Shop Air Cleaner

I have been working out of a 2 car garage recently and I have been increasingly concerned about the air quality. Every time I do any woodworking I can see a cloud of fine particles floating around the garage. I happened to come into possession of some damaged fans and decided to build an air cleaner. I modeled it after the Jet/Wen/Powertec air cleaners. I purchased the Powertec brand filters from Amazon for under $20. All the other materials were free.

*****PHOTOBUCKET HIJACKED MY PICTURES SO I HAVE EDITED THE POST TO ADD THE PICTURES BACK. THEY ARE NO LONGER IN ORDER TO MATCH COMMENTARY MADE WHEN THE THREAD WAS STARTED.

These are the fans I used. They are cooling fans designed to be mounted on the doors of industrial control panels. Each fan was rated at 300 cfm. The fan cages were damaged so they were thrown in the trash. The motors still worked so I grabbed them..

I made some custom mounts out of oak scrap. Then I put them on a MDF frame.

This is the box that houses the fans and filters. The main panels are 1/4" mdf and braced with pine.

This is the 1 micron inner filter

This is the 3 micron outer filter

This is the air cleaner finished and mounted on the ceiling. The dimensions are 18"x11"x22" and it weights roughly 15 to 20 lbs. Right now I am controlling it will a simple on/off switch. I am think about changing it to a variable speed switch so that I can control the speed of the fans. Initially I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to get enough flow through the filters, but I was wrong. This thing is a beast. I am getting plenty of suction through the filters. I still need to make a front cover to diffuser the air coming out of the fans, but it is functional for the time being.

Excellent work, many thanks for taking the time to document it!

How loud is it?

Are the filters cleanable or disposable? What PN?

Excellent design and construction
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I am not sure the exact noise level. The fan manufacturer says they are 60db. I feel like it is a bit louder than that. It is definitely quieter than a vacuum but it is loud enough that it makes it hard to hear the TV I have against the wall. New, these fans are $300 a piece. They are crazy expensive and German made. I was lucky enough to dig them out of the trash for free!

These are the Amazon links for the filters. The outer filter is disposable but the inner filter claims to be re-usable.
https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-7500.../dp/B00O1N3INI
https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-7500.../dp/B002DSA30O

Great, thanks for the quick and detailed reply!

this is wonderful!!!

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Thanks mr95gst! We've added your Shop Air Cleaner to our Dust Collectors category,
as well as to your builder page: mr95gst's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-shop-air-cleaner-5"> <img src="/uploads/169393/homemade-shop-air-cleaner-5.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/homemade-shop-air-cleaner-5">Shop Air Cleaner</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/mr95gst">mr95gst</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/fan'>fan</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/filter'>filter</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/shop'>shop</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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That's badass, puts my ghetto fabu-cation to shame but wouldn't them bening in a shared chamber make the fans kinda fight each other decreasing efficiency and increasing motor heat? I was going to make one out of bounce house fan (from the trash) but that thing is louder then a vacuum and in the barn i live in there is only a limited amount of electricity and it took too much of it
Attachment 18102

Nice build mr95gst.Looks great.

Nice Job! Do you think that a furnace squirrel cage blower would have the pressure to get the cfm thru the filters? I have scavenged several and the cfm is high and they are quiet. Thank you.

The shop air cleaners you can purchase from Wen, jet, and powermatic all use squirrel fans. Jay Bates on YouTube built one with a furnace fan that used bigger filters.

Thank you. Looks like I have a new build to do. The dust accumulation in my woodworking shop is bad, and that's with a dust collector. Sanding with a vacuum still will not get all the dust. To mutilate a saying, happy lungs, happy life! Thanks.

Thanks for the detailed build on the shop air cleaner. I was trying to think of some different options for suction fans. But now I have a better idea of what type of fan to use.

Great construct air cleaner! What can I advise on noise reduction. Try to set the speed control. This can reduce fan noise.

Darn that is smart. I just happen to have scrapped an air conditioner and have spent the last hour stripping it as I think that may work for the case and fan with a little tampering - and take two sets of filters simultaneously. I will download the specs on the filters and explore further then it hopefully just depends on ending the lockdown so I can get parts. At 76 I am in no hurry. Or maybe the squirrel cage from inside the house will work with a LOT of modification. I guess I better find out how loud it is too.

Thank you for being so conscientious and taking the extra time to recreate and post the pics after the Photobucket debacle! All the best.

Nice, good inspiration (take that either way) for those constructing air cleaning filters for dusts (and viruses).

I built a porting bench for porting cylinder heads long ago. it has a 110V home ac squrial cage blower in it, with 7 filters surrounding it to suck& filter out the sucked air so i dont have to breathe it or it go through the shop to the main ac. I have steel grates on top the heads sit on and get a constant high flow of suckshion pulling down the debris. it works awesome. it has a std formica counter top on top with a section hinged to come up for porting. easy access to all the filters and aera to clean it all out. no more iron boogers or aluminum dust and splinters going everywhere. I have built one at work 35+ years ago then 23 years ago I built a nicer upgraded with 7 filter one hear at home in the porting blasting room of my shop. my shop central ac unit's filter stays oh so clean.