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Trapping oil smoke

Just a Sparky

Hot Rolled
Joined
May 2, 2020
Location
Minnesota
Quick question for anyone who might be in the know. For reasons I won't get into I'd like to know how easy or complicated it would be to trap and filter the smoke released by cutting oil. A simple smoke collector if you will. My question is what sort of filter media would be suitable for this application. Would some old cotton rags wadded up be sufficient or would I need to obtain a HEPA cartridge and/or activated carbon? I've got an old furnace inducer, some 1" hose and a roll of duct tape that would work perfect for this project. ;) High efficacy is not necessary... a 90% reduction would be adequate for my needs.
 
I'm thinking a scrap furnace box with furnace filters might be a low-cost device. Being made of steel it might be somewhat fire-safe. Fire likely a big consideration.

A scrap furnace with having the blower motor would/may be had for a low price.
 
clothes dry blower, 4" pvc pipe, blow it outside. (put blower out under eaves,
and have suction only inside building, so no leakage problems)
will remove less heat/ac from the shop. Put flex pip on end/drop to
get it right to the source.

Too many VOC's in that smoke to be sure your filter is working right.
 
Outside is not an option. Filtration is the only way. Mainly for control of odors and haze - plenty of air exchange to dissipate VOCs. Long story short; connected garages, don't want to piss off the neighbors.
 
Isn't that pretty much what an oven hood does in a kitchen? I have one in a camp that is unvented and does a pretty good job. Make sure you keep the filters clean and degreased in the dishwasher periodically to prevent a fire.
 
Electrostatic air cleaners are the best option if you are extracting smoke from a machine.

They are high maintenance compared to a mist extractor*, but they are massively more effective if you are not simply extracting mist.

*the electrostatic cell needs to be removed and cleaned periodically.
 
Smoke be it wood, oil or other is hard to filter since you are looking at stuff in the 0.01 micron and smaller range.
Very good furnace filter followed by hospital grade bag filter a homebrew start. Then a Hepa or electrostatic or both and better yet one in front of the other but now we are talking fancy and expensive.
Activated charcoal simply removes the smell. It filters little and dies fast. Electrostatics also remove smell and do filtering but need some sort of prefilter setup or become overloaded.
Run length can be your friend as some settles out and coats the tube with goo.
Also if you pull many CFMs on a machine tool think about oil mist and a impinger up front to stop the real oil from getting to the filter system.

All this get confusing advice and puck me expensive to implement and/or high maintenance costs.
I wish I had a simple answer.
Bob
 
Watch the auctions. I just snagged a portable Torit fume extractor for $400. It works great for welding or when the smoking buddies come over. They’ll stand at the welding table three at a time and I can barely smell anything from 10ft away. Non smoker here so :smoking: bothers me.
 
Watch the auctions. I just snagged a portable Torit fume extractor for $400. It works great for welding or when the smoking buddies come over. They’ll stand at the welding table three at a time and I can barely smell anything from 10ft away. Non smoker here so :smoking: bothers me.

How about those doing the "left handed' smokes into the vent system if you have a good system and kills everything?
They figure it out fairly fast.
Bob
 
The problem with a fan sucking out the smoke is, it also sucks the heat out. Inside filters eventually get the the smoke out after it goes everywhere.
There are stations with laminar flow hoods for dealing with toxic and dangerous fumes, germs, and things.
A solution is a restaurant style hood over the machine like that would be over commercial fryers, or ranges. The way they work is there are two fans, one sucks out the fumes, the other provides make up air. The two fans are adjusted to create a laminar flow, that does not remove the heat from the building, or suck the doors open.
The hoods often have the make up air coming from the outer side, causing that air to fold around picking up the fumes from the equipment.
It is a functional system, that could be fabricated from plywood.
 
Oil filled vacuum roughing pumps commonly used in labs are fitted with filters to to trap the oil vapor (smoke) that otherwise stinks up the place. Don’t know what they use for an element, but you might get get a hint by googling them.

Jon
 
Outside is not an option. Filtration is the only way. Mainly for control of odors and haze - plenty of air exchange to dissipate VOCs. Long story short; connected garages, don't want to piss off the neighbors.

Go to the "Other" experts:

Dust Collectors | Fume Extractors | Downdraft Tables | Micro Air

Bought two of their "Microaire MX1800", used, from another PM'er.

Light enough to hang easily, work in vertical or horizontal orientation.
Elegantly simple as boxes of rocks.

Two-speed squirrel-cage, 24"square sheet metal duct as body.

- Rails for a DEEP-ass 24" square bag filter. Pick your flavour. They start at about a hundred bucks and go UP. Or leave it out. Or use more plain pleated paper ones - see below.

- Rails for a 4" pre-filter, ELSE a stack of four ignorant 24 X 24 X 1" HEPA's from Big Box. Which I LIKE. A lot. Because those are very widely stocked and at mass-market prices.

- shed the dirtiest one at front, move stack forward, place a clean one at the rear. Do that ever' now and then.

- Wire-cage "snout" ahead of that swings away, wrap-around El Cheapo batting stops the fly-rock, dog hair, birds, mosquitoes, wasp wings, spiderwebs, and bumble-bee s**t from fouling the more expensive filters.

Not all that noisey. Set it to run ahead of, during, after operations, or all night?

Shop? Phhhht... Neither of "excuses" nor "procrastination", my major product lines, don't make a lot of air-pollution. actually.


Its the residence! Cooking, chiness-style. And five packs a day of Pall Mall Menthols 100's?

They earn their keep on intake of "make up air", 'specially during pollen and leaf-mold seasons when wee-hours "night air" can take a laod off my air-con, next day, then keep it sweet whilst NOT taking-in hot daytime air, mid-day 'til late evening.
 
Go to the "Other" experts:.....
I think the OP is trying DIY. Maybe steal some ideas of commercial made is good. Been walking in those shoes.
I am no expert but large amounts of smoke are a problem. Some of this "smoke" may not really be smoke particulates.
Overall to the OP I say try and ye-aha or that not so good. If not so good try again. Be flexible.
Looking back my first machine vent system design was very... .... well, not good and I cringe now to think about it.
Bob
 
I think the OP is trying DIY. Maybe steal some ideas of commercial made is good. Been walking in those shoes.
I am no expert but large amounts of smoke are a problem. Some of this "smoke" may not really be smoke particulates.
Overall to the OP I say try and ye-aha or that not so good. If not so good try again. Be flexible.
Looking back my first machine vent system design was very... .... well, not good and I cringe now to think about it.
Bob

Hehe, yeah just a very small, simple little setup. 1/20 horsepower draft inducer fan from a furnace to suck the smoke right off the tool at point-blank through a 1" hard rubber hose. Not an all-day or permanent fixture, just something I can attach when needed to cut 9/10ths of the haze during heavy roughing cuts so I don't catch the stink-eye from the neighbors. I'm sure my lungs will thank me to boot.

I guess I'll see what happens with a loosely packed wad of old rags to start. Or maybe a small chamber full of cotton balls. See if that's enough to settle out the worst of the oil mist and such. Cheapest and easiest route first, you know? If I end up needing more vacuum I've got a 1/3 hp Ametek blower which was originally part of a two-stage vacuum pump that I can try instead, though that one's like standing next to a jet engine.
 
Maybe a 6" duct > inline fan > carbon can filter would scrub your air clean enough, not sure for how long.
 








 
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