Hey Guys,
Firstly, I've been scouring these forums for years. It has been a terrific resource with amazing contribution from the whole community. So a big "thank you" to you all!
Now, I'm in need of some help for my new laser cutter. I've had a 4'x3' (1200x900mm) enclosed Chinese laser cutter for a few years now and it's been great. The exhaust on it hasn't been brilliant, as I can still smell MDF or acrylic when cutting, but overall, I can't complain. I just got a new 8'x4' (2500x1300mm) Chinese laser cutter and the exhaust system I have isn't doing a good job at all. I've been reading up as much as I can but I'm still a bit lost.
The current extraction system:
- 3 vents under the laser cutter bed that have ducts leading to 2 x 6"(150mm) outlets. These 2 ducts run to their own 500w Chinese Fan. Ducts would be 6' (1.8m) from the laser cutter to the fan
- A single 4"(100mm) duct from the top of the gantry. This runs to it's own 500w chinese fan(no idea on CFM). Flexible Duct would be around 6' (1.8m) from the gantry to the fan.
- Ducting from the fans is 4" (100mm) and runs 6' (1.8m) to a custom adapter (dodgy, yes) then into 6" (150mm) ducting that travel around 33' (8m) to the roof. There is a standard metal roof cowl to stop rain getting back into the ducts. There is also a y-join along this section of the duct where the ducting from the smaller laser cutter hooks up.
I've taken a few pics as my explanation is probably really hard to follow. Haha.
In essence, it's really bad. It's loud. It struggles to pull any smoke, especially when cutting and the laser head & gantry is moving around. There is always a lot of smoke on top of the material that just doesn't get picked up.
I know it looks like a bit of a mess, I literally set it up with what was provided with the laser cutter and what I had available to ensure the laser cutter worked as required. The laser cutter is now all dialled in and it's time to get the exhaust figured out.
It's a fairly large workshop with roller doors always open, so makeup air shouldn't be an issue.
One idea I was thinking of was to run semi-rigid or rigid ducting where possible and replacing the fans.
What would everyone recommend? What fans? Also, does anybody do something different on top of the gantry for better extraction of smoke from the top of the material? I'm open to any ideas!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Ash
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