I got some air filters on clearance at Beisswengers for $5 each and now I've picked up a 1600CFM blower on Craigslist for $50.

Next:
* Build an air box
* Hang it from the ceiling
* Wire it to the building's power.

Ideally, we should have an easily-accessible switch mounted on the wall somewhere. I'd even be cool with adding a timer (if one is laying around), so we don't forget to turn it off.

Nice! We have panel goods to make a box. We should talk to Jude and John regarding how best to hang and electrify the filter/blower. It'll be nice to have less sawdust up my nose.


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When we were talking about this last night, I mentioned a solid-state speed control that I have. I took a look, and unfortunately, it's rated at only 120v/4A. That's not even close to what the fan unit draws, so we can either just make it an on/off deal (which I'm fine with - that was my original plan) or find some other way to slow the fan down.

I made some more progress on this today. I built about half of the box.

I'm building it with the air intake at the bottom of the unit, using two of the 24x16 filters. This will make the entire bottom of the unit an air intake surface, offering low resistance for the fan to slurp through air and get it cleaned.

I need to find some angle iron (should be easy), four eye bolts and four hooks. Perhaps four straight bolts would do as well ... or even some all-thread. I'm open to ideas. I think 3/8" bolts are the largest that would fit through the struts that I have to hang it from.

I put in a few more hours of work tonight and the air cleaner is almost finished!

The air box is complete and two 24x16x5 filters are installed. This should be plenty of surface area for air exchange. Jude was there for the functional test and as he said, it really sucks!

What remains to be done?

1. Put a 15A twist-lock outlet on the switch box (already mounted) for the remote on/off switch.
2. Screw the lid on.
3. Mount it on the ceiling and plug in to a power source.
4. Stick the remote switch somewhere obvious and connect it.

Note to self: I need to pick up (4) 16 inch long pieces of 3/8" all-thread, assorted nuts and washers, and the outlet. I already have the switch, box, ~ 35 ft of cord and twist-lock plug.

Yo self, you may want to grab four matched beam clamps as well, or are you just putting it through the joist beams and using big washers?

Pete

Nice work by the way.

See those slotted studs over in the corner? I was just going to bolt those to the beams overhead and hang it as one does a unit heater, etc. 6" (or shorter - I need to get my nose up there with a measuring tape) by 3/8" bolts with nylock nuts should do the trick, I believe.

Steve brought up a very good point: The screws I used at a critical point (affixing the angle hangers to the box) are not shear rated. I'm picking up some high-end deck screws that are rated > 200 lbs shear strength and I'll replace the cheap drywall screws with these on Thursday.

This is my favourite build that really sucks and totally blows at the same time.

Well done, and thanks for tackling this. It's going to make a huge impact.

This is what I love about the maker scene.

1. see a problem
2. come up with a solution
3. implement it

If more people would take this approach, rather than standing on the sidelines wringing their hands, the world would be a better place.

Riley

Jude helped me (Thanks!) with the elevation and electrification of the air cleaner this morning. It's fully functional and WOW, does it ever work. George was welding today and the scent of metal was in the air throughout the building. After five minutes with this on, you couldn't smell the metal anywhere in the wood shop area or even by the classroom door.

One note: the filters started out white and by this afternoon (only 3-4 hours run time) they were already looking gray. We have pretty dirty air in the shop, it looks like. On the plus side: with a few minutes of this thing on, breathing is much easier and sneezes are becoming pretty rare.