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Thread: Can't find source of Laser Exhaust Smell

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Null View Post
    I have been using a 6 inch inline fan for more than 20 years. If it ever dies I'll replace it with the same thing.
    I'll GUARANTEE that if your fan is 20 years old it is NOT the same quality (junk) plastic fan that it seems everyone is selling or providing with the new lasers.
    These fans are cheap plastic MJ grow fans that only boost airflow. they don't work with any back pressure. I've a 6 inch one that I bought for use with my fibers. It works, but leaks like a sieve.
    I ended up putting it outside and it will pull most vapors out. but it is NOT equivalent to the metal chinese blowers or a HF dust collector blower.
    I see more complaints about smoke with laser use than anything else and 99.9% is due to lack of flow OUT.
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Millstone, NJ
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    The way your fan is right at the wall. The only way it would be the cause is if it were too week or if the seal to the wall was bad. You can hold a lighter to the joint and move it around to see if it flickers. If the hose before the fan were leaking it would be sucking air in not pushing it out.

    The next issue may be the door seal on the garage.

  3. #3
    The only place my USA made inline blower can leak is at the points of installation (top and Bottom). I installed it along with my SIL and it doesn't leak. I can also stand next to it and carry on a phone conversation.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

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  4. #4
    I'd still say that motor needs to be outside. AND, your vent exit is too close to the window and garage door, easy for smoke & smells to drift in...

    Here's my jerry-rigged setup, which exhausts the 2 C02 and 2 fiber lasers in my garage shop, 1 C02 and 1 fiber each share a blower, separated by Tees and blast gates to 'steer' the suction...
    Outside the garage window is this 'patio box', which I semi-unearthed for these pics, which are pretty grainy as it's pretty dark out, no flash so I artifically lightened them up, but oh well!
    blwrbox.jpg
    --note the 2 intake hoses coming down out of the garage window... also notice the 4" hole on the front-right side of the box, there's another one on the left side under the tarp, those holes are right next to the blower's motors cooling-air intake, so the motors never overheat. (I just make sure the tarps are away from the holes a bit.) Inside the boxes I've stuffed fiberglass insulation around everything EXCEPT the blower's motor's proper, for sound abatement...--the exit hoses come out the left side, not seen in the photo above, curl around and run behind the box along the ground, about 15' away from the main box and into these home-made filter boxes, which are just storage boxes with a securely lockable lid--
    chrcoalbox0.jpg
    air is pushed into the boxes, and exits the other side thru a 4" hole- note the old furnace filter standing next to the right side of the boxes- That's just for good measure

    INSIDE the boxes--
    chrcoalbox.jpg
    Is some 1/2" square hole wire screen to hold everything in, a basic furnace filter on the left side, again just for good measure, and the rest of the box is filled with one of the large bags of el-cheapo charcoal briquettes Walmart sells. Those briquettes ARE as grungy as they look, I need to change them out, they've done their job!

    It's not perfect, but not once in 8 years has a neighbor complained, or even noticed (and I've asked!), the teensy bit of hum coming from both motors, even late at night (the fiberglass works), and more important, no one has ever said they've smelled anything. If you're standing right next to the charcoal boxes, you can sometimes see a bit of smoke, or smell the Rowmark or wood or whatever burning, but once you're 20 feet away, you can't see, hear, or smell anything- unless you're trying to!

    My garage shop does smell of what the lasers are doing a bit, but it's never more than minor, the smell never ends up in the house, because any and all air moving thru the vents is in a vacuum condition, meaning all 'static' air in the garage is also in a vacuum condition, which removes air FROM the house, rather than pushing air INTO the house... And once the engraving stops, any leftover smells clear within a few minutes.
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  5. #5
    I appreciate everyone's feedback. I'm going to see what actions I can take before diving deeper into moving my entire unit and cutting a new hole for a new machine location. I won't be able to take any advice with pictures because I'm weird about online payments for forums and security in general.

  6. #6
    Alright everyone, I made the changes (to a blower fan on the outside of the shop) and it seems like the smoke is still escaping the enclosure. I smell it coming out of the cracks in the lid now. Are Boss lasers that poorly designed that it can't provide good makeup airflow to get rid of the smoke?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Gig Harbor, WA
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    Go to MeterMall.com and purchase "smoke generators" Regin Smoke Emitters

    $13.95 -- Dense white smoke for airflow and leak tests. Range of burn times and volumes.
    .

    Purchase smoke generator (best suited for your needs) and place in at furthest point on table where the laser would travel. Turn on laser as if to run a job. Fans "On". Light (fire) generator and close top of laser as in running a job. Check machine box for leaks ...mark with markers (blue painters tape) Check the entire exhaust system... pipes, connections and fan area. Might need a few people to help dependent on length of plumbing and smoke burn length.... Seal the leaks and repeat as needed.

    Remember the further you move the fan from the machine the less efficient the fan becomes. This is due to the inner surface of the exhaust pipes placing surface resistance on the traveling air and slows the amount of air CFM permitted to exit the laser box........ Even with an efficient system the pipes should be cleaned weekly/monthly/yearly based on the materials being lased /cut. If the pipes have build up... so do the fan's blades....



    .
    Mark
    In the Great Northwest!

    Trotec Speedy C25, Newing-Hall 350 (AMC I & HPGL), NH-CG-30 (Carbide Cutter Sharpener)
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