My DIY Laser Air Scrubber

[Jacob Davalos]

My goal was to have my laser engraver (Gweike LG6040N) inside my spare bedroom in my apartment. My apartment is on a second floor of a three story building. My main obstacle was the air extraction. I needed it to be quiet and I was afraid of neighbor complaints if I exhausted to atmosphere. I was looking at the available air scrubbers (all the brands) and they are very expensive upfront and more, just like razors, they seem to make their money by selling the filter replacements at very inflated prices.

So I went about building my own. The key was getting the right blower. A dust collector connected to a container with filter media would not fit the bill due to the excessive noise and vibration it would cause. I absorbed a ton of knowledge from these forums and all the previous builds that have been documented here. But the fact remained that the blowers used would not work for me, as mostly everyone relied on a dust collector.

My main question to answer was: what blowers do these companies use that allow them to be compact and relatively quiet and still provide enough suction and airflow. After applying my black belt in google-fu and consulting with a local (Los Angeles) Vacuum and Air Filter repair/sales shop, I found out that vacuum motors were the answer. Two vacuum motors to be exact. Running two motors in parallel creates enough airflow and suction to do the job. But still, vacuum motors are NOISY beasts and I still had to find the filter media.

I wanted a pre-filter, a 99.9+ HEPA and as much activated carbon as possible. Applying more google-fu I found exactly what I was looking for. A 12"x12"x2" MERV 13 pleated pre-filter. a 12"x12"x6" 99.97% HEPA and activated carbon I found from a local supplier in Compton (Los Angeles). To house the carbon, I went to a local furniture shop and had them build me a 12"x12"x10" housing. I now needed to design (amateur engineer is a better term) a housing for my vacuum motors and all of my filter media. I ended up deciding to go with an acrylic fabricator also local to Los Angeles.

With the help of the acrylic fabricator and McMaster Carr for all the parts I would need (gaskets, screws, nuts, vibration mounts, casters, sound absorbing foam etc.) I set upon making my vision become a reality. And here are the results:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPHjHGm9Azo

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[Scott Shepherd]

That's a great job Jacob. Where's the exhaust out of the box? It's pulling from the vacuum motors on the bottom, through the top, right? Then where's the exhaust of the vacuum motors going? It looks like a completely sealed unit form the views shown, but I would think somewhere there is air coming out of the box that has been filtered and put back into the room. Can you elaborate on that or show some more photos? Also some photos of the filter and carbon tray taken out and shown would be helpful to people too.

Great job, looks fantastic!

[Jacob Davalos]

Thanks Steve. You are correct, the motors are on the bottom and pulling air from the top, then the clean air exhausts from the bottom of the unit. I am not at home and won't be for another 5 days. But when I do get home I will take more picture of inside the motor chamber as well as the filters.

[Brent Franker]

Looks real nice!

Would it be possible for you to post links to where you bought everything? Looks interesting and if not too expensive, I may try it. I run my laser in my house as well but exhaust to the outside. Being in Florida, a good portion of my electric bill is my air conditioner. Would be nice to not suck the cooled air out of my house :) LOL

[gary l roberts]

Yes, nice job. I expect you will get a lot of request for the plans, suppers etc. First class job. Necessity, the mother of invention.

[Robert . Payne]

Looks incredible!

Do you reckon it would be better/worse to instead have the air enter in the bottom and the blowers pull it upwards? I've been looking at the design of quite a few filters and it seems having the air inflow at the bottom may help the pre-filter catch more as the heavier particles wouldn't make it up thus extending the life of the HEPA.

[Mike Null]

Jacob

That's very impressive. In addition to your parts list would you mind sharing your estimate of the total cost of the unit.

Thanks for sharing your design.

[Phil Thien]

That is an AWESOME job!

My gosh the quality of work (in all regards) around here lately is just amazing.

I'm also interested in reading more about the parts you used, etc. Like the motors, make and model #?

[Jacob Davalos]

I will make a detail list of parts used. But it did cost me over $1,000. Expensive, but still cheaper then manufactured units. And most importantly, to do a complete filter change, the cost is over 50% less then the closest competitor, while offering MORE filter media ( deeper pre-filter, deeper HEPA and more Carbon). The motors I went with have the highest Air Watt rating (air watt is the truest measure of air movement capacity, look it up) all while keeping the AMPS of the motors at full power under 15 AMPS.

[Kevin Gregerson]

PS, you can also use the Purlator Serv-a-Pak bag filters.

[Jacob Davalos]

It seems they do not make a 12"x12" filter. It was pure luck I was able to find pre filter and hepa filter at 12"x12". And both motors fit perfectly inside this 12"x12" and I wanted to keep the profile as small as possible.

[Phil Thien]

Not to hijack the thread, but why does that laser make so much noise when moving along the X but little on the Y?

[Jacob Davalos]

I hope someone can answer this for as I wonder the same thing. I believe that on the Y since it is not mounted directly to the frame of the machine, the vibrations get dampened. for the X the motor and belts are mounted directly onto the frame. I want to add vibration dampeners to the mounts and hope this reduces the noise. As you can clearly hear, that noise is louder then my filter.

[Mike Null]

I'm sure Jacob didn't intend to advertise with his previous post but in his effort to cooperate he posted an ad.

[Jacob Davalos]

I apologize. Was not my intention.

[Jerome Stanek]

I see that your led lights are like mine where they all don't work all the time I wonder if this is a GWeike problem. My X and Y are pretty quite like the quite one in the video.

[Matt McCoy]

Well done. $1, 000+ in materials/components or does that include having the enclosure fabricated?

[Jacob Davalos]

that includes the enclosure and filters. Everything.

[Matt McCoy]

Jacob: I just started looking into DIY scrubbers. Would you have the chance or want to share your BOM?

[Dan Hintz]

Jacob: I just started looking into DIY scrubbers. Would you have the chance or want to share your BOM?

For the basic components, see my blog post (far right of my name).

[Matt McCoy]

Hey Dan: I love good design that packs in a lot of value (i.e., cheap). Thanks for sharing your build.

[Nick Koprivica]

Jacob, can you post some details about your build?

[Bill Reibelt]

The unit looks good, I have had notice from the chap next door that he is getting the smell from the unit and I require an air filter if I want to continue to use the laser. If possible can you share the parts and design required to make the unit. Thank you.

[Matt Geraci]

Patent that design. Sell it. Pay for more toys! Great work!

[Dan Hintz]

Patent that design. Sell it. Pay for more toys! Great work!

What's to patent...?

[Raphael Weil]

This is the coolest thread ever btw. So the carbon is in the middle section right? What's directly under the blue pre-filter then?

[Michaell Martinez]

Hi Jacob... will you please share the type of motors you are running in your set-up, please?

[Dan Hintz]

This is the coolest thread ever btw. So the carbon is in the middle section right? What's directly under the blue pre-filter then?

Air space so the incoming air can spread out and go through the entire bed of carbon.

[Re Wood]

What motors were used for this project? Everything else I've been able to locate, but quiet motors, I have not.