Has the group ever discussed purchasing a fume scrubber/Fume Extractor for the lasers? We cut a lot of nasty stuff that everyone ends up breathing even with our current exhaust system. Also, this all gets pushed out into the environment and we may be breaking a few EPA industrial pollution laws.
I have a buddy that is buying the fume extractor below for their shop’s laser and was hoping to get some feedback on it.
http://www.bofaamericas.com/productDetails.asp?pid=6
Thoughts?
Too expensive for our current setup… besides we don’t fall under that
category for the current fumes we generate.
We also have negative pressures in the lasers right now, so nothing is
going to be coming inside the building.
When the venting system is turned on. But then a scrubbing system would need to be turned on as well.
When operated correctly*, numerous times the workshop has filled with smoke due to users forgetting to turn on the ventilation for the laser.
Not the laser… plasma cutter.
No I am talking the laser. I have never been in the building when the plasma cutter was in operation. But I have seen smoke coming out of the laser cutter when it was running without the venting being turned on.
Could we wire something like this into the lasers so when the tube turns on the fans turn on as well with a 10 min delay on turning the fans off?
I looked into it last year to see if it’s viable to run inside without sucking a/c air out and just dropping the air back inside, cost is about 6k per laser and requires running cost of replacement activated charcoal.
I also heard it does not completely remove the smell of burning arcylic.
I ended up with the conclusion 6k is a lot of electricity and still would have to deal with the smell so venting outside won out.
At this time I do not know of any regulatory requirement as well as I have never seen one in use with the exception of a place in Philly that was not able to put holes in the bldg
… and -YOU- need to be reporting those people so that we can warn them.
At the time, I was only a member for a week or so, hadn’t not had the laser training, and had no idea what was normal for that machine.
@MilTech996 question, what do you think in particular that we are venting out? Also, you mentioned EPA what do you think we are violating? Just wondering if you have some information I don’t know or if you are hypothesizing?
Thanks,
Nick
At the old DMS location we had an interlock that prevented the tube from firing unless the fans were running. Seems like a better solution. No fan => no cut => turning the fan on.
No, we didn’t. It was just on the same power strip.
At one point we did (Alyssa’s laser perhaps?) because the head would move but that laser would not fire w/out the fan on. May have been before you joined, @william_petefish.
I would know because I wired it.
The real question is can the laser committee modify the current setup so that the exhaust fan always comes on automatically when either of the lasers is operating?
Or are we ok with it being a separate manual step and relying on every user every single time checking that it is on to prevent hazardous fumes from filling the workshop? In the same way we depend on every user every time to not burn the building down.
It was changed to manual because we didn’t have the required power in that area yet.
Yes, We have the equipment to make it work.
Are we working on it… I will answer that with another question: Are the electricians done yet?
I’m not sure about the particular brand of laser at DMS, but my Universal Laser has an option in the software driver that is a user selectable option to make sure the air is on. I have it set to not allow the laser to fire unless it gets a positive pressure of 10 PSI from my compressor.