Shop Air Cleaner

[AmishWarlord]

Now this is a cool idea!

I was thinking about makeing some aircleaners up but hanging them would be a pain!

This would be much better and easer to do filter changes!

Air filter masquerades as a mobile work table » Wood Magazine – Shop Tip of the Day

 

[jnforness]

That is a great idea, although I just bought one and hung it about 6 months ago. It is amazing the difference it makes!

 

[Joe Scharle]

Not entirely a new idea as some of us have made similar cabinets. Here's mine. BTW, it's entirely pocket hole....no glue.

View image in gallery​

 

[ehpoole]

I was thinking about makeing some aircleaners up but hanging them would be a pain!

Actually, hanging them really isn't much of a pain. You simply secure four eye-bolts into ceiling joists, take two lengths of 25-50' rope, tie each rope to an opposing corner of the air cleaner and thread the ropes through their corresponding ceiling eye-bolts. Ask an assistant (you can get by with just one helper, but two makes for an even easier hoist) to pull on the two lengths of rope until the air cleaner is at an appropriate height and secure the permanent chains. First secure the chains to the two sets of eye-bolts that are not tied off to the ropes. Then remove the ropes and hang the remaining two sets of eye-bolts with chain.

Really quite simple and no awkward or heavy lifting is involved.

If you opt to build your own, invest in some good 1-micron filters. I mention this because many of the DIY plans out there use nothing more than ordinary household HVAC filters, which provides for a false sense of security. They will eliminate the obvious mess from your woodworking, but they will allow nearly all of the most harmful dust to escape into your shop air where it will remain suspended for many hours before it settles out. It is Ok to use the cheaper household filters as your first stage filtration (which prevents large particles from clogging the micron filter), but then follow it up with either a large pleated or bag-style 1-micron second stage filter.

For the fan you will need a good sized HVAC squirrel-cage (centrifugal) fan and motor. Expect to lose 25-35% of the fan's rated (free-air) CFM due the the resistance offered by the filters. For a typical two-car garage sized shop you will want a final design CFM of around 750+, so you will need a centrigual fan and motor rated at around 1050-1200+CFM free-air.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

a important part is placement .... so hanging it in the center of the room helps

it was worth offsetting a rafter to hang mine.... it is high enough to be out of the way and does its job

Since I bought mine I would not be against making one.... I would start out with the filters from JDS and then build a box around them... I kind of wish I would have just done that to start with instead of spending $379 bucks for a sheet metal box from china

 

[AmishWarlord]

14 foot ceiling + no ladder = pain.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

14 foot ceiling + no ladder = pain.

borrow a ladder and then hang it with a pully systems so you just have to raise and lower it on cables to change filters

 

[Phil S]

The under the workbench idea sure seems to make sense. I would think it would be better to pull the dust down rather than pull it up, moving it right by your head and your nose. I have always seen these filters hung from the ceiling and I am getting close to hanging mine up - but now I am rethinking the best placement. Am I missing something??

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

reading the manual for a unit might help explain best placement for the best job

http://jdstools.com/AirTechHPManual.pdf

 

[junquecol]

My unit (shop made) hangs about 4 feet off the back wall of my shop, centered upon it's length. This just happens to be almost directly in front of my wall mounted gas heater, which helps circulate the heat around the shop. I use an inner bag filter that I bought from Grainger, and a pleated furnace filter. On the outlet end, I use a couple of return air grills to direct the air flow. Remote control is a Christmas light control.