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Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:27 pm
by bdring

Re: Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:27 pm
by ril3y
Image
Cut some new filter's frames last night. I only did it 2x 1/8 = 1/4" deep. However. I am thinking that 1" deep would add a lot more carbon and in turn be much more productive. Will update:

Check my blog for my build log.
http://blog.synthetos.com/diy-laser-fum ... or-part-1/

Re: Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:31 am
by bdring
It looks great so far.

What format is the carbon in? Is it basically loose granular carbon trapped between window screens?

Re: Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:10 am
by Ben
Can the air be properly filtered/cleaned using only activated carbon? Most industrial air purifiers for laser fumes use a number of filters including the activated carbon filter.

Re: Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:15 am
by lasersafe1
Ben wrote:Can the air be properly filtered/cleaned using only activated carbon? Most industrial air purifiers for laser fumes use a number of filters including the activated carbon filter.


No Way. Poison gasses cannot be properly filtered by this contraption. Vent outside to poison the birds, bees, Bambi, etc. Better them than you!

Re: Fume Extractor Filter/Cleaner

PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:53 am
by bodgeit
Hope this helps some of you.

About a year or so ago I was active watching and started to build my own laser cutter.. Shortly after I was lent a Laser cutter with a Re-cycling air filter.

So what is in a recycling air filter.. and things Ive done to save on filter costs..

First stage filtering consists of a cloth concertina filter that is made from thick white cloth. it has 10 concertina sections each the size of a 12" LP sleeve these are joined at the centre with about a 3" hole.

This first stage is to remove the heavy dust Cutting MDF & Plywood tends to clog this filter they are expensive to replace.. First idea to clean it was to hover it out with a Dy-son hover this worked well.

Note 1 a Dy-son Cyclone hover removed the dust from the filter... So I made myself a pre-filter filter from an old skipped Dy-son DC01 hover (just the cyclone and dust chamber parts).

While laser cutting the pre-filter filter the cloth concertina filter got clogged up again.. so in for a penny or £250 for a new concertina bag I pooped it in the washing machine at 40C non fast coloureds 120 min wash cycle later and another 20 or so in the tumble dryer out pops a brand new looking filter as clean as a bell. The filters in the recycling filter were dated 2007 so must have been well used.

The next filter to need attention was the micro filter.. This consist of a 12" cube once opened it revealed a 12" x 12" x 2" paper air filter identical in design to a standard Carbareta air filter just they are the size you would expect to see in a lorry not a car. Above this air filter is an Aluminium mesh then a Fine material layer followed by 3mm diameter x 6mm long charcoal bits followed by another Fine material layer and another Aluminium mesh. The quantity of Charcoal did not look as big as it turned out to be it was 2 full garden buckets. Owing to the design of the micro filter you have to take out the Charcoal to replace the paper air filter. or to hover the air filter out and clean it. I'v not yet found a 12" x 12" x 2" replacement air-filter yet..
My thoughts are to recreate my own 12"x 12" x 12" filter cube when this next gets blocked. by making the paper air filter from several car air filters arranged on a laser cut frame to give the same 12" x 12" filter area. The only thing I've not managed to find yet is how to get approximately 300 or 400 years of artist broken charcoal bits to fill the top half of the filter.

The air is sucked through the filter at 50mm of vacuum not quite sure what 50mm of vacuum is as last time I looked vacuum was measured in Tore.. by the by having the 50mm of Vacuum means there is no need for Air assist on this 13 year old 50W laser cutter when cutting 10mm perspex MDF or Plywood.

Note 2 The recycling Air filter uses 50% more power than the laser cutter.. Laser cutter spec sheet says 1kw the recycling Air filter Spec sheet says 1.5 KW...

Note 3 A recycling air filter makes the room far too hot so I had to laser cut a strap on box to connect a vent pipe to vent the very hot filtered air outside. The internal temperature of the air filter is on average 30-38C according to its control panel LCD guess this is OK on a factory floor but in a domestic room far to hot!!