Would an "Exhaust Cabinet" work?

Hello, everyone

I live in an apartment and have few exhaust options easily available. I had good luck with exhausting from my sliding glass door, but having the Glowforge in the living room is far from guest friendly. I moved it to my office, but it is South facing and sometimes gets back draft. Either way, the -50 degree wind chills are far from comfort friendly in the winter.

So, while walking through Lowe’s, they had a good deal on a 2 door and 1 drawer kitchen cabinet similar to this. My thought would be to seal off the bottom with silicone caulking and possibly a top to keep the drawer area contained, cut a hole in the left side, place a couple of box fans and filters for air filtration in the base, and then have an outflow to the window.

Granted, the exhaust is all going to be in the apartment, but I’m hoping that it will be contained more. The Glowforge doesn’t exhaust beyond the cutting time and a little more. Not entirely sure it will work anyway.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on the idea.

Thanks!

Todd

It’s not just soot, but some other nasty stuff that can get released, so don’t recommend that homemade option.

But there is a filtration unit now recommended and noted in the January update from Dan, it runs about $1k, but they use it at maker faires, so likely a much better & safer option for your apartment & yourself. (sorry don’t have the link directly to it).

There are a few different approaches to this on Instructables; if you search around on there you’ll get some tips & tricks – dealing with laser exhaust is a pretty common problem.

I would keep it in the office. Make a window vent that is either removable or has a baffle so you can close it when it isn’t in use, to keep wind from getting in. Add a booster fan to overcome the wind outside when it is in use.

You will probably not spend much more than a homemade cabinet filter, and you will have the advantage of all of the cancer being vented outside, instead of just some of the cancer being captured.