|
QUESTION:By this I don't mean a dust collector, but the kind of fan-in-a-box
unit that typically gets hung from the ceiling, to remove fine dust
from the air. For now, I can live with a shop-vac and sweeping up,
but the fines are killing me. Well, more like my wife will kill me
if I don't put a stop to them
I've seen some commercial units, and I believe I've seen a kit in
(I think) the Woodsmith catalog that included the blower. To save
money, I'd like to try scrounging a used motor and building one from
scratch.
Is it as simple as building a box with a switch? Are there gotchas
I should avoid? (Beyond things like building a box too small for the
motor, obviously. Anyone done this recently? Or seen plans for
something like this?
ANSWER: This plus another post indicating Woodsmith is selling a kit based on
3 furnace filters has me wondering. Furnace filters don't filter that
fine: the "real" airborne filtration systems use a furnace filter only
as a prefilter. Stacking a bunch of them won't block off that much finer
dust anymore than stacking 6 layers of window screen will block off water.
The "real" systems use a finer filter that has pockets, thus vastly
increasing the surface area, which is essential to prevent larger particles
from being forced through the filter. This last point makes me wonder if
the recently touted upgrade for the JDS system to a higher cfm rating
without a change in the filters is actually good.
I've read that the most hazardous particles are those under 10 microns -
usually too small to be seen. Just because the air looks clean apparently
doesn't mean it is.
On a side note, I recently upgraded my duct collector to use an Oneida
bag. The difference is astounding. And, thanks to the much larger surface
area of the Oneida bag over the stock bag, not only does it filter better,
it sucks better - it's like I upgraded the motor.
|
|
|
|
