Weekend Project

[David Fried]

The project this weekend was a air cleaner for the shop.

Actually finishing a weekend project in a weekend may be a dangerous precident!

It uses single speed blower, 465 cfm, a prefilter and a 1 micron bag filter.

If it keeps the dust from settling everywhere and circulates warm air in the winter, I'll be happy.

[Richard Wolf]

David, that looks good. I've been thinking of one myself. What did you use for a blower??

Richard

[John Miliunas]

Good for you, David! Unless one can get a super-deal on a used one, making your own is the way to go. I really don't care what Oneida says, I wouldn't be without mine! I use a DC system on all my stationary tools, but I still believe a room air cleaner does help scrub your environment and anything trapped in there will not make its way to rest on equipment or in your lungs! :) Good job!:cool:

[David Fried]

David, that looks good. I've been thinking of one myself. What did you use for a blower??

Richard

The blower and filters are a Penn State kit. It also included a rusty grill for the exhaust and one of the two clips to hold the filters. :mad: Next time I would follow Sudsy's lead and try to pick one up from my heating service.

I purchased it through Wood Turningz. They (Jason) did a great job following up with Penn state to get the missing clip and try to get the grill replaced. All the grills they have in the warehouse are rusted. :eek: I sanded it down and painted it with Krylon.

I used up some Oak scrap making a 3/4" square frame and screwed and glued the plywood onto it. Bought a box of 100 screws and they are almost all gone! I caulked the seams with wood glue.

It runs quieter than I expected.

[Mark J Bachler]

Any plans for one of these out there?

[Tim Morton]

Nice job!!! I am looking on the Penn State site now and ssee it is on sale for $114 or $184 for the one with TWO blowers....My question is, is one blower enough? is two blowers too loud and overkill? I'm guessing the second blower could be added later since the kit is listed as being the same size box for both. 12x24x30.

[Bartee Lamar]

I have been thinking about building one of these. After seeing this thread, I got pushed over the edge. I just ordered one of these from Surplus Center Air Blower (https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2005031712590643&item=16-1140&catname=electric) .

Add the filter for $22 and you have a "kit"

Once I get the part I will figure out the design, but it has to be better than nothing.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Any plans for one of these out there?

Mark, I haven't ever seen any plans, however they are really simple to make. Basically go to your local HVAC shop with a 12ver of beer some late afternoon. Ask them if they have any blowers. If you want to be picky, a multi speed blower is a nice to have feature. When they are helping you load it into your truck, hand them the beer. Ask them how much and most likely it will be free :)

I know a guy that works in HVAC so mine was totally free, but I still got him the beer anyway :)

Now that you have your blower, look at the standard filter sizes and pick one that will fit a box that will also hold your blower. For me it was the 20x20 square size. Final step is to build the box and install wood cleats to hold your filters. I use three pre-filters and one post filter.

[Steve Aiken]

I would recommend that you buy a filter that captures as much of the invisible dust as possible, since it's the submicron size that's the most dangerous to the lungs. The 3M Filtrete Ultra Allergen captures about 60% of the 0.2 - 2.0 particles on the first pass. It is rated by independent testing as a MERV 12. The 3M Filtrete is affordable and readily available. http://www.filtera-b2b.com/businessfilters/PDFfiles/3MFiltrationBrochure.pdf Another option is the Varicell line of commercial filters by AAF Int'l http://www.aafintl.com/eprsup/aaf_intl/brochures/VariCelAFP-1-159P.pdf They make a 24" x 24" x 4" deep filter in a MERV 14 that captures 95% of the .02 - 2.0 micron particles on the first pass. This is double the price of the Filtrete and is not available everywhere. I would design your unit with at least one, maybe 2 prefilters to extend the service life of your final filter.

Steve