Help me with an exhaust question.

[Gary Hair]

Yep.
It's in the house and I build a spacer that slides into the open window and then the window closes on it The spacer seals the opening and has a 6" vent that the exhaust connects too.
The window is right next to the cutter.

That actually make it much easier! Build a stand and a cover an put the blower outside. I have had mine like that for the last 5 years and it is working fine. I made the stand out of 2x6's and a rubbermaid tub for the cover - cost me about $12 and 30 minutes of my time. The input side from the laser is pointed at the window and the exhaust is pointed down - nothing fancy at all.

[Bill George]

Think of a window AC unit.

[Rich Harman]

That actually make it much easier! Build a stand and a cover an put the blower outside.

This is what I did.

[Keith Winter]

Any photos of your setup Gary?

That actually make it much easier! Build a stand and a cover an put the blower outside. I have had mine like that for the last 5 years and it is working fine. I made the stand out of 2x6's and a rubbermaid tub for the cover - cost me about $12 and 30 minutes of my time. The input side from the laser is pointed at the window and the exhaust is pointed down - nothing fancy at all.

[Keith Winter]

I second blower in a living space will be horribly loud, also loud bouncing off all that metal in your garage door. I thought we were initially doing this in a commercial space.

You you have two options
1 mount outside and cover as others said. You'll cover the blower and come in through a window or the garage wall with your pipe.

2 build or buy a filter. Lots of companies sell aftermarket scrubbers, they aren't cheap but they are very quite. Diy will be loud but cheaper. Might need to invest in some earplugs if you go that route.

3 you could just mount inside your garage and pipe out. Wear ear plugs or buy yourself a little shed for the laser, portable ac and then stick your blower outside with a cover over it. Cheesy yes, but it would be the best if you don't have the space in your garage or house as you said. Probably the most expensive route though, I'd buy the aftermarket air scrubber if I had the room for the laser in the garage and it was me or mount it outside my garage.

[Keith Colson]

This is exactly why I put a VSD on my blower. I only need to turn up the noise for the big smoke. Also I may be wrong here but I think 3 phase motors are much quieter due to their more balanced commutation. One thing is for sure I would never mount my blower inside, the space and ambiance are too important to me. The super silent dental compressor is magically quiet too.

[Jeff Body]

That actually make it much easier! Build a stand and a cover an put the blower outside. I have had mine like that for the last 5 years and it is working fine. I made the stand out of 2x6's and a rubbermaid tub for the cover - cost me about $12 and 30 minutes of my time. The input side from the laser is pointed at the window and the exhaust is pointed down - nothing fancy at all.

I second blower in a living space will be horribly loud, also loud bouncing off all that metal in your garage door. I thought we were initially doing this in a commercial space.

You you have two options
1 mount outside and cover as others said. You'll cover the blower and come in through a window or the garage wall with your pipe.

2 build or buy a filter. Lots of companies sell aftermarket scrubbers, they aren't cheap but they are very quite. Diy will be loud but cheaper. Might need to invest in some earplugs if you go that route.

3 you could just mount inside your garage and pipe out. Wear ear plugs or buy yourself a little shed for the laser, portable ac and then stick your blower outside with a cover over it. Cheesy yes, but it would be the best if you don't have the space in your garage or house as you said. Probably the most expensive route though, I'd buy the aftermarket air scrubber if I had the room for the laser in the garage and it was me or mount it outside my garage.

Question on the Scubber?????????????
Do you get enough air flow to move the smoke out. That's the problem I'm having now. Smoke is lingering in the area for too long. I've measured my current setup and I'm getting about 200cfm measuring inside the laser at the exhaust opening.

I'm thinking of trying one other option. I can move everything to the garage and since I have to take the exhaust up into the ceiling to get over the block wall I could mount the blower in the big crawl space I have up there. Then I could use a vent to blow it out of the soffit. This would put the blower in "Another space" with some insulation to help act as a sound barrier. It'll be in a nice dry environment and the overall run would only be about 7-8 feet.

This is exactly why I put a VSD on my blower. I only need to turn up the noise for the big smoke. Also I may be wrong here but I think 3 phase motors are much quieter due to their more balanced commutation. One thing is for sure I would never mount my blower inside, the space and ambiance are too important to me. The super silent dental compressor is magically quiet too.

What is a VSD?
Can you get a 3 phase motor that's 110v?

[Keith Colson]

VSD = Variable speed drive. Most three phase motors have delta and star configuration which lets you set the voltage, I am not sure on 110 but I would guess the right VSD would boost the voltage. You do need to do some research into motors and VSD's to find the correct pair. A motor in the crawl space is likely going to be loud and maintenance would be tricky too. Occasionally a bit of paper gets sucked up into the fan and puts it off balance. You want to spend less than 10 minutes fixing that. I think its correct to measure feet or meters per second inside the cabinet as pictured in my post.

Cheers
Keith

[Rich Harman]

Also I may be wrong here but I think 3 phase motors are much quieter due to their more balanced commutation.

Not sure about that one. I am sure that by far the greatest amount of noise comes from the impeller and movement of the air.

[Keith Colson]

Hi Rich

On my system the motor is the noisiest part due to the rigid ducting. I even spent time adjusting the PWM modulation frequency on the VSD to drop a lot of noise away. With flex you are right, the noise goes right through flexible ducting. My air also goes straight up into the sky so that's where a lot of the noise goes.

I did a rough calc and my CFM goes from a minimum of 900 CFM to about 1400 CFM At 900 CFM its not enough for 9mm mdf smoke to clear well.
Here is a good calc site
http://www.calculatoredge.com/optica...air%20flow.htm

Cheers
Keith

[Kev Williams]

Not rocket surgery. Just do what you have to.

Vent for my ULS, just cut a hole thru the door. Been like that for over 12 years. Same green HF blower too.




Vent for my LS900, I put in a plex window (cardboard is to keep the morning sun out of my face).
Note the hose is all kinked and such. It still sucks ALL the smoke out. Been like that for 10+
years. Again, same blower. Both blowers are outside in the basement stairwell.




For my Triumph in the garage. Again with the plex window, which I also needed anyway
for the swamp cooler...




-- McGuiver's got nothing on me. Just did what I had to... and all smoke ends up outside.

Side note on the HF 'green' blowers, the new one I got for the Triumph is NOT the same as
my older ones. New one has an induction motor that takes quite awhile to spool up,
like 3 or 4 seconds. Old ones are zero to full blast within a second.
It also has a humming drone the others don't, that makes it a bit louder.

.

.

[Keith Colson]

This is how my laser looks from the inside, all the extraction is outside. The keyboard is mounted on a swivel which I rotate into place when editing. The shelf under the laser has wheels and houses the remnant stock.



I am going to weld up a sheet rack to go on the right hand side very soon.

[Keith Winter]

Kev nice setup, but really digging that old monitor and vanguard 5000 computer in the far background. That takes me back to my computer tech and bbs running days! Is it still alive and kicking?

[Keith Winter]

Nice looking inside setup Keith. OP Keith has a killer outside ventilation setup as well, was helping me with some of my ventilation issues not long ago. Check his posts to see photos, might give you an idea of what is possible.

[Jeff Body]

Just wanted to come back with an update.
I've moved the laser to the garage. I've completely redesigned the garage creating a Loft storage area and I built a new work bench.
This created the space in the garage for the laser. I ran a 6" duct to the HF blower that I installed IN the attic crawl space. I then ran the exhaust through a 6" dryer soffit vent. The vent is spring loaded so it closes when there isn't any flow.
The noise level is very minimal and I've been enjoying playing with my new toy without having to worry about bothering my fiance.
Smoke is well maintained now and it's actually alittle better is I crack the lid to the laser about .5"

The only other thing I have to figure out now is better cooling. Right now after about 45-60 min of engraving and cutting I'm up to 30*C.

Here are the pictures.

Here's how the garage started
IMG_3207 (Medium).JPG

I've begun to build the loft.
IMG_3209 (Medium).JPG

Completed project
IMG_3210 (Medium).JPG

My laser's new home
IMG_3217 (Medium).JPG

The blower that started it all.
IMG_3216 (Medium).JPG