Low Budget Above-Exhaust System - No Laughing!

[ManWithTool]

I've used this forum to get a lot of useful information, but have never posted anything to share. Although I'm not giving a step by step DIY, with the pictures you should get my drift.

I recently moved my shop where I had a nice large 12' door that I just opened and directed some fans to blow out the smoke that my water table didn't get. However in my new shop I don't have that luxury. My shop now has only 8' ceilings and I needed to come up with some way to exhaust the smoke. This is my attempt. Full disclosure, I have not tried it yet, but some simple tests appear to tell me it will work as planned.

Like it, hate it, critique it, build from it, or whatever. I had fun making it nonetheless!

[TrinityFabworks]

I've been planning on doing this myself! Let us know how it works

[Nacs Fab]

Nice work - where did you source the cones or what are they called?

[DMoneyAllstar]

They look like basic duct adapters / reducers.

Only thing I can see is that the torch air flow will blast the fumes / steam out along the slats to the edge of the sheet. It doesn't just rise vertically. Also wondering what CFM that inline blower is. If you divide the CFM too much, there won't be enough suction power to pull in fumes that aren't directly in front of the opening.

Best bet would be to put your air source on one side of the table and your collection on the other, and just let the cross-flow suck the fumes out.

I've got a 3k cfm louvered exhaust fan on the wall beside my water table (sucks air to outside). Fresh air source is on opposite side of plasma. The single 3k cfm fan works really well with the cross-draft in my 3k ft3 plasma room. 3k cfm in a 3k ft3 space means one room air change per minute.

[ManWithTool]

Yep, basic duct adapters / reducers. I used 8". The "cones" are reducers 12"-8". It's 1590 cfm. I'm firing it up this weekend so I will find out very soon. I figure if it doesn't pull enough, I will split it up and put one blower per side.