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| Smoke / Smell absorber for laser Cutting & Etching |
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| awemawson:
I'm giving serious consideration to acquiring a 50 watt laser engraver / etcher / cutter. It a biggish beast (about 3'6" x 2' x 2') so I don't have many choices of location, and the favoured place is quite a distance from an outside wall. One concern is fumes - can be nasty cutting (for instance) acrylic - by design there is a simple extract fan intended to vent out side by a 6" flexible duct - but outside is a long way from the preferred location. I've seen mention of 'smoke absorbers' being used with these animals, but no real hands on useful details. Anyone know about these things and can enlighten me ? :scratch: |
| hermetic:
Hi Andrew, how about activated charcoal filtering as in a cooker hood, you would need a fan to draw the smoke through the charcoal, only thing that springs to mind at the moment, Phil |
| sparky961:
Having worked in an industrial steel laser cutting shop for over 5 years, I can attest to the nasty stuff these things create. Now, we're talking a different order of magnitude as far as power goes (5000W vs. your 50W) but the concepts are the same. When cutting steel, the majority of the by-product is extremely fine iron oxide dust. The best way this was handled was through a huge multi-filter "bag house" dust collector and down-draft cutting tables. I suspect though that your case will be a bit different since you won't be cutting thick steel with 50W. Smoke from oils, plastics and glues will be your biggest problem. The dust collector probably didn't capture these things but the downdraft tables got it away from your lungs most of the time. Although routing your exhaust outside may be a real pain, I suggest that it will be money and time very well spent. Just like when you buy a mill or lathe, the cost of the machine is only a portion of the total cost. There's tooling, upkeep, repair, etc. Have you researched what consumables these use and the cost? Think of everything as a package - your laser and accessories to ensure your health and those that live with you. Oh, and on a related note: I have no experience with the small lasers, but the industrial machines I've worked with sure are finicky beasts. I suspect the same will be true or worse for the small ones. |
| vtsteam:
I don't imagine activated charcoal in a hood would last very long in absorbing the nasties in a cooker hood. It doesn't in a face mask, and that passes far less air. Maybe a special purpose unit like the welding fume extrctors would fare better, but if it was me, I'd vent straight up to rooftop, and that would help the fan by draughting as well. |
| PekkaNF:
Pretty much everyone here uses some sort of fan to extract the fumes and exhaust them to the outside. Retired jump house (brincolin) fan seems to used sometimes. Production equipment is another matter, they seem to have huge filtration structures. Pekka |
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