AM dust filters

Tue Aug 12 19:52:04 UTC 2014

On Aug 12, 2014, at 3:22 PM, Doug Barton <dougb at dougbarton.us> wrote:

> On 08/12/2014 11:19 AM, Jason Lixfeld wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I'm interested in knowing what sorts of material folks use to make after-market dust filters for their various devices which wouldn't normally have any.  This seems to almost be a necessity when these kinds of devices are deployed in environments that are overly dusty and dirty (it should also be implied that these environments are all in-doors and would have less than ideal airflow and climate control).
>> 
>> A material that is too dense will hider airflow and cause an immediate increase in inlet temperature, which would exacerbate a potentially threatening temperature situation in environments where the ambient temperature is already in the mid to high twenties and above (that's 77 - 86F+ for my American friends ;)).  A material that is not dense enough won't do a very good job at filtering.
>> 
>> Do folks just hack up HEPA filters or something?
> 
> It sort of depends on what kind of stuff you're trying to filter out.

Small-ish stuff.  Your every day, run of the mill fine grain dust, tracked-in dirt & sand, some construction particulate (metal shavings, etc).

> Panty hose actually makes a reasonably good filter for larger stuff, but Tom's question about how often are you going to service it comes into play, since you need to remove the debris that it catches periodically in order to avoid obstructing the air flow excessively.

Yup.  Depending, either a vacuum or a straight-up replacement of the 'filter', I'd suspect.  Or maybe just a good shake in some cases.

> OTOH, you also have to have some thought towards what are the benefits of not having the internals of the system coated with dust, vs. slightly reduced air flow.

Indeed.  The internals can definitely handle non-metalic dust, as well as a pretty wide temperature range (caused by either reduced airflow or an increase in ambient temperature, or both), so I'd imagine it would be a appropriate balance between the two.

> Tom's suggestion of a pressurized cabinet is a good one of course, but that's not possible in all situations.