Intro
Smoke from soldering is not healthy to breathe. I built this easy fix a while ago.
An easy fix
Is to just blow it or suck it away. Disclaimer: this will not be what is considered a proper smoke extraction method, since the smoke is just blown (or sucked) in the same room and diluted and there is no air filter. But the result is that you breathe less concentrated fumes. Coupled with a well ventilated room and you are doing better.
Usually, I place it to suck the smoke from nearby soldering spot, but if you are in need of a longer range, blowing it away works from farther, as long as you don’t aim it towards you.
Main ingredients:
- A 9.2 cm, 12V fan. I opted for a good quality Sunon EF92251S1-A99-A, which can move 87.5 m³/h while producing 34dBA noise. To power it I used
- One 5V and 1A, 4000mAh (yeah right) power bank I got for free. The thing was going into over protection on every phone I tried, but it has enough oomph to drive the fan.
- One step up DC/DC converter with variable output so you can tune the fan speed to your liking, but I used a MT3608 based one. I should have added a resistor in parallel to the pot to limit the voltage to the fan’s safety limits, but I did not. I just use common sense and the fan sound when adjusting, though it has been sitting on the same setting for a while now.
- Power switch
- 3D printed fan guards, but seriously buy a ready made one if you are ordering parts, it’s not worth the 3D print.
Result
Disclaimer, again: this will not be what is considered a proper smoke extraction method, since the smoke is just blown (or sucked) in the same room and diluted and there is no air filter. if you can, use a proper smoke extractor when soldering.
In the summer I solder in the garage; in the winter I solder in the bathroom with the ceiling exhaust fan running. But if your indoor workstation is close to a window, you could solder under a kitchen range hood and exhaust it outside using flexible ventilation tubing. For a more elegant setup, you can purchase window panel inserts made for use with portable air conditioners. You just attach your tubing to the place where the air conditioner normally exhausts heat. You can also buy a metal-framed plexiglass sheet that attaches to rails on the window frame with magnetic strips. These are typically used to reduce heat loss in winter on old single-pane windows that cannot be replaced. Various vendors will custom build them to your specifications and ship them to you as a kit with the panel and rails. Some would even cut the hole for you too.
Hi Bob,
To improve it, you can add a carbon filter Digi-Key (WSA350F-ND) 13CAD/3pcs.
Thanks!