Cabinet for Fume Hood

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Profikiskery

Profikiskery

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 8, 2015
Messages
79
Location
Ball Ground, Georgia
Was thinking about building a fume hood until I ran across this in my basement. Its a bass cabinet that was in my teenage sons' car. 38x28x20 inches.

Thinking I can knock that board in the middle out and line it with rhino liner or black rubber water sealant. Was thinking about leaving the big holes just like they are and covering them. Cutting a standard square opening is also an option, but I was thinking I might lost the lip on the bottom if I did that and that would be nice to keep for spills.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions to add before I get started I could use your experiences. This just seems like it will be ideal and will save me the cost of materials.
 

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Anything metal would need a chem resistant coating both inside & out

Here is a good thread to read on fume hoods & scrubbers :arrow: http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=19965 (I may have posted this for you the other day - if not it a good read)

Kurt
 
M.D.F. will swell and turn to goo if it is ever sat in water for any period of time liquid will find a way through the best water prof layers.
It might sell as is to fund the material's you need,A good quality Marine Plywood would last much longer.
 
The box is obviously a big old speaker housing and I agree with Justin, the thing will turn to mud if any liquid seeps through your lining.

The look of it reminded me of a glove box. A glove box is an enclosure where you have access to handle what is going on inside by using 2 gloves mounted into the unit. Sand blast cabinets use this design. Professionally made they are pricey.

But what if you used a see through large plastic storage container like they did in this link. http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/17347745 I have a friend into mushrooms and he made one of these for innoculants.

Cheap to make and it can have a small exhaust that is scrubbed so the fuming can't escape without being scrubbed. This one is filled and emptied by lifting the inverted container off the lid but an airtight lid could be fashioned from some plastic boating hatches.
 
If your intent is to make a fume hood out of wood, I would also consider coating the inside or any surface that will be exposed to gases, with something that will resist the gases we produce when dissolving metals in AR.

The reason for my suggestion is that by dissolving, lets take for example gold, in Aqua Regia you also produce a gas that contains Chlorine (Cl2), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The NO will cause the wood to become a Nitrocellulose, here is information on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrocellulose

I believe if I remember correctly, that there are a few posts about this here on the forum, one being someone who left a cloth rag on a hot metal car hood, or something like that, that ignited on it's own after it had been exposed to Nitric Oxide and turned into Nitrocellulose.

You wouldn't want a temperature change to cause your hood to ignite in this way.

Scott
 
I laid some cardboard (boil over ) that had been soaked in nitric from a gold filled lot on a stainless sheet in the sun to dry. I went out to check on it about 2 hours later and it had self combusted.
 
There are many posts here on fume hoods and I would venture to say I have read them all. Most seem to be about design, or how to accomplish the Venturi effect, or members having issues with their own builds seeking help. I either missed or could not find anything on construction and materials used. I saw many pictures of builds in progress, and looking at the pictures, those units seemed to be being constructed of wood, either pexi or glass, and PVC for exhausts and duct work. Wood is my only option as I don't posses the ability or tools to build with pexi or glass.

I figured if I coated this thing with about a 1/4 inch of bedlinder, and topped it off with Amazing Goop Epoxy Sealant, it would last a long time. The Goop is not only acid resistant, but waterproof as well. Check out this link....http://glazecoat.com/amazing-goop-epoxies/ . I know my experience in this forum is limited, but between the liner and the Goop it seems it would be very resistant....

Do you guys not think that would hold up....or be subject to Nitrocellulose? I can never see myself processing more than 32ozt silver a month if that. If not I'll go back to the drawing board.

Thank you all again for your input,
Craig
 
Wood is Good,but do not use any particle board as it may be cheap but that is for a reason.
Use a good Marine Plywood as it is already impregnated with epoxy so will stand a lot of chemical exposure.
Your filler will be good for sealing up cracks and joining P.V.C. tubing to your cabinet,a slight gradient will let you to put in a gutter to catch any spills in a trap.
But I would think that a heavy duty two part epoxy paint would be the best way to seal all the surfaces.get more than you think you will need as it soaks in to the wood more than you would think which is what you want.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EPOXY-RESIN-GARAGE-INDUSTRIAL-FLOOR-PAINT-GLOSS-/321093866615?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item4ac2af9477
When it get's tatty just rub down well process the dust for P.M's and repaint,at the end of it's long life you can even burn the hole unit to make sure you get every last trace of value left.
 
Thanks guys Marine Plywood it will be. I don't want to be doing this again in ten months.

I have one more question. Below is what I want to build based on 4metals design. I made my opening much smaller but left my self some room inside....notice 15 inches on both sides of the opening. Even though I got some cubic ft in there, as long as my opening is 1.5ft X 1.5ft am I ok with a fan that moves a little over 300CFM? I already have the fan so I made my opening smaller to accommodate that..cant see in the picture but it will be 36" high

Thanks,
Craig
 

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Profikiskery said:
Thanks guys Marine Plywood it will be. I don't want to be doing this again in ten months.

I have one more question. Below is what I want to build based on 4metals design. I made my opening much smaller but left my self some room inside....notice 15 inches on both sides of the opening. Even though I got some cubic ft in there, as long as my opening is 1.5ft X 1.5ft am I ok with a fan that moves a little over 300CFM? I already have the fan so I made my opening smaller to accommodate that..cant see in the picture but it will be 36" high

Thanks,
Craig
Click to expand...

Calculate your air movement at 100CFM per sq. ft. of your front opening at the minimum.
 
It is common to have a hinged door to cover part of the opening. The one thing refiners experience is clutter in the hood and it could be a challenge removing a bucket out of a small opening (in your case 18X18) especially when you have it pushed to the side of the hood, not directly in front of the opening. Considering your hood will be much larger inside, I would consider an opening 2 feet high by 3 feet long. This would require an exhaust of 600 CFM when opened. Next, I would add a hinged Plexiglass door 3 feet long by 1 foot high. When the hood has the plexi door down the 300 CFM will suffice.

Since the full open door will only give you 50 CFM per sq ft of opening, you have to be smart about it. Don't open the upper door and remove things when a reaction is running full speed, just reach under the plexi door and still have access as needed.

This approach will give you more room for handling buckets in the hood than the smaller door and still allow you to add chemicals and move things in the hood through the bottom portion of the opening.

This may not be important to you, but I know that I would be inclined to have more than less inside my hood and that is easier to work with a larger door. Remember, if the reaction is running, keep the plexi door down and you will still have a 3 sq foot opening and 300 CFM. Only open it fully as needed to pour and manipulate reactions that have past their active phase.
 
Another option would be to use a track on top and bottom of the oversized door. Then add a plexi sheet 18" by 2 feet tall which is not removable. Wherever it is on the opening it is blocking 3 square feet so you can move it to the left to work on the right side and move it to the right to work on the left side.

This option always maintains the CFM required through the opening.

Please realize whichever of these methods you choose, or even if you just use your 18 by 18 door, you are not scrubbing any fume. You will be best served by exhausting the 300 CFM through the hood to maintain your work environment and exhausting your reactions separately through a scrubber. There are some very effective scrubbing options that work well for small operations posted already on the forum.
 
4metals that last post is a shin-diggity idea!! It would give me a little more peace of mind with the smaller fan I have.

As far as the scrubber goes, I have spent maybe an hour so far here in the forum and on the web reading about them, but still have absolutely no grasp yet of how they work or how to incorporate them, so I need to do some more reading. If I get stuck or don't understand then I will post. I will say I am struggling in that area. I look at the set up and diagrams of others here and it is a bit overwhelming to me, having no knowledge at all. Not looking for answers yet as I need a bit more time to try and get a grasp, but questions might come on down the road.

In the meantime let me ask something. Can I add a scrubber later without much hassle, or is that something that would be easier accomplished, (and less expensive) to do from the get go?

Thank you guys for sharing with me...and one day I will post pictures of my new hood. I will share something back. It sure is nice at 51 years of age to find something to get all giddy about. I haven't had proper sleep in a month...and I am good with that!!

Thanks again all,
Craig
 
I second the hinged or sliding opening in the front. In fact I would make the entire front able to be opened when needed.

I've worked in more than a few fume hoods and you always will have times when you need as much access as possible, (cleaning and setting up for instance), and other times when you need the maximum fume extraction, (when a digestion is active for instance).
 
rickbb said:
I second the hinged or sliding opening in the front. In fact I would make the entire front able to be opened when needed.

I've worked in more than a few fume hoods and you always will have times when you need as much access as possible, (cleaning and setting up for instance), and other times when you need the maximum fume extraction, (when a digestion is active for instance).
Click to expand...

correct - I have mine built so I can slide the door to ether side (left or right) a lot or a little - or take it completely out of the way

Kurt
 
Thanks all for the input on this post. I have a lot to do and am excited to get started. Was talking to a friend of mine today who is a plumber and he is willing to help me with the exhaust system and install the drain at the bottom. Film at 11!

I certainly appreciate the time you guys shared to help,
Craig
 

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