Cheap effective shop air filter pics...

[Steve Ash]

I remember seeing some shop made air filters on here a while ago and thought at some point I should make one. I already had the squirrel cage fan, and some extra plywood. Creeker Jim Young provided the Woodsmith #95 so I could finally get this built.

I made a few changes in the way it was shown in shopsmith (actually I put in 5 filters instead of 3 as suggested) but the final results are that it works and the final cost to me was the price of the filters.

[Steve Ash]

looking at it from underneath....

[Chad Pater]

Steve, That looks pretty nice. What filters did you go with? What did Woodsmith suggest?

Chad

[Steve Ash]

Chad, Woodsmith showed 2 pre filters and 1 exhaust filter, but in my older age I guess I must need glasses because it looked to me like 3 pre filters and 2 exhaust filters. Should just insure the air is cleaner I guess...

The filters I used were 16 x 20 since I couldn't find any 12 x 24's, and they were this kind

http://www.precisionaire.com/Retail/...?prod=15-88555

[Alan Schaffter]

Interesting/conflicting filter specs?:

"Up to 45 times more effective than spun glass on sub micron sized particles."

"Captures particles as small as 1 micron"

[John Kain]

That looks nice, and functional.

I couldn't find a thread about it in the search menu, however I would be very interested in building one myself. Any ideas how to find the old thread?

[Bob Dodge]

Nice job Steve,

That unit looks identical to the one I built for my shop, right down to the choice of 5 filters, and 16 x 20" filters. I added flip-out door-frames at the front and rear , to allow for easy filter removal/replacement, and a simple pull-switch. I was also lucky enough to get my hands on a compact, yet very performant mil-spec blower. Works really well.

I like the idea of having the blower mounted to the interior divider. The blower outlet on most commercial units, has no outlet filtration stage, and I find that this can create a significant amount of turbulence in some circumstances. With the Shop-Notes/WoodSmith model, you get a nicely diffused outlet flow. I also added a small, perforated baffle, directly in front of the blower outlet. This helped "soften" the exhaust blast into the front filters.

Good luck with that unit. Bob

[Julio Navarro]

I have a quick, perhaps silly question, but why so much space between the two filter locations, (front and back) if the dust is caught at the intake, where the three filters are located do you need so much space between the exhaust filter? Why not just make it 5 ganged filters and put the blower on the outside?

I have a sort of a crazy design for my filter. I'll find the sketches and post it and see if I can get opinions.

[Matt Meiser]

Steve, that looks like it will work just as good or better than the commercial units. Grainger carries the 12x24 filters if anyone else is looking for them.

[Jim Young]

You sure knocked that project out pretty quick.

[Garry Smith]

That's Slick Steve,
That is also on my(long) list. I built my downdraft sanding table with a squirrel cage fan. Many times it is running even if I am not sanding, just to pull any dust away from where I am working.
Garry

[Tom Andersen]

Steve,

I intend to make an air unit like this one. Looks really neat. I have way too much dust in my workshop. Here are a few questions:

1) Do you need a centrifugal ventilator or an axial? (It looks like you have a centrifugal?)

2) How long time will the filters typically last? Can they be cleaned with water and soap or do I need to buy a bunch of them at the outset?

3) Do you have an electronic copy of the Woodsmith #95?

4) What Julio said, what's the reason for the space?

Thanks for sharing, looks really good.

Tom

[Steve Clardy]

Looks nice and effective!!
I need to build a few of those one of these days

[Jerry Olexa]

Nice work, Steve...Good improvising

[Kyle Kraft]

I built an effective air cleaner using a 1/2hp 3 speed furnace blower. I contacted our filter supplier at work, and requested the company pricing. After explaining my application to the sales rep he recommended the following: Prefilter is a Farr 3030 size 24x24x2 and a Multi-Wedge MW-45 24x24x12. The multi wedge is a 45% efficiency because he thought the 90% would require more static pressure than my humble blower could produce. The prefilter cost $5.95 and the multi-wedge $17.95 and I can buy them by the each! Overall my total cost for the unit was around $100 dollars, most of which was the oak veneer plywood.

I have pictures to post if I could figure out how to do it in less than 2 hours (cry for help)