Blower motor baffle?

[Dill]

Ok so I got a new blower from an HVAC guy in town. Its a monster though 1/3 hp instead of the 1/5 that I used to throttle down with a reostat.
So I was going through all the pages on blowers and I noticed that a baffle is recomended instead of a reostat.
So in order to choke down the intake should I put sheet metal over the sides of the cage? I have it "missing" part of the arch intake right now but its creating some windy side effects in the sugar house and I need to reduce it a bit further.

[Flat47]

I've used both, and currently use a sliding cover over the blower intake on the old Grimm. Either a rheostat or intake cover will work, and an intake cover is easier to wire than a rheostat! I've seen guys use a scrap of plywood held in place with a brick. It all works.

[jd maple]

I recommend covering the intake sides of the blower housing. If you have some scrap sheat metal around try cutting it larger than the blower opening . Cut a slot in the middle of the covers large enough for the shaft. Use a self tapping screws to attach the covers in place. try and see where the best place to screw the covers buy testing them. You can completly cover one side and play with the other side. What ever works. Don't worry this will not hurt the motor or the blower, actually you will reduce the amps the motor will draw less air = less amps.

[RileySugarbush]

If your new motor has ball bearings a reostat controler is ok but if the motor has sleeve bearings the motor should operate at full speed.

I agree with the inlet damper, that is how I regulate flow in my rig and it works great. However, I don't understand where you are coming from on the bearings. Why would that matter????

[Dill]

Thanks for the help on this guys.
I screwed 2 sheets of metal roofing onto the blower basically blocking off the lower half of it. Probably I could open it up a little, but now I can feed the rig without shutting it down. And still burn large chunks.