My low budget air cleaner

[snipershot]

I have a pretty good dust collection system, but i still notice that i cough more when i work in my shop, so i decided to make an air cleaner. Im not sure how effective it will be, but i noticed after about 10 minutes of running it, the back filter was turning black, so i think its gonna work pretty well.

Joe

 

[GBCues]

The problem is that AC filter will let the finer dust through and back into the air in your shop and into your lungs.

IMHO you need a cyclone air cleaner of some type to spin the fines out of the air and even then exhaust it all outside if possible.

My 2 cents

Gary

 

[RBC]

I'm sorry to tell you, but your setup won't really filter out the dust that's making you cough. It's the fine stuff that causes the problems, and they will go right through those filters.

As Gary mentioned, a good cylcone is a useful addition to a good dust collection system, but it's not the only part.

We make a lot of dust. Over the years, I've fought dust collection and tried many different things. Most of which didn't work as well as I'd hoped they would.

Here's the cliff notes version of what I've come up with:

1. Collect all dust and chips that you can at the point of creation. Use hoods and router boxes and lots of air flow. Air flow is huge! You have to have enough to keep the fine dust from escaping and enough to keep the bigger chips in suspension.

2. Use a really good cyclone. The cyclone will separate the chips out so they don't plug up your filters. A really good cyclone will also separate much of the fine dust, keeping it from plugging your filters.

3. Use high quality filters. Down to microns! They're not cheap, but if you keep a good cyclone running they won't plug up too fast.


Obviously, not everyone creates as much dust as we do. However, everyone should take the steps necessary to control the fine dust in their shop. It's bad for you, and the stuff gets everywhere!

Good reading: http://billpentz.com/

 

[Sport666]

Joe check out this company, http://www.oneida-air.com/ The dust deputy is a good start. Thanks Frank

 

[Dirtbmw20]

You must be bored. You've been getting "creative" lately with your inventions,lol.
Nice work, those little fans USE to be pretty cheap at Lowes and Home Depot, last time I looked Lowes had quit selling them. Nice job !!!

 

[cueman]

I quit using filters and pipe the dust out the wall.

Something I am curious about is what would happen if you had a cyclone to catch chips and then sent the air through a half full drum of water. The reason I bring this up is a Rainbow vacuum cleaner salesman once showed me under really bright light how much dust came through my vacuum cleaner filter and how little dust came out the exhaust of the water filtered Raimbow. Having to drain it every few days and refill it might be a pain. But it might save the heat and cooling as I lose a lot of air pumping my fine dust out the wall.

 

[RBC]

Chris

That's an idea I have considered a few times.

My concern is that you really have to diffuse the air into really small bubbles, and can still get much of the fine dust to come out the other end. It's just carried out inside the bubbles.

I too have seen the rainbow and it seemed to work very well. But you can't see the small dust that might be getting through.

My Bill Pentz design cyclone will separate down to a few microns at a pretty high efficiency. The only trouble I have is one of my machines makes a long stringy chip that can make it's way through the cyclone and plug up the filters. In an ideal world, I'd have 2 cyclones. One right after the other so anything that gets through the first will be caught in the second and keep my filters clean for a long time.

It'd be nice to pump it outside, but I pay too much to control the environment already. If I pumped it outside several times a day it would just be that much more.

Royce

 

[snipershot]

I know its not an ideal setup, but its better than nothing. I figure if i use it along with my dust collector, it will reduce the amount of dust in the air. Those fans move quite a bit of air. If it fails miserably, oh well, im only out about $20, since i had the fans already. I bought the fans off ebay a while back and used them to suck out the fumes and overspray when i shot auto clear. Since i dont use auto clear anymore, they were just laying around. It may not be perfect, but every little bit helps when it comes to saving your lungs.

Joe

 

[JoeyInCali]

I have a Dust Deputy and VacuMaid sucking dust from my taper machine .
That's where 90% of my dust comes from. The two work great.
I have a long hose too from the Deputy .
When I'm parting phen rings , I get the spout near the phen.

 

[Paul Dayton]

At the very least, get the best HEPA filter at Home Depot. I've taped one in front of the intake on my window air conditioner and it needs changing every month or so. The A/C itself stays pretty clean.

 

[GBCues]

I too have a Dust Deputy powered by a Ridgid 14 gal shop vac with a HEPA filter installed. I did some research on the Ridgid shop vacs a while back and discovered that the 14G (at the time) pulled more air (highest CFM) than any of the others, including the 16's. In addition it has the SNR (Scroll Noise Reduction) which helps.
I have a variety of hoods to hook to the shop vac hose to collect at the source.
It seems to work pretty well judging by the fine powder collected in the bottom of the Dust Deputy and the lack of much of anything on the HEPA filter.
I also have a large-ish bathroom exhaust fan to the outside I use when I notice a lot of sawdust suspended in the air.
But the problem is the stuff that is really bad for you can't be seen, so I'm not claiming this is the perfect setup, but it's mine.

Joe, is there any way you could use your DIY filter as a first stage and exhaust to the outside? If the ceiling joists in your shop are exposed, you can make a simple duct with metal flashing across two of them and a hole in the side of the house. Cover up the hole with a rodent screen. But your setup may not allow for that. Just a suggestion.

Gary

 

[meridianblades]

Nice work Joe.... Here's another cheap alternative. Lots of variations on how to hold the filter to the box fan but this solution seems to work pretty well.
Cheap box fan < $20.... GOOD filters. (not that the one in the pic is that "good" but you get the idea)
Lot of guys will have this hung from the ceiling and on a switch so when the lights are on the fan is on low.

Does a surprisingly good job.

 

[snipershot]

I too have a Dust Deputy powered by a Ridgid 14 gal shop vac with a HEPA filter installed. I did some research on the Ridgid shop vacs a while back and discovered that the 14G (at the time) pulled more air (highest CFM) than any of the others, including the 16's. In addition it has the SNR (Scroll Noise Reduction) which helps.
I have a variety of hoods to hook to the shop vac hose to collect at the source.
It seems to work pretty well judging by the fine powder collected in the bottom of the Dust Deputy and the lack of much of anything on the HEPA filter.
I also have a large-ish bathroom exhaust fan to the outside I use when I notice a lot of sawdust suspended in the air.
But the problem is the stuff that is really bad for you can't be seen, so I'm not claiming this is the perfect setup, but it's mine.

Joe, is there any way you could use your DIY filter as a first stage and exhaust to the outside? If the ceiling joists in your shop are exposed, you can make a simple duct with metal flashing across two of them and a hole in the side of the house. Cover up the hole with a rodent screen. But your setup may not allow for that. Just a suggestion.

Gary

Its kinda hard to tell from the pics i posted, but there are actually 2 filters on my setup. One is a cheaper one on the intake side to catch the bigger stuff, and the better micron filter is on the output side to catch the rest. I thought about doing an exhaust through the wall, but the trouble with that is that my heaters are struggling to keep my shop at 70 degrees right now, and if i start sucking the air out, the heat will go with it. I noticed that when i piped out my overspray when i had my spray booth set up. I will probably end up with a real air cleaner, but i just thought id share an easy way to make something that will improve the air quality in a shop. Like i said, i know its not a perfect idea, but for a quick, easy, and cheap solution, it will work. I might add another filter or two to it though, the air flow going through the filters is pretty powerful.

Joe

 

[pescadoman]

Keep an eye on CL. Ones like these come up occasionally for 100-200.

I bought 2 for 100.00 a piece and saw a few more..

http://www.amazon.com/708620B-AFS-1000B-Filtration-Electrostatic-Pre-Filter/dp/B00004R9LO

 

[venison-slayer]

air cleaner

this is how I control the dust in my basement and it works great
the green filter collects the bigger stuff and the 10x30x2 collects the finer dust shop vac the stuff that falls to the floor. I also have a 6 inch duct that goes outside for the finer stuff.