2 $ Solder Fume Extractor

Hello there, are you an Engineer? An Electrician? Or just a Hobbyist, who happens to solder electronic components or wires as a part of their life, and is worried about the impact of soldering fumes on their health.

if so, here is an instructable that will help you make a solder fume extractor which will not burn your pocket, but surely remove some of those harmful fumes away from your face.

the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of this DIY build is Design.

usually, the solder fume extractors are made out of 1 single Fan, which in most of the case isn't that powerful to extract the smoke out from relatively far distances.

The Design we are looking at here is truly a marvel, we have 4 C.P.U. Cooling Fans in a C type arrangement.

why C you must ask..

C shaped helps fume to get accumulated from all around your workstation and possibly the best configuration, if you are a content creator and want to hide it in your videos, because it has the most effective range, you can solder at a distance of 20 Inches and more.

Design Arrangements.

clearly, we are using two fans adjacent to each other and other two at an angle of 120º which makes a C type arrangement when observed from above.

for better understanding of design, download and preview the attached designs.

you would need the following things in this D.I.Y. Build.

1. 120 mm C.P.U. Cooling Fan.
2. 12 V, 1 A D.C. Power Supply with 5.5 mm Jack
3. 5.5 mm DC input Jack.
4. Push to ON Switch.
5. Card Board / Mount Board.
6. HOT Glue Gun.
7. Solder Iron/ Solder Station.
8. Oil Paint.
9. Electrical Tape.
10. (optional) 12 V White L.E.D. Strip.
11. (optional) Activated Carbon Filter.

the most important and crucial part of this build is 120 mm CPU cooling fan, choose the most powerful fan you can choose, i recovered these fans from old computer. you can use bigger fans, but don't go for fans smaller than 120 mm.

1.First Have a look at the Design.

once you are sure about the dimensions of FAN, proceed to cut out support material of cardboard.

dimensions for cutting the support material are mentioned in the picture attached in this step.

2. Glue Down the Fan on support.

once you cut the cardboard of required size and dimensions, use the hot glue gun to attach the fan firmly over cardboard.

( make sure to fill the gaps between fans too)

3. Adding Panel Control Switch.

once support material is attached with fan, now its time to add right panel and left panel, to which Switch and INPUT Voltage will be provided.

( don't forget to add nut for switch and input jack)

(Autodesk Inventor's files attached of CAD designs in case you need to change anything)

1.connect all the four fans in PARALLEL manner.

connect all positive (red ) wire to next fan, until there is one common POSITIVE (red) wire.

Similarly, connect all the Negative wires(Black) wires until there is one common NEGATIVE (black) wire.

2. Switch Panel Connection.

Connect either of the (positive or negative) wire to one terminal of switch and other to respective 12 V 5.5 mm DC female Input port. and connection another end of switch to respective pin in DC Input jack.

(if you don't know about pin out of 5.5 mm dc input jack, connect the multimeter to adapter to understand proper polarity )

(refer Circuit Diagram in case of any confusion)

3. Soldering.

solder the wires which were connected in parallel, to ensure a strong connection.

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if you are new to soldering, check this video to learn soldering.

4. Insulation

use electrical tape to insulate the open connections to prevent direct short circuit.

5. Wire Management.

you can use either Zip-tie or Hot Glue gun to manage the wire and run it neatly over your project.

paint the cardboard with your favorite oil paint.

in my case, i am using a black oil paint, which gives a shinny finish.

let it dry for around 10 hours.

you can add an ACTIVATED CARBON FILTER which basically will absorb most of the fumes that are generated from molten FLUX, and will surely help you to reduce indoor air pollution.

https://www.amazon.in/Philips-Activated-AC4103-00-...

this " D.I.Y. Solder Fume Extractor" is a relatively effective yet cheap solution to avoid lungs and eye irritation caused by long exposure of solder fumes, which isn't much difficult to build and is one much needed safety solution for Electronic Hobbyist.