Exhaust fans in the shop.

[Toyota_Jim]

What do you guys use? I thought i thought of everything for the shop but I was welding today and realized i need some sort of exhaust fan to get the fumes out.. Not something drafty or suck all my heat out(its 20 out now)

[indulf]

i use a standard fart fan with a residential boot taped over the intake and a length of flex hose directed to where i need it..

small, but it works good enough for me.

[sparky2]

I know they can be had cheaper if you shop around, but I ordered the 10" louver fan for near the welding area from grainger and I love it.

[K2Orion]

I'm getting ready to remodel my kitchen and the hood over the range is an old 1 that actually vents outside. I'm gonna put it in the garage above the workbench for a light/vent. Not sure if that helps you though, unless you wanna get a newer 1 with a microwave in it to make burritos while your welding.

"i use a standard fart fan with a residential boot taped over the intake and a length of flex hose directed to where i need it.."

I'm definitely gonna use the boot/vent hose idea so the fumes don't gotta go past my head first.

[glfredrick]

Find an old furnace blower fan. They generally run on 2 speeds - are quiet - and free... Easy to plumb into a wall (they fit between studs) and you just need to run 120 power to them. Further, you can stick a dryer duct flange over the intake side and use some of the flexible aluminum tubing to make a purpose driven vent over the welding table...

[teajay]

I use a furnace blower fan also. Neighbor was a HVAC contractor, so I just asked for one. They're widely available for free, and they're handily 110V.

Most are 2 speed minimuim. Lots are 5 or 6 speed. Just keep trying different terminals till you get the speed you want.

Since I live in socal, I just exaust the whole shop, and open the door. Mine is mounted in the rafters and exausts out a whirlybird. hehe... the whirlybird looks like it's goin about 4000 rpm when the fan's on.

[jasonmt]

Something like this in 4" with some flex hose sucking close to the arc, you can use a standard exhaust vent for the wall penetration. Better than a big blower (furnace or other) blowing $$$ out the wall in cold weather. Under $50 new for all of the parts you need.


Lincoln and others make these but you have the cost of the extractor ($1500) and filters ($150) to contend with.

[PTSchram]

I'm always worried about sucking the shield gas from around the weld.

Box fans from Wal-Mart are cheap and disposable

[cybergeek23851]

Originally Posted by glfredrick

Find an old furnace blower fan. They generally run on 2 speeds - are quiet - and free... Easy to plumb into a wall (they fit between studs) and you just need to run 120 power to them. Further, you can stick a dryer duct flange over the intake side and use some of the flexible aluminum tubing to make a purpose driven vent over the welding table...

That is probably the easiest and most modifiable ( add on extra tubing, fans, etc for an extraction system) next to a walmart fan.

[TLCObsession]

Originally Posted by glfredrick

Find an old furnace blower fan. They generally run on 2 speeds - are quiet - and free... Easy to plumb into a wall (they fit between studs) and you just need to run 120 power to them. Further, you can stick a dryer duct flange over the intake side and use some of the flexible aluminum tubing to make a purpose driven vent over the welding table...

Its what I have. I made it flexible so that I can use it anywhere for now.

3 speed switches are cheap, and as someone mentioned it is nice not to worry about sucking the shielding gas away from a weld, but it is nice to speed it up to suck paint fumes out of the show.

I also scavenged the exhaust hood from my upcoming remodel - I figured I would toss the fan, run duct to my furnace fan and make a little hooded box for rattle canning and other small messy jobs.

I was thinking about adding one of those cyclonic trash can tops you can get from Grizzly - It would be great for wood working, and I bet it would drop all the grinding crap into the can instead of shooting it outside onto my apple tree! It would likely also prolong the life of the fan.

Jim

[kwrangln]

I may have gone a little overboard in my shop.

5'x9' smoke hood fabbed out of sheetmetal, 16" duct.



Powered by a 3HP squirrel cage fan.


Controller for the fan also opens the louvers in the roof, seprate circut for 2 explosion proof caged lights under the hood. Welding shield hangs from the back side so someone else can work in the shop while I'm welding. I only use it when stick welding, cutting, so there isnt any problem with shielding gas. Mig and Tig are cleaner processes anyway.

Of course this isnt in my garage since I dont have one, but some ideas if you have a dedicated area you do your fab work in.

[cybergeek23851]

Originally Posted by TLCObsession

Its what I have. I made it flexible so that I can use it anywhere for now.

3 speed switches are cheap, and as someone mentioned it is nice not to worry about sucking the shielding gas away from a weld, but it is nice to speed it up to suck paint fumes out of the show.

I also scavenged the exhaust hood from my upcoming remodel - I figured I would toss the fan, run duct to my furnace fan and make a little hooded box for rattle canning and other small messy jobs.

I was thinking about adding one of those cyclonic trash can tops you can get from Grizzly - It would be great for wood working, and I bet it would drop all the grinding crap into the can instead of shooting it outside onto my apple tree! It would likely also prolong the life of the fan.
Jim

I was wondering about that myself.

[fj40guy]

I was thinking about adding one of those cyclonic trash can tops you can get from Grizzly - It would be great for wood working, and I bet it would drop all the grinding crap into the can instead of shooting it outside onto my apple tree! It would likely also prolong the life of the fan.

Hmm... with METAL trash cans, ect only issue is to clean everything first (no wood) but the filter bag would be full of holes from hot metal. Fire would be the biggest issue.

Didn't Dave Gringer (?) show how to make some with basic sheet metal tools. I'm thinking of the guy who has a series of books showing how to make your own foundry, lathe, etc... All my books are still in storage, but thought that was in one of them.

Tom

[TLCObsession]

Originally Posted by fj40guy

Hmm... with METAL trash cans, ect only issue is to clean everything first (no wood) but the filter bag would be full of holes from hot metal. Fire would be the biggest issue.

Didn't Dave Gringer (?) show how to make some with basic sheet metal tools. I'm thinking of the guy who has a series of books showing how to make your own foundry, lathe, etc... All my books are still in storage, but thought that was in one of them.

Tom

Tom -

It is just a plastic lid you can put on a galvanized old school trash can - no filters, just centripetal force and gravity....

Like This
Jim

[glfredrick]

Originally Posted by TLCObsession

Tom -

It is just a plastic lid you can put on a galvanized old school trash can - no filters, just centripetal force and gravity....

Like This
Jim

While I cannot comment on the Grizzly unit, I do know that centripital force works to remove stuff from a moving air stream...

I used to work in the dairy industry doing spray drying of dairy ingredients and that was the method that we used to remove powders from the air stream that dried them.

Just have to get the air swirling around a round object by introducing it along the side of the container (directed onto the sides of the container - not straight in like a shop vac - the air flow creates the swirl) and then removed from the upper or lower center - in this case, upper... A very effective way to eliminate debris from moving air.

I'd make a clean out hopper at the bottom of the barrel...

Oh - the books are David Gingery - and there is actually a web site out there that does nothing but discuss his tools...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gingery_machines/

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/index.html

Here is something interesting to our crowd...

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/pipe/index.html

I like the "scale it up" part...

[fj40guy]

Thanks!

Anyone know of "cheaper" sources of hazardous location exhaust fans?

Found this 12" "hazardous location fan" in Grainger. $469!link



Paint room (6' wide x 10' long) will have a small exhaust fan. Room is
approx 480 cubic feet, so a 12" diameter fan should be fine (full air change
every 30 seconds).

I figure I'll use a furnance timer... fan on for 30 seconds prior to lights,
remains on 30 seconds after lights go off. Idea is to purge vapors. I
know, over kill, but idea of a spray paint being vented past a fan does
spook me a little.

Just looking forward to a nice area for "paining little stuff". Even better, the
kids will NOT be painting the RC cars next to the pool! (Nothing like a little blue overspray on limestone).

Tom