Could you do the same thing with just vacuum cleaners?
Aside from all the bearing issues, why not take a smaller vacuum cleaner, like a small 1 gal. shop vac with a 1" hose, gut the motor, and drive the impeller using a larger shop vac? Would the increase in air volume increase the smaller ones speed? Would the low tolerances and higher clearaces in the vacuum (compaired to the turbo) even work? Some cheap house hold vacs suck through the impeller (the clattering sound I hear when I clean up around the litter box!), if it would work you would not have to worry as much about the dust going through it. Of course it would not be very heavy duty, but could make a cheap (and self cleaning) spindle for a small diy engraver. With some upgraded bearings it might not be much worse than a dremel.
I have some dead ones around the shop and might give it a test if I have time to dig though my junk. |