Important news about HackSpace

We have some important news to share about HackSpace: Issue 81 was the last issue of HackSpace as a standalone magazine, and HackSpace has become part of The MagPi, the official Raspberry Pi magazine. Starting with issue 145, We’ll be adding pages to The MagPi to make room for the stories and tutorials you’ve come to expect from HackSpace.

Turn a Hair Dryer into a Solder Fume Extractor

By Mayank Sharma. Posted

Andrew Terranova is a robotics hobbyist and, like many makers, is tired of inhaling solder fumes. So he decided to reverse the airflow of a hair-dryer to extract the harmful fumes away from his face.

Andrew unscrewed the hair-dryer, striped away all the components besides the electric motor and the fan, which he then reversed. Andrew suggests hooking up a battery to the motor to figure out which side has to be plus and minus in order to reverse the motor’s airflow.

He then inserted a piece of carbon filter pad that he cut to fit inside the hair- dryer. He used the original heat shield to hold the filter in place, but suggests that you can instead use a roll of cardboard, or something else to keep the filter to the back of the hair-dryer. That’s really all there is to it.

He then reassembled the hair-dryer and connected it to a 7.2V 3800mAh NiMH rechargeable battery pack using some electric tape. He had used the switch in his hair-dryer for another project, so he used a connector switch. Andrew’s hair-dyer had diodes around the motor and the switch and, if yours have them too, he recommends you unsolder them.

From HackSpace magazine store

Subscribe to our newsletter