Solder Fume Extractor - DIY High Performance

Items Needed

• 75mm dia fume extractor arm of preferred length (for reference mine was 140mm)
  • https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oFoKbu9
• 4 inch inline duct fan with high rpm (I'm not exactly versed in inline duct fan designs, but you want the high RPM ones with the turbine looking design as those combine airflow and static pressure. You can usually spot these because they have a smaller diameter input and output than the center, where the fan blade is housed.)
  • I used this one https://amzn.to/3WvABBi
• 4 inch inline carbon filter (I'm not entirely sure if this filters out all particulates as well as a HEPA filter, but I would suggest looking into a HEPA/Carbon combination filter if you would like peace of mind)
  • I used this one because it was on sale at time of writing but I'm sure you could find a cheaper one. https://amzn.to/42v5lpV

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Process

This is a simple process. 

1. Attach the carbon filter to the exhaust of the inline fan. 
2. Tape it with some kind of ducting tape. 
3. Insert printed adapter to the intake of the duct fan.
4. insert fume arm into adapter
5. Secure with ducting tape if needed
6. mount the system somewhere.

Overview

I've been working with electronics and doing board repairs for a while, but I had always either been wearing a respirator or had adequate airflow. Recently I wanted to try to remove harmful fumes entirely because my new workspace puts me next to several sensitive animals. I looked online but didn't find the exact style of fume extractor that I wanted that wasn't a professional grade machine and prohibitively expensive.

Requirements for my DIY extractor were as follows:

• It had to have an arm and hood to take up zero desk space (ie no small hakko fan and small crappy carbon filter with no airflow sitting on desk)
• It had to have not only a high airflow, but a high static pressure to be able to pull through a filter and long arm with many bends.
• It had to actually remove particulates and toxins from the absorbed air and not just throw them around the room.
• It needed to be cheaper than the professional grade equipment while still having comparable performance.

The design I ended up with to accomplish all of this is not novel, but I think the ease of having a direct adapter helps complete this build as there is basically no work involved here other than putting everything together and figuring out how you will mount it.

I went larger on the fume arm to keep it as similar as possible to the inlet of the inline fan so that there was not a significant pressure or airflow drop. I opted to use a certain type of inline fan to preserve some pressure in exchange for some airflow. This balance works well here and the end product can pull fumes from several inches away. I didn't use a HEPA filter here to remove more particulates, but the filter I linked to has a prefilter and with my main concerns being any weird toxins in the smoke, I wasn't too worried as long as it had activated carbon and SOME filtration.

If you have any questions, comment and I will try to be helpful. Hope this helps someone. 

I tried to upload the STEP files but you know how SOLIDWORKS is sometimes. That's why I call it SORTAWORKS when it crashes losing all my data. Enjoy!