I’m a teacher, it’s the beginning of the school year and I was using my laser and a bit of smoke was coming out with the unit closed. I only have the filter, I cannot port outside for various reasons.
Is there a good way to tell if the unit is “full”. Is there a way to clean and elongate the filters life? Being a teacher is tough, I’m gonna have to shell out the cash for the extra filter myself if not.
Hoping it’s not the filter. It does beep when I run the fan on full speed but not the lower speeds…
Mostly you can tell because it’s not doing as good a job at filtering - even with the fan all the way up to 11.
People have put in pre-filters to extend the life - those will catch a lot of the larger bits. Something like this, cut in half: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JZ3QBX9/ or read down this thread for both other pre-filter options, and a cleaning one:
Don’t over do your filter…if it is not cleaning the air coming from your GF at the higher levels and making noise - you will need to replace the filter. I did not and kept it going - and the entire unit died. You don’t want to replace the whole thing. MDF and woods gunk it up more (if you use these then use a pre-filter). Make sure you are really cleaning the inside of the GF - esp the fan area because when you are not using it, while you have the filter…it still gets gunked up and the air flow might be closing up.
Going forward with your classes : think about doing more engraving and simple cuts or using alternative materials that do not burn off too much - using scratch sheets for engraving / stone engraving / acrylic or already cut items.