This above question is in line with what I'm trying to get to. When I asked Bill Pentz about the possible advantage of using the CVMAX over the CV1800 (in order to get the best solution even if it costed me a bit more) this was his reply:
"Your ideal setup would be a CV-1800 cyclone body with CV-Max 16" blower. This gives the best separation and airflow combination. Then use all 8" horizontal mains, all 6" down drops, then each machine needs hoods and ports that total to close to the same cross sectional area of a 6" duct meaning 28.25 square inches. Printing hoods and ports sounds like fun and one of those too many things I would like to try. Let me know how it goes. "
The biggest thing that puzzles me about this is the fact that the CV1800 only has a 6" opening. However, this is what I'm thinking at this point, especially after receiving the first response above. Since the 16" blower is so strong, the motor driving it may need to see a certain load, or it could burn up. Hence, my assumption for needing to keep two gates open when using the CVMAX even if you are only using one tool. So, maybe using the 16" blower with the 6" opening of the CV1800 "loads" it enough to prevent burn out of the motor. The more I think about this the more I'm incline to follow Bill's advice in the quote above. I'd like to hear cvcsupport's view on this. Namely, the idea of better performance using the 16" blower, with the CV1800, with 8" horizontal mains, 6" down drops, and only one gate open at a time.