Keith Winter
06-19-2015, 11:34 PM
Finally finished my new laser exhaust! This new system has capacity for 5 lasers comfortably, 6 in a pinch. As of next week we will have 3 lasers, so room to grow on! :D Thought I'd post some photos to show it off and share some of the insights I've learned through the process of revisions to our laser exhaust and duct work. This is the 3rd revision, very much inspired by some great help I got on the forum from Dan Hintz, Dave Sheldrake, Keith Colson, Bill George and many others. Hopefully this will help someone with their laser exhaust planning! :)
The New Version (v3) Details!
In anticipation of our 3rd laser we knew we had to add a new blower and we also wanted to increase the cfm even further in laser 2 to get the smoke out faster so we added a 3HP shop fox dust collector blower to the line. Each blower has it's own intake line, 6" on the HF 2HP, 8" on the SF 3HP in the laser room with a switch to turn on each. On the outside wall of the laser room lies the blowers and the exhaust out lines. The intake lines go through the wall to the blower then the blower exhaust lines go up the wall and out the window. Each blower has a 6" output line which goes to a 8" duct where they merge up high, finally venting to a 6" vent through the outside window. Each joint is screwed and then taped with extreme weather duct tape. Each wye and turn's joints are also taped to keep the system air tight and keep the bad air from escaping through the tiny gaps in the joints and wye adapter.
Results & Things Learned:
- New 3HP blower and improved ducting is a big win, pulling 5668 fpm a piece from each of the 3 ports that are opened up right now! (see photo)
- 1/2" Screw and then tap over every joint for a tight seal, it increases CFM.
- Tape over all joints in your turns with the duct tape as well, if you hold your hand over it you can actually feel the air escaping if you don't tape them on most joints. I have a photo of a duct turn on wall that wasn't tapped. It visually shows the dirt that comes out a joint in your exhaust if you don't tape it I can share as well. Good about of air loss / exhaust spewed back into the room on those, that not many people think about.
- Bigger pipes make a BIG difference. Gained 25% on my prior version going to 6" duct from 4" duct. So for my 3HP motor I went 8" on the initial intakes tapering down to 6" after splitting off (see photo)
- Extreme weather metal duct tape $21 at HD is expensive but it works extremely well, night and day different from the cheap stuff which falls off after a few cold winters and hot summers.
- New 3HP Shop Fox is a complete beast, puts our other blower (2HP Harbor Freight) to shame! On paper it's only 1.6x more powerful, but in real life it's closer to 2.5x more powerful. It was a little bit of a hassle to get a square to round boot made for the SF exhaust output port, but that thing moves massive amounts of air, very happy with it so far.
- All ready to add the Speedy 400 next week! Learned my lesson last time when I had to rip the pipe out because we only built it for one laser. Planned the system with extra capacity for future growth this time. ;)
315932
New 3HP blower 8" intake line, which trickles down to 6" after initial intakes. Right side also is ready for expansion, has a cap on it now, but if we ever add a 4th or 5th laser, just pull the cap off and add more ducting to the intake line and we're set! No more redoing the main line! :D
315933
5668 fpm from each of the 3 intake ports on the new blower!
315934
6" 2HP Blower intake line, notice the rigid flex duct at the final mile only. Performs MUCH better than flimsy dryer venting and doesn't cost much more.
315935
2 HP HF Blower mount in the air and exhaust out line, 6" till it merges with the 3HP blower line you see coming up, then duct 8". Notice all the turn joints are also taped so exhaust cannot escape from the tiny gaps in the duct turn pieces and wyes.
315936
New 3HP Shop Fox Blower is awesome! (pushes 2.5x the air of our 2HP harbor freight in real life)
315937
Final leg of exhaust two 6" pipes combined into a 8" wye then 8" duct all the way out the window (tiny clamp you see in the corner is just there till the caulking dries :p)
315938
Outside air vent with both blowers on is pushing 1600 fpm measuring from 5' away! I didn't measure but I bet it's closer to 5000-6000 fpm next to the actual vent.
Revision History if you really have read this far ;):
v1: Was a 1hp penn state blower 4" duct for one laser
v1.5: Was a 2hp harbor freight blower same 4" duct for two lasers
v2: Revisions were based upon great feedback I got on the forum. We were struggling to get the smoke out when cutting out with the 4" ducts and the cheapo duct tape ($8 at HD) was pealing off some of the joints. New pipe allows the smoke to get out. Same blower, redid all the duct work to 6", screwed all joints, and then covered the joints with all extreme weather duct tape. 25% fpm increase by these changes alone. This got us over the hump.
v3: details above
The New Version (v3) Details!
In anticipation of our 3rd laser we knew we had to add a new blower and we also wanted to increase the cfm even further in laser 2 to get the smoke out faster so we added a 3HP shop fox dust collector blower to the line. Each blower has it's own intake line, 6" on the HF 2HP, 8" on the SF 3HP in the laser room with a switch to turn on each. On the outside wall of the laser room lies the blowers and the exhaust out lines. The intake lines go through the wall to the blower then the blower exhaust lines go up the wall and out the window. Each blower has a 6" output line which goes to a 8" duct where they merge up high, finally venting to a 6" vent through the outside window. Each joint is screwed and then taped with extreme weather duct tape. Each wye and turn's joints are also taped to keep the system air tight and keep the bad air from escaping through the tiny gaps in the joints and wye adapter.
Results & Things Learned:
- New 3HP blower and improved ducting is a big win, pulling 5668 fpm a piece from each of the 3 ports that are opened up right now! (see photo)
- 1/2" Screw and then tap over every joint for a tight seal, it increases CFM.
- Tape over all joints in your turns with the duct tape as well, if you hold your hand over it you can actually feel the air escaping if you don't tape them on most joints. I have a photo of a duct turn on wall that wasn't tapped. It visually shows the dirt that comes out a joint in your exhaust if you don't tape it I can share as well. Good about of air loss / exhaust spewed back into the room on those, that not many people think about.
- Bigger pipes make a BIG difference. Gained 25% on my prior version going to 6" duct from 4" duct. So for my 3HP motor I went 8" on the initial intakes tapering down to 6" after splitting off (see photo)
- Extreme weather metal duct tape $21 at HD is expensive but it works extremely well, night and day different from the cheap stuff which falls off after a few cold winters and hot summers.
- New 3HP Shop Fox is a complete beast, puts our other blower (2HP Harbor Freight) to shame! On paper it's only 1.6x more powerful, but in real life it's closer to 2.5x more powerful. It was a little bit of a hassle to get a square to round boot made for the SF exhaust output port, but that thing moves massive amounts of air, very happy with it so far.
- All ready to add the Speedy 400 next week! Learned my lesson last time when I had to rip the pipe out because we only built it for one laser. Planned the system with extra capacity for future growth this time. ;)
315932
New 3HP blower 8" intake line, which trickles down to 6" after initial intakes. Right side also is ready for expansion, has a cap on it now, but if we ever add a 4th or 5th laser, just pull the cap off and add more ducting to the intake line and we're set! No more redoing the main line! :D
315933
5668 fpm from each of the 3 intake ports on the new blower!
315934
6" 2HP Blower intake line, notice the rigid flex duct at the final mile only. Performs MUCH better than flimsy dryer venting and doesn't cost much more.
315935
2 HP HF Blower mount in the air and exhaust out line, 6" till it merges with the 3HP blower line you see coming up, then duct 8". Notice all the turn joints are also taped so exhaust cannot escape from the tiny gaps in the duct turn pieces and wyes.
315936
New 3HP Shop Fox Blower is awesome! (pushes 2.5x the air of our 2HP harbor freight in real life)
315937
Final leg of exhaust two 6" pipes combined into a 8" wye then 8" duct all the way out the window (tiny clamp you see in the corner is just there till the caulking dries :p)
315938
Outside air vent with both blowers on is pushing 1600 fpm measuring from 5' away! I didn't measure but I bet it's closer to 5000-6000 fpm next to the actual vent.
Revision History if you really have read this far ;):
v1: Was a 1hp penn state blower 4" duct for one laser
v1.5: Was a 2hp harbor freight blower same 4" duct for two lasers
v2: Revisions were based upon great feedback I got on the forum. We were struggling to get the smoke out when cutting out with the 4" ducts and the cheapo duct tape ($8 at HD) was pealing off some of the joints. New pipe allows the smoke to get out. Same blower, redid all the duct work to 6", screwed all joints, and then covered the joints with all extreme weather duct tape. 25% fpm increase by these changes alone. This got us over the hump.
v3: details above