Lasercutter air-filter

So, I've built a CoreXY- frame, and put a little laser in it. I am looking for a simple air filtration system to suck away the smokey air and filter out carcinogens.

I've been looking in different stores at their air filtration systems and have found out that a lot of these systems use pellets of activated carbon. Currently I am converting a storage canister to an apparatus that can hold these pellets inside with a removable rack inside that holds the pellets.

There are a lot of different ways to do this, so I'm wondering if anyone has made a specific small air-filter for these kind of applications? It has to fit within the box that I'm using to cut it, which is roughly 360x360x360 on the outside.

Will update with pictures when I'm coming closer to a usable design. Also, I don't have that much knowledge of sucking up air, in terms of cm3 needed to get most of the smoke. I'm thinking of having a small diameter suction-pipe hanging down from the X-carriage close to the material that is being cut, to suck the smoke directly from where it is being released.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Meanwhile I've made a few test tubes, but nothing that works well enough yet. I have serious trouble generating enough air pressure to pump up the air and 'force' it through the activated carbon.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Just wanted to say, I managed to make it work with a new kind of extra-ultra absorbant activated charcoal. I put it in stockings and put it in a pipe. On the top the air enters, on the bottom where the clean air should come, I have an axial fan, and directly on the axial fan, a radial fan. So the opening of the radial fan sucks on the output end of the axial fan. This creates some kind of ultra-suction situation and the machine now wonderfully sucks up all the smoke from my laser cutter.

I have made a fume hood that hangs over the area that is being cut by the laser. So the smoke is sucked away directly from where it is created. With 3 silicon tubes (small ones for flexibility) I transport the smoke from below the X-carriage to the filter unit that hangs on the back of the machine.

You can watch it here:
[www.youtube.com]

There is almost no smell left. Depending on the material being cut. If the material is a bit porous, the smoke will 'hang' below the material a bit, which will cause light smelling when the material is removed after cutting.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Have a look here:
[www.sawmillcreek.org]

Uses peletized activated charcoal, cut-yourself furnace filter and finally a HEPA filter. Details on build and information for sourcing materials are scattered throughout the thread.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2015 03:06PM by Wolfie.

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If You Can Read, Thank A Teacher. If You Can Read It In English, Thank A Veteran That's what you do in a herd: you look out for each other. - Manny from Ice Age

New to 3D printing, not new to 3D or tinkering. LulzBot Taz 5 Generic Chinese 50w 300x500 Laser Cutter/Engraver (Ebay:171066211150) Corel X7, Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, Modo, Hexagon, Bryce, Poser

Hi Wolfie, thanks, as you can see, in my third reply I show that I managed to make one by myself Also using superactivated charcoal. Great stuff!

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Yes, I saw you made one. I also saw you were having some troubles with some smell left. If there is smell, there may well be hazardous fumes. I thought you might want to look at the thread I posted to get additional ideas to improve your design.

And since you didn't say where you were getting your charcoal, I thought you might want to see where he got his charcoal and compare prices. You WILL be replacing yours once its expended.

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If You Can Read, Thank A Teacher. If You Can Read It In English, Thank A Veteran That's what you do in a herd: you look out for each other. - Manny from Ice Age

New to 3D printing, not new to 3D or tinkering. LulzBot Taz 5 Generic Chinese 50w 300x500 Laser Cutter/Engraver (Ebay:171066211150) Corel X7, Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, Modo, Hexagon, Bryce, Poser

Ahhh, okay, good. Thanks.

To be exact, I used this charcoal:
[www.hsaqua.eu]

It's very good. The smell is still almost nonexistent. I have built a better fume hood now and it's completely sucking up all smoke.

Will improve when needed. When I start cutting plastics I will instead create a fume hood that moves the air to outside of my house.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

I have a 50w CO2 laser so mine is quite a bit more powerful than yours which appears to be a diode based laser. I cut plywood, paper, fiber board, mdf as well as various plastics. I also engrave anodized metals and also use Cermark products to mark steel and other metals.

My laser is in a steel cabinet due to the deadly high voltage involved in a CO2 laser tube. It has a 6" inline fan in the back that came with it but its wholly incapable of evacuating the cabinet. I had scavenged a squirrel cage fan I rescued from an old furnace unit and mounted in a wood box and is facing out a basement window some years back. I use it when I am spraying wood finishes, paints and other fume generating chemicals indoors. The bottom opens so the fumes can draft up and out. I cut a hole in the end and made a damper for it. This connects to my laser cabinet using 6" vent hose. With the bottom of the box closed the cage fan easily pulls all the smoke and fumes out of the laser cabinet.

The problem with this method is that for every cubic foot of air that pushes out, a cubic foot of air must be drawn into the basement (house). Right now its 10f outside. Doesn't take long to drop that basement temp down to the point its damn cold in there. I am going to make one of these recirculating filters for winter use and use the exhaust fan for spring/fall and maybe summer and as a backup if i need it.

FYI, for you folks about to panic about the fire hazard of paint fumes and motors...the motor is external to the fan and is mounted outside the box. It turns the fan via a shaft and pulley so its not inline with the flammable vapors.

I wish you well with the project. Keep the thread informed with your progress on your filter. I am quite sure others will be intrigued as am I. I love to look at other's designs and builds and draw ideas from them.

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If You Can Read, Thank A Teacher. If You Can Read It In English, Thank A Veteran That's what you do in a herd: you look out for each other. - Manny from Ice Age

New to 3D printing, not new to 3D or tinkering. LulzBot Taz 5 Generic Chinese 50w 300x500 Laser Cutter/Engraver (Ebay:171066211150) Corel X7, Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, Modo, Hexagon, Bryce, Poser