ejmeier
09/13/2006, 07:18 PM
Here's my idea: make a cheap yet effective air filter to pull out that horrible stench that plastics/solvents leave behind when doing DIY work.
Respirators help a lot, but afterwards your whole basement smells. There are air-cleaners out there that can be outfitted with carbon filters, but these cost several hundreds of dollars, and just the replacement filters alone are $40 or more.
Basically, I just hooked up a few carbon-wrapped water filters to the output of my shop vac. Here's the layout, the plumbing parts are all PVC, and are meant to fit vacs that use 2 1/2" hose, not the 1 1/4" ones.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23334ShopVac1.jpg
On the far left is a 2" ABS male adapter. I was originally going to glue this into the vac, but decided to just taper the sides and push it in and have it hold with friction. That way I can still use the original ouput with a regular shop-vac hose and use it as a blower someday if needed.
I had to grind the piece that fits into the vac down with a dremel, to a slightly tapered fit. From there, it just connects to a 2" PVC wye, and the carbon filters are plugged into each of the holes in the wye. (I also had to sand down about 1/16" on the inside of the fitting to fit the filters into the wye.) All of this is just push-fit, nothing is glued, though I'm sure you could if you wanted it to be more permanent.
Here's a link to the carbon-wrapped RO filters to give you an idea of what I used. I bought them locally, and they were under $8 for the pair. Omni 2-pack (http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/51-293-water-filters-whole-house/omnifilter-household-carbon-wrapped-filter-604279.aspx)
After that, all I had to do is plug up the holes on the ends of the carbon filters. Because these filters are meant for water, they have holes in both ends, and I had to cover up the one on the back. This way the air is forced in one end, and out the sides through the carbon. I used short 2" long lengths of 1" wooden dowels. I'm sure you could use a cork stopper or something, but I didn't have any on hand. I just wrapped a few wraps of black electrical tape around the dowels to build up the thickness and help seal the filter.
Here's a shot of everything together, and you can see how the plugs are fitted into the back of the vac:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23334ShopVac2.jpg
Just plug the vac's inlet into your table saw and you're good to go. :cool: Or you could use it to sort of "vaccum" up bad air when solvent-welding pipes, etc.
All in all, I think it turned out okay. I was concerned about the backpressure the filters might create, but it still had pretty good suction after I had fitted the filters on. Next time, I may opt to go with a double wye and use 3 of the filters.
http://www.plastictrends.com/images/productgroup/P38.jpg
The price would then skyrocket to an astronomical $12 for the filters, plus another $2-3 for the PVC. :D
Respirators help a lot, but afterwards your whole basement smells. There are air-cleaners out there that can be outfitted with carbon filters, but these cost several hundreds of dollars, and just the replacement filters alone are $40 or more.
Basically, I just hooked up a few carbon-wrapped water filters to the output of my shop vac. Here's the layout, the plumbing parts are all PVC, and are meant to fit vacs that use 2 1/2" hose, not the 1 1/4" ones.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23334ShopVac1.jpg
On the far left is a 2" ABS male adapter. I was originally going to glue this into the vac, but decided to just taper the sides and push it in and have it hold with friction. That way I can still use the original ouput with a regular shop-vac hose and use it as a blower someday if needed.
I had to grind the piece that fits into the vac down with a dremel, to a slightly tapered fit. From there, it just connects to a 2" PVC wye, and the carbon filters are plugged into each of the holes in the wye. (I also had to sand down about 1/16" on the inside of the fitting to fit the filters into the wye.) All of this is just push-fit, nothing is glued, though I'm sure you could if you wanted it to be more permanent.
Here's a link to the carbon-wrapped RO filters to give you an idea of what I used. I bought them locally, and they were under $8 for the pair. Omni 2-pack (http://plumbing.hardwarestore.com/51-293-water-filters-whole-house/omnifilter-household-carbon-wrapped-filter-604279.aspx)
After that, all I had to do is plug up the holes on the ends of the carbon filters. Because these filters are meant for water, they have holes in both ends, and I had to cover up the one on the back. This way the air is forced in one end, and out the sides through the carbon. I used short 2" long lengths of 1" wooden dowels. I'm sure you could use a cork stopper or something, but I didn't have any on hand. I just wrapped a few wraps of black electrical tape around the dowels to build up the thickness and help seal the filter.
Here's a shot of everything together, and you can see how the plugs are fitted into the back of the vac:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/23334ShopVac2.jpg
Just plug the vac's inlet into your table saw and you're good to go. :cool: Or you could use it to sort of "vaccum" up bad air when solvent-welding pipes, etc.
All in all, I think it turned out okay. I was concerned about the backpressure the filters might create, but it still had pretty good suction after I had fitted the filters on. Next time, I may opt to go with a double wye and use 3 of the filters.
http://www.plastictrends.com/images/productgroup/P38.jpg
The price would then skyrocket to an astronomical $12 for the filters, plus another $2-3 for the PVC. :D