Venting two lasers into one Indoor filtration system

[Oleg Mikhailik]

Hello everyone!

I have a 40W Epilog Mini, which is vented using a pretty heavy duty indoor filtration system: First it's piped to an unpowered BOFA ILF300 inline filter (basically a giant steel box with deep pleat cartridge inside it), and then from there to a fully powered BOFA AD Oracle iQ. So basically like this:

[EPILOG]===>===[ILF300]===>===[Oracle AD iQ]

The system was configured with the help of my local Epilog/BOFA dealer, who suggested it because the ILF in the long run would help extend the filter life in the main Oracle iQ system - and the ILF filters are much cheaper to replace. Venting to the outside is not an option in my space, hence the indoor filtration system instead.

Anyway. So, this setup for the Epilog is working just fine, However I also have a Universal ULS 660 sitting right next to it. This one is not hooked up to any filtration system at all. Basically if I choose to run it, I disconnect the hose from the Epilog, and connect to the 4" outlet on the ULS.

In an ideal world I want the ability to run them both at the same time. Therefore I am looking for a way to pipe them to the same filtration system. I had the idea of doing this with a Y- shaped 4" splitter fitting, which I can make completely air-tight using tape and hose clamps. I'm just not 100% certain the filtration will be effective.

So, I would like to pick some knowledgeable brains on this matter, which brings me to you guys - has anyone done something like this before? pipe 2 lasers into the same indoor filtration system? Was it effective? What setup did you have?

Thanks in advance,
0l0id

[Glen Monaghan]

You can probably Y them together but I'd suggest inserting a blast gate where each laser is connected to the Y. That way, you can simply close the gate on the idle laser and open the gate on the active laser to draw entirely from the latter. Same effect as switching the hose but without as much effort. As for running both lasers at the same time, you'd just open both blast gates. The downside is that each laser will only get approximately half as much exhaust flow; you'll just have to try it and see whether that's enough exhaust. Probably fine for marking coated metals, light engraving of acrylic or wood, and the like, but might be insufficient for cutting wood or doing other jobs that create a lot of smoke or debris.

[Oleg Mikhailik]

Thanks Glen!
I considered blastgates, and I think you're suggesting them for the absolutely right reason. My only concern is that most blast gates out there aren't exactly airtight - it's kind of a steel or plastic card that just slides through a slot which will probably let in some exhaust through.

Do you know of any specific ones that would minimize the chances of exhausts leaking out?

[Scotty Brooks]

Maybe, RV sewer pipe valves.

[Glen Monaghan]

I use "regular" metal ones, no idea who made them at this point. They don't need to be perfectly air tight because, when the exhaust handler is on, it is sucking air from laser(s) and down the pipes so the blast gates don't leak out into the room, they leak in from the room. You can do a smoke test to visualize this: light a punk or incense stick and wave the smoking end near the ductwork and blast gate(s) with the exhaust turned on. If air leaked out of the gate into the room, the smoke would be blown away. However, the lower pressure inside the ducts caused by the exhaust system will actually pull the smoke in from the room through any holes or gaps such as around the slide for the blast gate. If the exhaust fan is decent, it will probably be pulling the gate reasonably tight against the downstream side of the duct and have reasonably negligible leakage, but all into the duct, not out into the room.

[Oleg Mikhailik]

Gents, big thanks for feedback to you both.
Looks like I'm gonna roll up my sleeves and build this thing, and see how it does

Cheers!

[Oleg Mikhailik]

By the way the smoke test makes complete sense - not sure why I didn't think of that...