Car air filters for clean air to my electronics?

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Has anybody tried a car air filter for clean air to their electronics?

I have recently built a new CNC router; I have all my electronics and the PC in a cabinet built into my machine base. I did think about buying 3 120mm (5”) PC fans; 2 in and one out with the two in having filters.

Now I am thinking of using just one AC fan and was wondering if a car filter would keep the very fine dust out.

So my questions are; has anybody tried car air filters and if yes how well did it work to keep fine dust out?

Is there anyone with knowledge about car air filters that could tell me how well they might work?

I’m looking at something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AIR-FILTER-OPE...QQcmdZViewItem

I have considered using an old air filter I have like this one http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Viva-VIA7-Air-...QQcmdZViewItem but the air flow through its filter is to low.

Has anybody else come up with any good solutions to filtering the air to their electronics?

As always any advice or suggestions are very much appreciated,

John

[Al_The_Man]

This is what Purolator claim.
'Current filters remove approximately 40% of particles larger than 1 micron and 80% of particles larger than 2.5 microns'.
Probabally have to go to a different system to get much lower that that.
Al.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

This is what Purolator claim.
'Current filters remove approximately 40% of particles larger than 1 micron and 80% of particles larger than 2.5 microns'.
Probabally have to go to a different system to get much lower that that.
Al.

Thanks for that Al; I will have to investigate the typical partial size of MDF dust. If it will keep that out I will be very happy.

John

[wcarrothers1]

I'd be more apt to have a better dust collector then filter the electronics..

Figure might run the rink of decreasing air flow course motors do move a LOT of air.. Hmmm. Also I might be more apt to let a filter over clog alowing my elect to heat way up. I'd rather schedule blowing out the settled dust every few months with the compressor..

I have one of those 120v 3" fan from radioshack sucking the air through and out of my PC case. That replaced the 12v fan on the power supply. I would not want to blow air in with one of those fans as they do get warm and might heat the incomming air a bit.. But as a replacement exhaust computer fan they are great..

b.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

I'd be more apt to have a better dust collector then filter the electronics..

Figure might run the rink of decreasing air flow course motors do move a LOT of air.. Hmmm. Also I might be more apt to let a filter over clog alowing my elect to heat way up. I'd rather schedule blowing out the settled dust every few months with the compressor..

I have one of those 120v 3" fan from radioshack sucking the air through and out of my PC case. That replaced the 12v fan on the power supply. I would not want to blow air in with one of those fans as they do get warm and might heat the incomming air a bit.. But as a replacement exhaust computer fan they are great..

b.

Food for thought; thanks for that; I did consider what would happen if the air was restricted due to a clogged filter. The air out let would be where I would stand to stop/start the machine so would soon notice if I had no air through put.

Al if you are still with us a quick question for you if I may; will an AC fan close to my electronics cause a problem due to interference? I was playing with my air purifier near my PC and it was interfering with my monitor.

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Do industrial CNC routers have filtered air for their electronics?

[Al_The_Man]

Some AC fans are simple AC motors and do not interfere, there are some out there that are AC brushless, and have miniaturized electronics in them, these are the ones that are probabally giving you interference.
The general trend in industrial applications is that if your cabinet heat warrants cooling, then a completely sealed cabinet with an air exchanger is prefered, this can be any thing from a large heat sink with a fan, to a Air conditioner (cooler) unit.
This way there is no air movement into or out of the cabinet.
I have made them from Transistor heat sink extrusion (a few feet long) and made a fan duct through the channel, I sat this on top of the enclosure, the air is hotter at the top usually.
Al.

[martinw]

Has anybody tried a car air filter for clean air to their electronics?

Has anybody else come up with any good solutions to filtering the air to their electronics?
As always any advice or suggestions are very much appreciated,

John

Dear John,

Three years ago, I had to investigate the innards of my PC to change a blown power supply. The PC lives in a workshop entirely covered in MDF dust from a table-saw and (worse), my router.

I never replaced the case on the PC, so I guess it has accumulated three more years-worth of dust on all the components. I blew some dust off the main CPU fan a year ago, but otherwise, it has been doing OK.

Meanwhile, in the same three year period, my fax machine and printer have had to be replaced due to "dust stress". The cheap printer twice actually.

I realise that none of these admissions advertise me as good at "housekeeping", but I think that your concerns about dust ingress to non-moving parts may be not necessary.

Yes, it is possible that fine dust may build up on hot components such as transformers, voltage regulators, etc, and this may create a hazard, but IMVVHO, really fine filtering is not needed.

Most electronic equipment fans come with optional polyester filter pads and mounting frames.. IMVVHO, they will be more than adequate. Blow them clean as often as you wish.

OK, I'm a slob.


Best wishes

Martin

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Dear John,

Three years ago, I had to investigate the innards of my PC to change a blown power supply. The PC lives in a workshop entirely covered in MDF dust from a table-saw and (worse), my router.

I never replaced the case on the PC, so I guess it has accumulated three more years-worth of dust on all the components. I blew some dust off the main CPU fan a year ago, but otherwise, it has been doing OK.

Meanwhile, in the same three year period, my fax machine and printer have had to be replaced due to "dust stress". The cheap printer twice actually.

I realise that none of these admissions advertise me as good at "housekeeping", but I think that your concerns about dust ingress to non-moving parts may be not necessary.

Yes, it is possible that fine dust may build up on hot components such as transformers, voltage regulators, etc, and this may create a hazard, but IMVVHO, really fine filtering is not needed.

Most electronic equipment fans come with optional polyester filter pads and mounting frames.. IMVVHO, they will be more than adequate. Blow them clean as often as you wish.

OK, I'm a slob.


Best wishes

Martin

About six months ago I had a problem with my machine; it just did nothing movement wise. The software was running ok but nothing was happening with the machine. I opened my PC to have a look, blow out the dust and found nothing visually wrong. So I closed it up and started up the machine again to see if I could work out what might be the problem. Everything worked fine; the problem had gone away. All I did was blow out the dust.

Regards,
John

[Oldmanandhistoy]

Some AC fans are simple AC motors and do not interfere, there are some out there that are AC brushless, and have miniaturized electronics in them, these are the ones that are probabally giving you interference.
The general trend in industrial applications is that if your cabinet heat warrants cooling, then a completely sealed cabinet with an air exchanger is prefered, this can be any thing from a large heat sink with a fan, to a Air conditioner (cooler) unit.
This way there is no air movement into or out of the cabinet.
I have made them from Transistor heat sink extrusion (a few feet long) and made a fan duct through the channel, I sat this on top of the enclosure, the air is hotter at the top usually.
Al.

More food for thought; thanks for the info Al.

I know my drives run very cool; I’m more concerned with the PC and PSU generating excessive heat. I have a 48Vdc fan on its way to use on internal cooling (inline with the PSU) which will cause a lot of air movement inside the cabinet. I have the drives, PSU and my BOB in an open frame. So before I fit the cabinet fan/s I will run the machine and see how hot the air gets in there with it sealed. I will also test the temperature of individual components to see if they are over heating. I believe they are ok till 60 degrees C?

Must add the cabinet is made from MDF.

Thanks again,

John

[11bravo]

How about using on of the replaceable HEPA filters for a vacuum cleaner?
They are meant to filter out the really small stuff and still allow for movement of quite a bit of air.
Not as much as an auto filter maybe and more expensive but an idea but surely smaller particles.

edit:
Guy on TV just used an auto air filter to make coffee; not sure how much dust coffee filters would keep out but a thought.

Also, how about the little round filters for cheap respirators?

[Geof]

You can always go the route used on an older CNC lathe. There is a thin convoluted aluminum panel in the control box door with a sheet metal covering both inside and outside. One fan inside circulates the air inside the box through the gap between the convoluted aluminum and the sheet metal cover. Another fan outside circulates room air in the opposite direction between the aluminum panel and the outer sheet metal cover. The aluminum panel acts as a countercurrent heat exchanger; no outside air ever enters the control box.

And all my newer machines just use standard air conditioning air filters with a single fan drawing air into the control box through the filter and out the top.