homemade air filter

[tellittojake]

Just made an easy to make air filter for a small shop- for low dollars and it works great. Lowes is clearancing an air blower (found near the shopvacs) that is blue in color, and was only 37.00. It is pretty powerful and quiet. The air intake is on the side, I simply purchased a shopvac air filter that is sold for thier small shop air cleaner (found that filter at Menards) and used a bunge to hold it in place. When the unit is running the suction also keeps keep it in place. The airfilter comes with a cap for one end, so when the other end is placed over the air blower intake, it seals with its rubber gasket and it is closed on the top. It is sufficiently large enough to let sufficient air enter the blower, so it does not slow down. The filter comes with a foam sleeve to act as a prefilter and the pleated paper filter does the rest. That filter was only 18.00. The other side of the blower is where the motor is-I simply did the same thing to cover that opening with a good quality shop vac filter used in shopvac vacuums (not the other filter used in thier air cleaner). I had to cut a small hole in the smaller filter at the bottom to fit over the wire to motor-no big deal. It is quiet, has strong air flow, uses the same filter as the 125.00 shop vac air cleaner and cost half the total price. It is light in weight and when I buy a better unit, I will keep it running closer to the tools, to gather the larger particles that are airborne. I am setting up a shop, so every dollar counts, as I have been buying many items. Sorry for no picture but I am not too computer savy. If you take a look at the blower at Lowes, what I described will be pretty easy to visualize. The blower is a plastic box with the air intakes on the sides, simply covered with the cylinders filters, the larger filter over the actual air intake and smaller filter over the motor.

[ragswl4]

Just made an easy to make air filter for a small shop- for low dollars and it works great. Lowes is clearancing an air blower (found near the shopvacs) that is blue in color, and was only 37.00. It is pretty powerful and quiet. The air intake is on the side, I simply purchased a shopvac air filter that is sold for thier small shop air cleaner (found that filter at Menards) and used a bunge to hold it in place. When the unit is running the suction also keeps keep it in place. The airfilter comes with a cap for one end, so when the other end is placed over the air blower intake, it seals with its rubber gasket and it is closed on the top. It is sufficiently large enough to let sufficient air enter the blower, so it does not slow down. The filter comes with a foam sleeve to act as a prefilter and the pleated paper filter does the rest. That filter was only 18.00. The other side of the blower is where the motor is-I simply did the same thing to cover that opening with a good quality shop vac filter used in shopvac vacuums (not the other filter used in thier air cleaner). I had to cut a small hole in the smaller filter at the bottom to fit over the wire to motor-no big deal. It is quiet, has strong air flow, uses the same filter as the 125.00 shop vac air cleaner and cost half the total price. It is light in weight and when I buy a better unit, I will keep it running closer to the tools, to gather the larger particles that are airborne. I am setting up a shop, so every dollar counts, as I have been buying many items. Sorry for no picture but I am not too computer savy. If you take a look at the blower at Lowes, what I described will be pretty easy to visualize. The blower is a plastic box with the air intakes on the sides, simply covered with the cylinders filters, the larger filter over the actual air intake and smaller filter over the motor.

Sounds like you came up with a good alternative for an air cleaner. Any change we could see pics and a list of parts with SKU? Thanks.

[ssmith1627]

I second that -- I'd love to see some pics of your setup. Something like that, with a low cost -- you might even put more than one in your shop to help scrub the air in different locations.

Steve

[THyman]

I would also like to see pictures of this.

[LCHIEN]

I would also like to see pictures of this.

If you bought a room air blower (with a squirrel cage blower and designed to clear out a room of moisture or smoke etc) then its probably capable of moving quite a bit of air, like 100s of CFM as an air cleaner should. They are not capable of dealing with a lot of pressure loss.

If you bought a shop vac filter to act as your main filter, than it may be pretty restrictive and good for only 50 CFM of a shop vac and may severely restrict your blower if all the air is funneled thru it as it should be. A larger area filter like the expensive (e.g $5) furnace filters that they advertize to remove 99% of fine particulates might be better suited... you'll have to make a large intake grille for this. Maybe 12" x 24" or the next smaller size down would be suited.

remember the objective of a shop air cleaner is to have enough flow rate filter all the shop air 6-10 times per hour so you get all the stuff floating around.

[ssmith1627]

I've seen the plans in some of the mags for a filter built this way. Some even use 2-3 filters stacked at the inlet end of a box, the blower in the middle and another filter on the exhaust end.

How effective are they ? Any idea ? It seems like you'd filter the same air over and over more than cleaning all the air in the shop. Would it not mostly pull the same air back in in a loop ? What can be done to get air moving around the whole shop to give the filter a chance to scrub it ?

Maybe part of it is the location of the filter box itself ? Almost seems like you'd want to duct the exhaust air to the other side of the shop so you'd create a big loop instead of a small one. But that in itself would provide friction and slow down the movement of the air. A blower at each end possibly ?

Interesting stuff to discuss. I have my HF DC. And I have a Shark Guard on the way for my contractor's saw. But I'd like to do even more to clean the air I'm breathing every day.

Steve

[Russianwolf]

well, I'm going to have to look for a new one now. Noticed the home-made one I have isn't working anymore the other day. Made it with a gable vent fan.

I really want something that will move alot of air.

[cgallery]

The thing that intrigues me about this design is the usefullness for a shop that already has some settled dust. You could aim it at dusty areas (like shelves) and allow it to kick up said dust. As the dust goes airborne, the filter gets a chance to trap it.

I'm guessing this is one of those units they use for drying floors?

[ssmith1627]

The thing that intrigues me about this design is the usefullness for a shop that already has some settled dust. You could aim it at dusty areas (like shelves) and allow it to kick up said dust. As the dust goes airborne, the filter gets a chance to trap it.

I sure wouldn't want to be in the room during that process !

The dust has to get into the air to settle everywhere else. So obviously the best thing is to catch it at the tool as it's created instead of letting it escape into the air. But some of it does escape so it's figuring out the best way to scrub the air in the shop over and over.

What do the commercial shops do ? The lumber mill I've been to had a dozen Grizzly DC's sitting around. But do they do more to scrub the air in there ? Do they use their A/C units / furnaces to clean the air ?

Great discussion guys. I hope we can keep it going.

Steve

[cgallery]

I sure wouldn't want to be in the room during that process !

Steve

Yeah, the idea is turn it on and run.

[ironhat]

I've been using a box fan on a rolling stand with two filters. I have a coarse, fiberglass filter first and then, a 3-M filter (can't recall what mic size I went with). I move it to the worksite in the shop as the need arises and it's aparent by the build up on the filters that it's pulling dust so it's a shade better than nothing - but, at least it's something for the time being.