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Check it out - I finally got inspired to build a downdraft sanding table (after reading one of Hesh's posts on his recent shop visit). It has a 30" x 48" table surface (1/4" pegboard on 2x6 frame) on a cabinet that has inside dimensions of 25" x 48" (so it holds 3 of the 16"x25" air filters). Took me the entire weekend and ~$350 (half of that is for the fan), but it is really doing a great job keeping the dust down. I'm spending the afternoon today reaming out the pegboard holes slightly.

The switch turns it on/off and the outlet is handy for the sandy. 5" casters (2 locking) so I can move it anywhere. The front edge of the table extends about 5" out from the cabinet, so that I can clamp to it. I made sure to plane and thickness the 2x6s to uniform width so that the table is flat.



The table is hinged to the cabinet so you can lift it and access the filters (here I have some cheap fiberglass pre-filters on top of the better white folded filters). Foam rubber weatherstripping around the top of the cabinet where the table makes contact - no leaks!



The entire inside is caulked so that I don't lose any airflow - I want the fan to pull air only through the table. The fan is a 3000 cfm wall exhaust fan, and it is amazingly quiet.



Even when I'm not sanding, I'll turn it on just to circulate and filter the air in the shop; it will circulate all the air in the room every 2-3 minutes.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

I love it
Hopefully I can integrate some kind of sanding table in my to-be-buid workstation...

Wow, Erik! Nice job. You built a down draft table and got an air cleaner. Pretty good, killing two birds with one stone.

Don't take offense, Hesh, I wasn't talking about Bluebirds!

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Waddy

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Erik that's awesome...could you give more specific info on the fan? Where'd you get it? Did you have to modify it any? That kind of stuff.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Very impressive Eric my friend and it looks like you engineered and built a super down draft table.

The outlet on the front is very cool too and pretty handy I am sure.

Great job!

Chris, the fan is just a light-duty wall exhaust, the key is to get a TEFC (totally enclosed fan cooled) motor - even though it is downstream of the filters, you still don't want the motor to accumulate dust over time. This one has a total blade diameter of 16", and it came with a junction box - the only thing I did was wire it to the wall switch on the front. You can get them from Grainger or McMaster, or check with local HVAC guys.

You also want the fan a good distance off the floor, so that air throughput is maximized. This one is 12" up off the floor (that's the 5" casters workin' for me).

I was a bit worried that I'd get a huge wind out the bottom (think hovercraft), but not at all - the fan is actually so quiet I feared I may have undershot the CFM requirements, but it's doing a fine job. And my feet will stay cool in the summer!

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

That thing sucks!! It should do a fantastic job sucking up whatever dust you can throw at it.

A way to get the price down a bit for anyone else building this is to go to an HVAC place and ask if they have any old furnace units. They'll often let you pillage around them for nothing pulling out one that will move a LOT of air. That's how I built my air filtration unit. Just a thought.

Darrin