This design is almost identical to the one from Xtrool, as is the pricing of the fume extractor and filters. The problem with this solution is the operating cost. If the laser is subjected to heavy daily use in supporting the creation of products for sale, then the filters will last as little as two to four weeks. In a worst use case, the filters will cost more than $3,100 annually after taxes. The real problem with filters such as these is that pollutants increasingly fill the surface of the activated carbon in the third stage filter. The primary path of air flow is through only a small percentage of the filter surfaces. Once the surface of the activated carbon is saturated, it can no longer perform the process of adsorption. There is no ability to replace the activated carbon in these filters, so they become a waste byproduct of operating a laser.
@@SteveMakesEverything I'm tinkering with a design that permits replacement of the activated charcoal using inexpensive bulk material (which is used for water purification systems) and better utilization of the 2-stage prefilters.
I just got the WeCreat with the fume extractor. The fume extractor worked great for the first few projects (small things for the kids), but after about a couple of hours of use, I started noticing smoke in the room. I was baffled and walked around the laser and noticed smoke coming out around the shroud (the exterior part that accordians as part of the auto focus to bring the laser up and down). There's just a thin liner, which I assumed was because you need to let air in so it can evacuate the smoke. Anyway, the smoke was clearly coming out, not a whole hell of a lot, but enough that it was noticable and my wife commented that it smells. I checked the fume extractor, and it seems to be working, and the inside fan also is working. I reached out to the WeCreat company and sent video evidence to them to see if this is normal (if it is, then you need to vent outside) and I'll return the fume extractor. I've seen glowforges with fume extractors and I've never seen this sort of issue. I might have gotten a dud, but I'll wait for the company to respond and post here.
Thanks for the feedback. There should be enough negative pressure in the laser to keep the smoke from leaking out, though the Vision is not a sealed unit. I’m personally not a huge fan of fume extractors unless they are absolutely required
@@SteveMakesEverythingSo WeCreat indicated that the first layer filter has been flagged as being too thick, and so asked me to peel some layers off. I've done that, and it has helped, but likely will shorten the life of the filter box (which is an expensive replacement). I'm building an exterior venting system for the unit, which is annoying because others have indicated they can run the laser indoors with the fume extractor. I guess that's true if you don't mind the smell. My other laser (OmTech 100w) is vented outside and that hasn't been a problem except in the winter when I need to open another window for a cross current.
@@user-wj3jm6uo4w I think the first layer of material is too dense on this fume extractor. But I'm not a fan of any fume extractor unless you have no other choice. If you can vent outside, that's always the best option.
Nice concise video. I"ve now got my S1 up and running, and venting to the outside over a 6 foot distance with the assist of a 400 cfm 6 inch inline fan. A lot of time has been spent tweaking this and it is still not perfect. Even on the small test runs I'm doing on some 3mm bass ply, I get a small amount of stink in the work area. I'm sure this is a well designed and built product, but I don't see it as practical for anything but small jobs on benign material.
You would be best to put your fan closer to the wall so it is sucking exhaust rather than trying to push it. Pushing the smoke will find ever crack in your system and leak out. Also use continuous flex pipe like dyer venting to eliminate pipe joins
@@SteveMakesEverything yep, I'm pretty close with my fan to the window, most of my leakage has been around the window baffle I made from foam board. Maybe a little from the machine. The S1 is pretty good, but its internal fan is not quite enough. The lesson for your viewers is the burn off from a laser is a serious problem and you can just waft or wish it out of your work space.
It looks good steve. We can't put a price on clean and contaminant free indoor areas. If people have a fireplace they can use an inclosure and put the hose into the fireplace. I luckily got my enclosure vented out the window and need to make a plywood board that fits the window that has a hose connector on it as the wind blows it back in the window 😅
Help me understand. The purifier is a sealed box with a fan and 3 filters for $600. Why can't I just buy the 3 filters for $119 and put them in my own sealed box with a fan and put in those same 3 filters? Is that box really worth $481?
As always a great video Steve. Have you tried this with acrylic? Would you be able to? I am concerned about how it filter fumes and smells in that case. An insight from you would be really helpful.
Not yet! It should work though. Actually it might work better since there isn’t much smoke from acrylic. Not sure how much smell would get through though
@@SteveMakesEverythingThanks! If you could try please do let me know how it works out. Because, I am not able to do any venting where my laser will be placed at.
Thank you for this video Steve! In your experience / opinion, does a Creality F2 Pro 40w + this Wecreat fume purifier seems like a good combination for my 100% indoor workshop? Or would you recommend another combo? Thank you!
Unfortunately, this fume extract looks nice and has great suction, but does NOT remove fumes, especially scent. It will NOT remove the smell when cutting leather, at all. It does however trap the smoke, but not the smell. I have a BOFA system that is half the size and does filter out smells also. I have the Xtool air filter coming for an F1x so I’ll see how it works. But as is, the Wecreat air filter is nice in design, poor in function.
Nothing seems to remove the smell of leather very well. Even venting directly outside, I can still smell it. The small Xtool filter seems to work pretty well, though I haven’t had any major issue with the Wecreat filter either
I don’t but I assume they would be comparable. I have the small Xtool fume extractor and it works well, so their larger one should be at least as good.
Steve, I was going to DM you but I'll ask here. I replaced the FSL 90w laser tube with 90w cloud ray. My question is, does water fill the tube right away, or only when I start the engraving process? Sorry to contact you in this manner.
This design is almost identical to the one from Xtrool, as is the pricing of the fume extractor and filters. The problem with this solution is the operating cost. If the laser is subjected to heavy daily use in supporting the creation of products for sale, then the filters will last as little as two to four weeks. In a worst use case, the filters will cost more than $3,100 annually after taxes.
The real problem with filters such as these is that pollutants increasingly fill the surface of the activated carbon in the third stage filter. The primary path of air flow is through only a small percentage of the filter surfaces. Once the surface of the activated carbon is saturated, it can no longer perform the process of adsorption. There is no ability to replace the activated carbon in these filters, so they become a waste byproduct of operating a laser.
As noted, with any fume extractor there are running costs, which is why I would only recommend these for someone who has no other option.
@@SteveMakesEverything I'm tinkering with a design that permits replacement of the activated charcoal using inexpensive bulk material (which is used for water purification systems) and better utilization of the 2-stage prefilters.
@@gaiustacitus4242 LOL, I'm doing the same thing. The big problem is the filter cost and I want to find a cheaper way to handle this.
I just got the WeCreat with the fume extractor. The fume extractor worked great for the first few projects (small things for the kids), but after about a couple of hours of use, I started noticing smoke in the room. I was baffled and walked around the laser and noticed smoke coming out around the shroud (the exterior part that accordians as part of the auto focus to bring the laser up and down). There's just a thin liner, which I assumed was because you need to let air in so it can evacuate the smoke. Anyway, the smoke was clearly coming out, not a whole hell of a lot, but enough that it was noticable and my wife commented that it smells. I checked the fume extractor, and it seems to be working, and the inside fan also is working. I reached out to the WeCreat company and sent video evidence to them to see if this is normal (if it is, then you need to vent outside) and I'll return the fume extractor. I've seen glowforges with fume extractors and I've never seen this sort of issue. I might have gotten a dud, but I'll wait for the company to respond and post here.
Thanks for the feedback. There should be enough negative pressure in the laser to keep the smoke from leaking out, though the Vision is not a sealed unit. I’m personally not a huge fan of fume extractors unless they are absolutely required
@@SteveMakesEverythingSo WeCreat indicated that the first layer filter has been flagged as being too thick, and so asked me to peel some layers off. I've done that, and it has helped, but likely will shorten the life of the filter box (which is an expensive replacement). I'm building an exterior venting system for the unit, which is annoying because others have indicated they can run the laser indoors with the fume extractor. I guess that's true if you don't mind the smell. My other laser (OmTech 100w) is vented outside and that hasn't been a problem except in the winter when I need to open another window for a cross current.
@@user-wj3jm6uo4w I think the first layer of material is too dense on this fume extractor. But I'm not a fan of any fume extractor unless you have no other choice. If you can vent outside, that's always the best option.
Nice concise video. I"ve now got my S1 up and running, and venting to the outside over a 6 foot distance with the assist of a 400 cfm 6 inch inline fan. A lot of time has been spent tweaking this and it is still not perfect. Even on the small test runs I'm doing on some 3mm bass ply, I get a small amount of stink in the work area. I'm sure this is a well designed and built product, but I don't see it as practical for anything but small jobs on benign material.
You would be best to put your fan closer to the wall so it is sucking exhaust rather than trying to push it. Pushing the smoke will find ever crack in your system and leak out. Also use continuous flex pipe like dyer venting to eliminate pipe joins
@@SteveMakesEverything yep, I'm pretty close with my fan to the window, most of my leakage has been around the window baffle I made from foam board. Maybe a little from the machine. The S1 is pretty good, but its internal fan is not quite enough. The lesson for your viewers is the burn off from a laser is a serious problem and you can just waft or wish it out of your work space.
@@rshawiii Well, that's a problem that should be pretty easy to solve.
It looks good steve. We can't put a price on clean and contaminant free indoor areas. If people have a fireplace they can use an inclosure and put the hose into the fireplace.
I luckily got my enclosure vented out the window and need to make a plywood board that fits the window that has a hose connector on it as the wind blows it back in the window 😅
Outside venting is alway best, and definitely cheaper
Help me understand. The purifier is a sealed box with a fan and 3 filters for $600. Why can't I just buy the 3 filters for $119 and put them in my own sealed box with a fan and put in those same 3 filters? Is that box really worth $481?
😂😂 I think you answered your own question there mate.
You certainly can. I’m working on a design and video to show you what I created for this. Coming soon.
And you will end up buying the material which those ones are made.
As always a great video Steve. Have you tried this with acrylic? Would you be able to? I am concerned about how it filter fumes and smells in that case. An insight from you would be really helpful.
Not yet! It should work though. Actually it might work better since there isn’t much smoke from acrylic. Not sure how much smell would get through though
@@SteveMakesEverythingThanks! If you could try please do let me know how it works out. Because, I am not able to do any venting where my laser will be placed at.
Thank you for this video Steve! In your experience / opinion, does a Creality F2 Pro 40w + this Wecreat fume purifier seems like a good combination for my 100% indoor workshop? Or would you recommend another combo? Thank you!
It should be fine, but I really prefer the Xtool fume extractor for my own use when I do remote events
@@SteveMakesEverything Many thanks!
Unfortunately, this fume extract looks nice and has great suction, but does NOT remove fumes, especially scent. It will NOT remove the smell when cutting leather, at all. It does however trap the smoke, but not the smell. I have a BOFA system that is half the size and does filter out smells also. I have the Xtool air filter coming for an F1x so I’ll see how it works. But as is, the Wecreat air filter is nice in design, poor in function.
Nothing seems to remove the smell of leather very well. Even venting directly outside, I can still smell it.
The small Xtool filter seems to work pretty well, though I haven’t had any major issue with the Wecreat filter either
Cool
Thank you for the video. What diameter is the hose?
Hmm, without being my shop, I believe it is a stand 2 1/2" output
Hi Steve, do you know how this fume extractor compares to the XTool one?
I don’t but I assume they would be comparable. I have the small Xtool fume extractor and it works well, so their larger one should be at least as good.
@@SteveMakesEverything Thank you, Steve!
@@miracles1234 Happy to help
Steve, I was going to DM you but I'll ask here. I replaced the FSL 90w laser tube with 90w cloud ray. My question is, does water fill the tube right away, or only when I start the engraving process? Sorry to contact you in this manner.
Water should fill the tube as soon as you turn on the laser. Maker sure the water pump is running.
Our Fume Purifier doesn't work. The smell in the room is intolerable. We have checked everything. Any advise?
Look for leaks around the filters or any place where unfiltered smoke can make it to the output without going through the filters