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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Fume extraction for my Laser

ralphjy

I'm starting to get more experience with my laser and I'm trying to do some photo engraving on craft wood.  It's taking a lot of iterations to figure out the correct settings for transit speed and power for different materials and my workroom is starting to smell like a fireplace image!   I had planned to do some active ventilation and/or air filtering when I started using the laser to cut wood as that generates a lot of smoke but I'm discovering that engraving is also problematic even though the smoke generated didn't seem that bad.  in addition to the poor air quality the smoke residue could also damage the laser lens.  I have a Weller Fume Extractor unit that I road tested a couple of years ago:  Fume Extraction Unit for soldering applications - Review and I thought that I'd give that a try as it works well to pull the solder fumes away from my work area.  It turns out that the unit works fairly well for engraving but I think that I'll have to enclose the laser unit to improve the air flow when I start cutting.

 

My only issue with using the Weller unit is the high cost of replacement filters.  The unit has a large volume 3 stage filter that currently costs $141 (it was $120 when I road tested it).  It 's a high quality filter and with the low volume of soldering that I do I haven't had to replace it yet.  I'm worried that with the amount of smoke I will generate with the laser that I'll need to replace the filter frequently.  So I thought that I'd try making a lower cost filter that I could use with the unit for use with the laser and I would still use the original filter when I'm soldering.

 

Here are pictures of the Weller unit and the 3 stage filter:

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I decided to try a smaller inexpensive HEPA filter with a carbon pre-filter.  I just needed to adapt it the blower intake by adding a baffle.  Here's a picture of the intake hole and the filter components and the art panel box that I used to create the baffle.

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I cut the hole in the panel box using my CNC unit (I had to swap the laser out for the spindle).

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Here is a bottom and top view of the new filter:

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I'll need to try this for a while to see how well it works.  The good news is that the HEPA filter with 3 pre-filters cost $7, so I can change them frequently.

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