Cheap effective shop air filter pics...

[Steve Ash]

I remember seeing some shop made air filters on here a while ago and thought at some point I should make one. I already had the squirrel cage fan, and some extra plywood. Creeker Jim Young provided the Woodsmith #95 so I could finally get this built.

I made a few changes in the way it was shown in shopsmith (actually I put in 5 filters instead of 3 as suggested) but the final results are that it works and the final cost to me was the price of the filters.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/GardenBay/100_1541.jpg

[Steve Ash]

looking at it from underneath....


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/GardenBay/100_1546.jpg

[Chad Pater]

Steve, That looks pretty nice. What filters did you go with? What did Woodsmith suggest?

Chad

[Steve Ash]

Chad, Woodsmith showed 2 pre filters and 1 exhaust filter, but in my older age I guess I must need glasses because it looked to me like 3 pre filters and 2 exhaust filters. Should just insure the air is cleaner I guess...

The filters I used were 16 x 20 since I couldn't find any 12 x 24's, and they were this kind

http://www.precisionaire.com/Retail/proddetail.asp?prod=15-88555

[Alan Schaffter]

Interesting/conflicting filter specs?:

"Up to 45 times more effective than spun glass on sub micron sized particles."

"Captures particles as small as 1 micron"

[John Kain]

That looks nice, and functional.

I couldn't find a thread about it in the search menu, however I would be very interested in building one myself. Any ideas how to find the old thread?

[Bob Dodge]

Nice job Steve,

That unit looks identical to the one I built for my shop, right down to the choice of 5 filters, and 16 x 20" filters. I added flip-out door-frames at the front and rear , to allow for easy filter removal/replacement, and a simple pull-switch. I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a compact, yet very performant mil-spec blower. Works really well.

I like the idea of having the blower mounted to the interior divider. The blower outlet on most commercial units, has no outlet filtration stage, and I find that this can create a significant amount of turbulence in some circumstances. With the Shop-Notes/WoodSmith model, you get a nicely diffused outlet flow. I also added a small, perforated baffle, directly in front of the blower outlet. This helped "soften" the exhaust blast into the front filters.

Good luck with that unit. Bob

[Julio Navarro]

I have a quick, perhaps silly question, but why so much space between the two filter locations, (front and back) if the dust is caught at the intake, where the three filters are located do you need so much space between the exhaust filter? Why not just make it 5 ganged filters and put the blower on the outside?

I have a sort of a crazy design for my filter. I'll find the sketches and post it and see if I can get opinions.

[Matt Meiser]

Steve, that looks like it will work just as good or better than the commercial units. Grainger carries the 12x24 filters if anyone else is looking for them.

[Jim Young]

You sure knocked that project out pretty quick.

[Garry Smith]

That's Slick Steve,
That is also on my(long) list. I built my downdraft sanding table with a squirrel cage fan. Many times it is running even if I am not sanding, just to pull any dust away from where I am working.
Garry

[Tom Andersen]

Steve,

I intend to make an air unit like this one. Looks really neat. I have way too much dust in my workshop. Here are a few questions:

1) Do you need a centrifugal ventilator or an axial? (It looks like you have a centrifugal?)

2) How long time will the filters typically last? Can they be cleaned with water and soap or do I need to buy a bunch of them at the outset?

3) Do you have an electronic copy of the Woodsmith #95?

4) What Julio said, what's the reason for the space?

Thanks for sharing, looks really good.

Tom

[Steve Clardy]

Looks nice and effective!!
I need to build a few of those one of these days

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice work, Steve...Good improvising

[Kyle Kraft]

I built an effective air cleaner using a 1/2hp 3 speed furnace blower. I contacted our filter supplier at work, and requested the company pricing. After explaining my application to the sales rep he recommended the following: Prefilter is a Farr 3030 size 24x24x2 and a Multi-Wedge MW-45 24x24x12. The multi wedge is a 45% efficiency because he thought the 90% would require more static pressure than my humble blower could produce. The prefilter cost $5.95 and the multi-wedge $17.95 and I can buy them by the each! Overall my total cost for the unit was around $100 dollars, most of which was the oak veneer plywood.

I have pictures to post if I could figure out how to do it in less than 2 hours (cry for help):confused:

[Rob Will]

I built an effective air cleaner using a 1/2hp 3 speed furnace blower. I contacted our filter supplier at work, and requested the company pricing. After explaining my application to the sales rep he recommended the following: Prefilter is a Farr 3030 size 24x24x2 and a Multi-Wedge MW-45 24x24x12. The multi wedge is a 45% efficiency because he thought the 90% would require more static pressure than my humble blower could produce. The prefilter cost $5.95 and the multi-wedge $17.95 and I can buy them by the each! Overall my total cost for the unit was around $100 dollars, most of which was the oak veneer plywood.

I have pictures to post if I could figure out how to do it in less than 2 hours (cry for help):confused:

Kyle,
1.)download a free program called "pixresizer"
2.)bring up your photos and modify them to be under 100KB
3.)create a folder called resized photos (a suggestion) so you can find them later
4.)type your message at Sawmill Creek
5.)click on the little paper clip icon at the top center.
6.)upload your photos.
7.)do not "preview" your message until after you have uploaded and returned to the main page.

Rob

[Jack Wood]

I'll toss my two cents in on this thread. I made a filter using a 220v AC fan placed in a large box on the floor. I have a Filtrete 25x25 final filter with 3 25x25 fiberglass prefilters. the outlet is at the bottom and blows a lot of air around the shop. I then made another smaller filter, 16x20 using an attic gable fan and 3 fiberglass filters. I mounted this in the opposite corner on the ceiling. I don't just depend on this for DC, I also have a 2HP DC for machine operations and most of the time I wear a quality mask. Overkill, maybe but my shop is cleaner and my head stays clear. DC takes a comprehensive approach, not just one thing over another but use of everything you can do to alleviate dust dangers.

[John Miliunas]

I have pictures to post if I could figure out how to do it in less than 2 hours (cry for help):confused:

Kyle, Rob gave you a nice overview for posting pics. Our own Vaughn M. has actually created an entire document for doing the same. You can check it out here: http://workingwoods.com/workingwoods/smc%20tutorials/Posting%20Pictures%20on%20SMC.htm :) :cool:

[Steve Ash]

Steve,

I intend to make an air unit like this one. Looks really neat. I have way too much dust in my workshop. Here are a few questions:

1) Do you need a centrifugal ventilator or an axial? (It looks like you have a centrifugal?)

2) How long time will the filters typically last? Can they be cleaned with water and soap or do I need to buy a bunch of them at the outset?

3) Do you have an electronic copy of the Woodsmith #95?

4) What Julio said, what's the reason for the space?

Thanks for sharing, looks really good.

Tom

Good questions....wish I was smart enough to answer them for you. I can provide you with a copy I scanned from the original if you want to PM me your address I'll snail mail it to you.

[Kyle Kraft]

Thanks John and Rob! I will now try the tutorial I printed out showing the pictures of my shop-built air cleaner!

33003

33004

33005

[Kyle Kraft]

Well, it looks like the process worked! Picture quality leaves a bit to be desired. Perhaps setting the resolution of my camera up one notch might help.

[Karl Laustrup]

So what color you gonna paint it. Might I suggest Green/Gold with a big as will fit G on each side. :D

Good looking and functional unit Steve.

Karl

[Tom Andersen]

Kyle, where did you buy the filters?
Thanks
Tom

[Steve Ash]

So what color you gonna paint it. Might I suggest Green/Gold with a big as will fit G on each side. :D

Good looking and functional unit Steve.

Karl

Karl, Great idea....something similar to this?

[Chad Pater]

Karl, Great idea....something similar to this?


Hmmmm....I have a couple jokes comparing the the Pack with an air cleaner.... but it my be best to insert your own joke here:p .








ps ( I don't really think the Pack sucks...like an air cleaner; more like a big Dust Collector) :p

[Dick Strauss]

Guys,
I have exactly the same project on my list. I'm using a 1100 CFM attic fan that was $25 at the local borg. The fan requires a 14.5-15" circular mount on a piece of plywood. I'll be building out of plywood since I just got a stash of it for free (I know Tyler...it doesn't exist without a pic!). I plan to use four 20x20x1 filters that are available at your local shop as follows:

-One cheap blue fiber filter on the intake and output sides
-One 3M filtrete and one 3M allergan filter in series before the fan

So in order from input to output it will look like this:
Blue, filtrete, allergan, fan, blue

Do you have any other suggestions that will make this better without spending a lot of $$$? Does anyone have any shop drawings that I could adapt to my size constraints?

[glenn bradley]

Julio, I asked the same question of my HVAC friend and he "guessed" (and emphasized it was a guess) that for a given blower type there needs to be enough captive airspace to act as sort of a cushion compensating for the flow restriction as the filter gets dirty.

I guess it made sense as my gable fan seemed to move a lot more air with the space between it and the first filter than it did butted right up against the filter frame ( I just had to try it out before I mounted everything permanent, I'm anal that way) but, what do I know? That's why I ask all these questions, eh?<O:p</O:p<O:p</O:p

[Al Willits]

Just curious, why did you put two filters after the blower, seems it'd work better catching as much dust as you could before the blower?
Ya'd think the blower would stay cleaner that way too?

Al

[Frank Hagan]

Interesting/conflicting filter specs?:

"Up to 45 times more effective than spun glass on sub micron sized particles."

"Captures particles as small as 1 micron"

I've seen some detailed test results of filter testing, and usually they list the percentage (by weight) of particles a certain size trapped by the filter at various times ... when clean, when airflow has diminished 25%, etc. So you can get some marketing claims that are "true" but really don't matter ... and I suspect that sub micron rating is in that category.

The second statement, that it captures particles "as small as 1 micron" could be true even if just a single, micon-sized particle was trapped by the filter.

The marketing statements really don't mean anything. I think there are ASHRAE or other independent test ratings designed by engineers that are better guidelines for comparing two filters.

[Al Willits]

Just wondering if I asked an improper question or????

Al

[Bart Leetch]

Here is a air filter I built a few years ago that has a bag filter system inside & the pleated filter system in front of the bag filter. The fan system is a 3 speed system from a central heat system. I also have a small filter system with a heat system fan & pleated filter behind my lathe. You can see it the turning tools are in a rack on the side of it.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Just wondering if I asked an improper question or????

Al
No worries, Al. I'm sure it's just that nobody with the answer has seen the question yet. Since this is an old thread, some folks might not be checking it. You might post your question as a separate thread to get more eyes on it.

- Vaughn

[Steve Ash]

Just wondering if I asked an improper question or????

Al

Nope Al, not an improper question....just didn't see it until now. If you go back up and read post #4 I fessed up to my mistake that I didn't clearly see it given the plans I was following. Seems to work just fine with 2 filters and I wasn't going to change my mistake once everything was glued and nailed together. I guess if it presents much of a problem you could simply remove one of theose filters in question.

[Byron Trantham]

Steve great job. I know you will be glad you made one.:p

[Al Willits]

Thanks guys, still new to your forum and I'd like to get to know ya all before I pi$$ somebody off...:)


It didn't bother me that some of the filters were after the blower, but I work in HVAC and we always put the filters before the blower.
Just thought I might have been missing something here...


I have a spare 1/3 or 1/2 hp blower assembly laying around, mind if I steal your design? :)

Al

[Steve Ash]

Hey Al, ya don't need to worry about "torquing" me off.

Take that design and run with it, it wasn't mine to begin with :D

[glenn bradley]

Made this one out of some scrap siding the neighbor was tossing out.