HEPA/Carbon Air Cleaner / Scrubber by RJ_Make

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

UPDATE: 03/07/2016
Found a flaw in the design. You need to glue in an extension piece to the carbon chamber. This extension keep air from by-passing the carbon at the front most lip. (See Picture)
UPDATE: 03/07/2016
Added Assembly Video Youtube
This is a fairly substantial remix of Rod Lairds Replicator 2/2x respirator filter air scrubber. You can find it here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:125264
I want to say thanks to Rod for sharing, not only his design but experience. Without his spark of ingenuity and design talent this would not be possible.
The Reason for an Air Scrubber:
There has been a lot of talk about desktop 3D printing and it's effects inside the home. There are a few studies that show the emission rates of Ultra Fine Particles and VOC's from 3D printing rising to what could be considered harmful levels. Here is a recent study that was published about it. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.5b04983
After looking for a possible solution for an embedded filtration system for my Flashforge Creator Pro, I stumbled across Rod Laird's air scrubber couplings for use with a respirator (the kind found in breathing masks) and high pressure fan motor.
I thought perfect; so I ordered a High Pressure Axial Fan and printed up Rod's fantastic couplings. There's was a problem though, I could not obtain the resperator Rod uses in the US, so I purchased the Neiko R-621 on Amazon that was recommend in Rod's thingy comments.
The Problem:
So I had everything together and what I found was very disappointing. In order to move any appreciable amount of air through the R-621 respirator I had to max out the motor. Maxing out this motor creates a TON of noise, It's just WAY too loud.
@9v I could get about 155 FPM to move through the respirator and it was VERY loud!
@7.5v I could get about 115 FPM to move through the respirator, the noise was Ok!
Here is a video on my testing, (using an AMPROBE TMA40-4 Anemometer) of this respirator at Youtube
The bottom line is, unless you are willing to run the motor (the Delta in the link below) at 12v and deal with the noise, I doubt very seriously it's doing much of anything using the R-621 respirator.
The Quest for a Solution:
Well it's not a 100% perfect solution, and it does require a large investment of both time and money to convert a Flashforge Creator Pro or Like machine to get this to work well.
I will be posting a few video's for assembly and testing of my remix in the future so subscribe to either my Twitter and or YouTube account.
Things you will need to consider before proceeding:
1) If you own a Flashforge Creator Pro with the factory top you MUST replace it with the Makerbot top. I found there is no easy way to seal the existing top and the top to the frame of the printer. If the top of the FFCP is not sealed well, I doubt this or any other scrubber will work very well. (See Pictures)
2) You must seal up every seam in the top of the printer using some clear silicone. This includes sealing the carry handles with some covers. I also recommend sealing the bottom rear seam where the steel bottom meets the back wall. (See Pictures)
3) You will need to be able cut a square hole in the rear of the printer, it's pretty easy if you are handy with a Dremel. You will not be able to use the front cowl included in Rod's thingy as it reduces too much air flow. (See Pictures)
4) If your door does not close completely, you will need to superglue 2 magnets on either side to force the door closed. (See Pictures)
Supplies:
1)Silicon
2)High Pressure Fan
3)Adjustable 12vdc Power Supply
4)1/2" x 1/8" Neodymium Magnets for Printer Top and Door
5)Rubber Bands
6)Roomba 800 HEPA Filters (these are not OEM) You may need to cut one side of the filter key off (dims are slightly different filter to filter)
7)Activated Carbon Pellets
8) Super Glue
Printed Items: (Starting from the Front Cowl)(Most should load in correct orientation)
All Printed @ 35% Infill except Grates @ 100%. Speed 50 mm/s ABS
1)The Front_Cowl (1) should be printed with motor side down with minor supports
2)The Motor_Coupler_Insert (1) should be printed motor side up with minor supports
3)The Motor_Filter_Coupling (1) should be printed motor side down with minor supports
4)The Filter_Body_Top (1) should be printed with filter body down (glue end bottom)
5)The Filter_Body_Grate (2) should be printed face down without any supports
6)The Filter_Body_Bottom (1) should be printed base down with minor supports and a tight brim.
7)The Filter_Body_End Cover (1) should be printed insert rim up with no supports
8)The Filter_Body_Stand (2) should be printed bottom side down with minor supports
9) Chamber_Extension (1) should be printed bottom side down without any supports
Assembly:
1) Superglue one Filter_Body_Grate into the Filter_Body_Top.
2) Superglue the Filter_Body_Top to the Filter_Body_Bottom making sure the area where the filter gasket will rest on is level on both sides.
3) Attach the Motor_Filter_Coupling to the Filter_Body_Top and seal the inside seam with silicone (Do not use super glue).
4) Superglue the 2nd Filter_Body_Grate (if you want to divide the carbon chamber) where you want it inside the chamber.
5) Superglue the Filter_Body_End-Cover to the bottom of the Filter_Body_Bottom.
6) Attach The Motor_Filter_Coupling to the Motor
7) Attach the Motor_Coupler_Insert to the outlet of the motor (Wiring running through fitting)
8) Attach the rubber bands to hold everything in place (you may need to double your rubber bands on the bottom due to the weight of the body.
9) Attach the the Front_Cowl over the Motor_Coupler_Insert (Wiring running through fitting)
10) Install into printer (on right for FFCP) and line up everything keeping the Front Cowl right up against the 'steel' corner. Use a red,gold or silver maker and outline the Front Cowl to the rear wall of the printer. I just marked the top and left side and used the steel corner and steel bottom as my guide for those sides. (Remove air scrubber)
11) Carefully cut out marked area on back wall with a Dremel. Making the hole just large enough so the first few mm pass into the back wall. (cutting ON your line should allow for this)
12) Clean up all the plastic from the cutting process. ;-)
13) Re-install Filter Assm back into printer and attach to power supply.
UPDATED: You need to glue in an extension piece to the carbon chamber. (See Picture)
YOU ARE DONE!
In my testing 6v is the lowest voltage you can use to move ~190 FPM, but if you can handle the noise the filter worked better at 7.5v. I'm using mine at 6v.