Dust Collector

[Bill Downs]

Hello, first post. I am about to get a Zing 30 or 35 watt laser for light work. Keychains (leather), wood, fabric will be most of what I 'plan' to do. The sticking point for me is the filtration system. It has to be quiet as I live in a community with less then 15ft between each house. My garage is block and I don't really want to cut a hole in a block or have my garage door cracked every time I use the laser. I'd rather that now one ever know it's there.

In looking for a indoor solution I ran across this site and I just wanted to get a pro's opinion if the products listed below might work for low-volume work. It seems to be priced right. If you know if a similar product/price I would appreciate a link.

Thanks in advance ...

http://www.vanimandental.com/Van-I-Vac-accumulator-industrial-10610.php

[Doug Griffith]

Hi Bill, I don't see any CFM listed. Also, what is the cost of the optional fume and odor filtration? That could kill the deal.

Other than that:
1) cutting leather stinks
2) cutting fabric likes a lot of CFM to hold it down and help prevent flare up.
3) cutting wood almost smells good

Somehow or another you'll want to vent it out of the garage. Maybe you can tie into an existing drier vent.

Cheers,
Doug

[Bill Downs]

Thanks for the response.

What CFM rating would you suggest ?

[Doug Griffith]

That would be determined by the laser you buy. Whatever the manufacturer suggests, go a little higher. Especially if you need to be creative in how you hook it up and vent. This topic has been discussed a lot here on SMC. Do a search and you'll find good information from people who know more than myself.

Cheers,
Doug

[John Frazee]

Thanks for the response.

What CFM rating would you suggest ?

This is a sticky question. You almost need to see, feel, smell and hear some demos running. Keep in mind the cfm's as in pulling your heat/air out as well. My blower went out and I replaced it with a big one. The other workers laughed and said it was going to pull the substrate off the engraving table! I have a 5 ton heating system and it won't take long to pull all the heat from the building. I am the first one to the laser when it finishes a job. (to turn off the exhaust)

[Chip Peterson]

Trotec's exhaust sytem is very effective. I don't use it, but I saw it in use at their facility. You can find it here:

http://www.trotec.net/020+Products/_en-US/_400+Exhaust+Systems.htm

I use an inline blower. It is quieter than the cooling fans on my laser and is vented outside. The sound level is about the same as a dryer vent when running.

Is there a way to vent it out of a window? If possible, you can get into the same type of setup as I have for around $100-150 or so. You can see a blower like I use here:

[Doug Griffith]

[quote=Chip Peterson;1057659]Trotec's exhaust sytem is very effective. I don't use it, but I saw it in use at their facility. You can find it here:

http://www.trotec.net/020+Products/_en-US/_400+Exhaust+Systems.htm

I use an inline blower. It is quieter than the cooling fans on my laser and is vented outside. The sound level is about the same as a dryer vent when running.

Is there a way to vent it out of a window? If possible, you can get into the same type of setup as I have for around $100-150 or so. You can see a blower like I use here:


That 4" inline fan would make a nice addition to an existing exhaust system for late night "fumeless" jobs. Sometimes the dust collector is overkill.

[Chip Peterson]

I use the 6" exclusively. I can cut acrylic with little or no odor inside (but plenty outside!).

I don't need a dust collector since I am in a rural area. However, there are very few debris ever ejected, and I wouldn't hesitate to vent directly even if I was in a more urban area.


That 4" inline fan would make a nice addition to an existing exhaust system for late night "fumeless" jobs. Sometimes the dust collector is overkill.

[Doug Griffith]

Hi Chip, I'm curious if the inline blower has enough suction to hold non-flat material down or is it just CFM?

Cheers,
Doug

[Chip Peterson]

I've cut light weight paper on my vector table, but I don't think it's actually held in place by the blower. On the Trotec (Speedy 300), the inlet for exhaust is actually above the vector table on the back wall of the unit. Therfore, I don't think I get any holding help from it.

[John Noell]

And if you try to cut more than one sheet at a time, the bottom one may be held down by the exhaust but the top one is like to get sucked right out! (Guess how I learned that!)

[Bill Downs]

Thanks for all the information. I don't plan on doing a lot of acrylic but you never know. The inline blower would work but I would have to crack my garage door or cut a hole in my garage wall since I don't have any windows. According to the manual I'll need 400 CFM. The 4" inline only does 200 CFM so I'll have to use a step-down adapter. Basically, for about $100 I can solve the problem. Should this be a smashing success, I can look into more elaborate means of filtering and exhaust.

[Doug Griffith]

Thanks for all the information. I don't plan on doing a lot of acrylic but you never know. The inline blower would work but I would have to crack my garage door or cut a hole in my garage wall since I don't have any windows. According to the manual I'll need 400 CFM. The 4" inline only does 200 CFM so I'll have to use a step-down adapter. Basically, for about $100 I can solve the problem. Should this be a smashing success, I can look into more elaborate means of filtering and exhaust.

The CFM would be rated without a step down adapter. The step will most likely be a bottleneck.

[Richard Rumancik]

What kind of roof do you have on the garage? Could you add a "chimney"? Or could you vent out through the soffit? (not ideal, but could work.)

[Bill Cunningham]

Keep in mind, even though wood smells nice, tell your neighbors to expect the smell of burning wood from time to time, or a unsuspecting neighbor may panic and a unexpected visit from the fire dept. might be in your future :eek:

[Dave Johnson29]

laser for light work. Keychains (leather)


Hi Bill,

You should be aware that some leather tanning and coloring processes use very toxic materials and when laser-ed they can give off some really unpleasant smelling and dangerous fumes.

Google this...

leather tanning chromium cyanide