A DIY solder fume extractor

OK, what's this got to do with guitars and stuff? Well I've made a couple of DIY effect pedals in the past, and it's something I've been intending to do again once I'd got a bit more free time. This time I've decided I won't be inhaling those nasty fumes from my soldering activities!

I was looking at my ever increasing scrap heap of old parts when I had an idea to convert an old computer power supply into a solder fume extractor. The idea being to remove all the internals (salvaging useful parts of course) leaving just the fan, then hook up a DC power source add a switch and pack the space inside with filter material.

Pretty easy project really. One thing to note was I had to reverse the fan because it was blowing air out initially and I wanted the reverse.

It's amazing what stuff you find inside. Here are just a few of the salvaged parts

some of the salvaged parts

I added a DC jack where the power cord used to be.

DC jack for wallwart

A ON/OFF switch for convenience (I seem to have voided the warranty)

ON/OFF switch

The innards were packed with cooker-hood extracted fan filter material. you can just about see it if you look between the fan blades here.

filter material

And some rubber feet to keep noise/vibrations down a bit and to stop it scratching my desk.

rubber feet help with noise/vibration

The finished article!

the finished fume extractor

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