On Aug 12, 2014, at 3:22 PM, Doug Barton <do...@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.