- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,552
This is a really simple project that your lungs will thank you for. All you need to do is find an old furnace squirrel cage fan and motor. Then build a box around it, and make and attach a slot for furnace filters, cut an outlet hole and attach a grate, easy peasy! Here's some picks of what I came up with, it works really good. I have forgotten to turn it on, start sanding away and look up and the shop is all cloudy with dust, turn the air cleaner on and in about 15 minutes the air is clear. I sized it to take the same filters that my furnace uses to keep things simple, and I always buy them in multi packs anyway. When the outer filter becomes caked I just vacuum it of with the shop vac and the round brush attachment. This can be done many times. I use the middle grade of filters, not the cheap ones and not the top of the line ones either as they will plug too fast.
This is the finished air cleaner, box is just 3/4" plywood screwed together. All you need is a box for the switch, a switch, some wire, and some shielded conduit.
Here you can see the slot for the double furnace filters, I used the same size as my furnace. You can also see the grate that i installed to cover the exhaust side of the fan. I positioned it so that it circulates the air in a circular motion in the shop.
Here you can see the opening on the intake side, you want this to be big for more surface area for the filters.
The old repurposed furnace squirrel cage fan. This thing will move a lot of air, It will recirculate the air many times per hour in your shop. I'm going to guess my wood shop sq ft at about 500, clears the air very quickly.
And it was cheap!
Here you can see the slot for the filters better. And the exhaust hole is the same size as the fan exit chute. The grate is a little big but it's the only one I could find to cover the hole, lol.
I just keep it under my work bench, works great there when I'm sanding. You could also hang it from the ceiling over your bench and out of the way. Being that the box is wood you can attach or hang it with just about any fastener, hook, screw, chain, boards, etc.
This thing works very very good, it was cheap and easy to build, a weekend day project. What do store bought air cleaners cost? A couple hundred bucks easy. I had most of the stuff on hand for this project, even the plywood scraps. I think the only thing I went out and bought was the exhaust grate, lol. I hope you guys that do wood working make one of these, your lungs will thank you. Heating and cooling shops almost always have the fans and motors available, I garbage picked mine!
This is the finished air cleaner, box is just 3/4" plywood screwed together. All you need is a box for the switch, a switch, some wire, and some shielded conduit.
Here you can see the slot for the double furnace filters, I used the same size as my furnace. You can also see the grate that i installed to cover the exhaust side of the fan. I positioned it so that it circulates the air in a circular motion in the shop.
Here you can see the opening on the intake side, you want this to be big for more surface area for the filters.
The old repurposed furnace squirrel cage fan. This thing will move a lot of air, It will recirculate the air many times per hour in your shop. I'm going to guess my wood shop sq ft at about 500, clears the air very quickly.
And it was cheap!
Here you can see the slot for the filters better. And the exhaust hole is the same size as the fan exit chute. The grate is a little big but it's the only one I could find to cover the hole, lol.
I just keep it under my work bench, works great there when I'm sanding. You could also hang it from the ceiling over your bench and out of the way. Being that the box is wood you can attach or hang it with just about any fastener, hook, screw, chain, boards, etc.
This thing works very very good, it was cheap and easy to build, a weekend day project. What do store bought air cleaners cost? A couple hundred bucks easy. I had most of the stuff on hand for this project, even the plywood scraps. I think the only thing I went out and bought was the exhaust grate, lol. I hope you guys that do wood working make one of these, your lungs will thank you. Heating and cooling shops almost always have the fans and motors available, I garbage picked mine!
