chip collector built that I have been using with a shopvac that works pretty darn good, but will install your baffle set-up when I'm switching blower/motor units. Again, thanks for all your time and effort on this project. I'll post pics when it's done. Don Inghram.
(A) Yes, it really is that noisy. It is about as loud as any universal-motor device you may have (shop vac, router, etc.). I think a muffler on the output would help a lot, but that universal motor and gearing is still quite noisy.
(B) No, the unit with the induction motor doesn't pull very well through a network of 2.5" pipe.
If you're using 2.5" ports, I think I'd probably just suggest staying with a shop vac.