Yet another air filter
Well, everyone hated my last attempt at a filter and most of the reasons were completely valid. So this is my second attempt. I was going to just print the Bento Box system, but there’s a lot of criticism about that one as well, mostly because its small enough to fit inside your printer. This one works as a recirculating filter, but is external so that it can have bigger filters, bigger fans and more de-gassing media. On the CAD drawing, air enters into the furthest yellow layer. There’s a green layer above that that supports a course filter insert (the kind of filter that you often find in computer cases). You don’t really need that for 3D printing and its kind of superfluous at this point. On top of that is a level for de-gassing media like charcoal or scrotch. And then a layer that holds a HEPA filter from a shop vac. I probably should have gone with a more generic shop vac, but this is sized to be compatible with a festal dust extractor (which is what I have). Then a motor layer and then a layer to funnel the filtered air back to the printer. You can see a lot more in the other pictures.
I just installed this a couple of hours ago so I don’t have empirical results to share, but it moves air quite rapidly. I have it throttled way down as to not create a bunch of turbulence, but it could always be cranked up when prints are done.
There’s an alternate base layer (off to the side) that fits onto my CNC enclosure like a limpet. I will likely skip the de-gassing media for that application.
I’m going to use it like this for a while and then revise whatever needs it. There are already a couple of tweeks that need to be implemented. So if anyone has a constructive comment, now would be a good time!