air filtering

3 Articles

A person is standing in front of an acrylic enclosure, lowering a door on the enclosure. The enclosure contains the space between two sets of cabinets, and has three doors on the front. Inside the enclosure is an air filter and a washing station.

A Fume-Control Cabinet For Resin 3D Printing

May 29, 2026 by 7 Comments

For a certain kind of intricate, highly-detailed manufacturing, there’s really no substitute for a resin 3D printer, and it’s therefore unfortunate that they require so many poisonous chemicals. The resin itself usually contains irritating acrylates and methacrylates, it can emit a wide spectrum of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during printing, and even the isopropyl alcohol used in cleaning is moderately toxic. [Allie Katz] accordingly built this fume-control enclosure for resin printing and other ventilation-critical processes.

The biggest constraint was space: [Allie]’s workspace had a fairly limited volume available, and the enclosure needed to hold an SLA printer, an isopropyl alcohol washing station, a UV curing chamber, and miscellaneous supplies. Most of the enclosure was made out of IKEA cabinets, using some large cabinets at the base to hold the printer and curing station, a countertop over these to hold the washing station, and more cabinets above to hold supplies. An MDF backing panel and acrylic side panels enclose the workspace between the cabinets. There was no safe way to exhaust fumes, so the enclosure recycles its air: a fan pulls air in through an activated-carbon filter mounted above the work area and into the plenum behind the chamber, from which it passes through the printer’s cabinet back into the workspace enclosure. Panel filters surround the carbon filter to catch particulate matter.

The enclosure uses four ESP32-based boards for automation: one uses a touchscreen to display data, and three are paired with BME680 sensors, primarily to report VOC concentrations. One, which also has a particulate matter sensor, senses air quality in the main chamber and plenum, one monitors air quality in the rest of the shop, and the third detects clogging from within the filter enclosure. The first real test of the chamber was to 3D print and paint some handles for the cabinets. It worked as expected, detecting the increased VOCs and ramping up the fan to keep them in check.

We’ve seen a ventilated printer enclosure before, that time for an FDM printer. Although their hazards are less blatant, they too can produce dangerous fumes, which could possibly be carcinogenic.

Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip!

Clean Air And A Gentle Breeze In Your Hoodie

March 5, 2020 by 18 Comments

Hoodies are great, and rightfully a hacker’s favorite attire: they shield you from the people around you, keep your focus on the screen in front of you, and are a decent enough backup solution when you forgot your balaclava. More than that, they are also comfortable, unless of course it is summer time. But don’t worry, [elkroketto] has built a solution to provide the regular hoodie wearer with a constant breeze around his face, although his Clean Air Bubble is primarily tackling an even bigger problem: air pollution.

Wanting to block out any environmental factors from the air he breathes, [elkroketto] got himself a thrift store hoodie to cut holes in the back, and attach two radial fans that suck in the air through air filtering cloths. A 3D printed air channel is then connected to each fan, and attached on the inside of the hood, blowing the filtered air straight into his face. Salvaging a broken drill’s battery pack as power supply and adding a 3D printed clip-in case for the step-up converter, the fans should provide him a good 5 hours of fresh air. Of course, one could also add a solar charging rig if that’s not enough.

Keep in mind though, while a wearable air filter might sound particularly useful in current times, [elkroketto] specifically points out that this is not for medical use and won’t filter out any airborne diseases.

Custom Downdraft Fume Extractor for Soldering

Downdraft Fume Extractor Saves Your Lungs

June 27, 2015 by 21 Comments

When you’re soldering, smoke rises from your iron. That smoke is full of a variety of chemicals, depending on what type of solder you’re using, but it’s almost certainly not good for you. That’s why you can buy fume extractors to suck smoke away.

But benchtop extractors tend to suck, and not in the way they’re supposed to. It can be hard to get the extractor to pick up all the fumes, leaving fumes that float into your face.

Over at Other Machine Co., they built up a custom downdraft fume extractor to solve this problem. The downdraft extractor is a table that you work on, providing downwards suction that grabs the fumes. Their table uses a standard MERV13 air filter that’s rated to trap particles as small as 1.0–0.3 μm. Cooling fans provide the airflow, and a piece of perforated sheet metal acts as a work surface.

The table works great for soldering, and is also helpful for working with other chemicals like adhesives and solvents. DXF files for the frame parts are provided, and everything else can be sourced from McMaster.