Unlike most people these days (at least that’s what it seems like) I don’t own a 3D printer. But a soldering iron is a little like a 3D printer, I assume: as soon as you have it, you find all kinds of uses for it. And while the project I got it for has long been abandoned, I find myself using it quite a bit. My latest addition were a few helping hands inspired by Matthias Wandel, which beats “fixturing” with pliers and random heavy objects. Which led to even more soldering. And while all soldering guides (of the 1 I actually watched) tell you to take care of ventilation, sitting in your freezing cold room, windows open, and holding your breath makes you really think about all those funny-looking fumes.

Disclaimer

Don’t get me wrong: I love inhaling toxic fumes like the next person that has bought spray paint to “revive” their plain white IKEA shelf. Jokes aside, work safety is important! The inspiration for this fume extractor was taken from other DIY online posts and I have no way of verifying its effectiveness in cleaning the air. I will always crack a window in addition to using this extractor.

Design Considerations

In particular industrial extractors come with some kind of snout - a piece of flexible tube to position the air intake right above the soldering job. This seems very smart, and I almost went to shop for more parts to join the 12V PC fan and the activated carbon filter already sitting on my desk. However, I did a bench test with the setup at hand and decided to not let scope creep get me this time. The fan I chose really moved some air, and it felt like I could arrange my little setup in a way that does not compromise on extraction action too much. The other place where I considered LocLine was for mounting the fan to its stand, which I skipped for the same reason. The last thought that had the potential to complicate things was the wiring. My soldering iron runs on USB-C - I don’t have a full-blown soldering station (yet). I have seen a solution online where all power needs kind of merged at one place, which I really liked. Unlike in the post however, I decided against putting all the controls by the fan. The reason being that I decided to put my fan on a stand and add some pivoting capabilities. Messing with switches and cables on that likely top-heavy contraption did not seem like a good idea. So cables will go on the stand, where they are easy to reach and replace (should I ever get to actually installing them).

Build

As stated above, I don’t own a 3D printer (yet). So instead of printing this straight forward piece, I spend the better part of my weekend sawing, screwing, glueing and painting this straight forward piece. I made the dimensions up on the fly and cut everything down with my track saw. The circles were cut with a jig for the router and everything went together with glue and some screws.

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After I had everything together, I decided that this thing deserved a nice finish. After all, it will sit on my desk right in sight. Luckily I had used the cheapest plywood I could find, so I got to do loads of filling and sanding. After enjoying that for a while, I decided it did not deserve that nice of a finish. Even after multiple coats of filler, sanding, and primer, I can still see some wood texture and make out where the screws went (when looking closely at least). Also, I had decided that adding holes for threading inserts AFTER finishing would be a smart idea. It was not - the finish was messed up in the process.

The filter can be replaced through a little opening in the top. Even though it looks a little messy, at least I don’t have to get out a screwdriver to do this. If you own a lathe or have to go to the hardware store anyway, I think the top could be fully closed, and rather have some thumbscrews for opening the lid. In between the fan and the filter sheet I added some 5mm wooden strips that were glued to the fan. This way nothing can rub against the blades of the fan.

For the stand, I just screwed a few thicker pieces of plywood together and called it done. This will later hold a switch and some wiring (probably maybe).

(yes, I increased the length of the legs in the meanwhile, hence the different look in the thumbnail)

Resume

After having used it a little now I can say: It was absolutely worth it! Soldering indoors feels much more bearable and I would even call it an absolute must-have from now on!

Like with every project of course, there still is room for improvement:

• I made everything up on the go. That worked out, but it’s not fancy-looking or anything. My helping hands are neither, so that’s fine I guess
• Put the pivot point lower on the fan to get some more flexibility in positioning
• Make the base from something denser and slim down the legs to cut down the footprint a little
• Add a shroud
• Elongated holes in the stand would be nice for further adjusting flexibility
• When installing the wiring, I will also try to add a light on top of the fan.