12/22/2025 12 PM - Setting up project

Outlining project

After some digging I found out that almost all fume extractors dont really work for soldering, and the carbon foam filters that most use barely even suck up the fumes.
So I decided instead of trying to figure out how to properly filter them to release safely in my home I can just route it outside to a nearby window.

For this system I'm going to have a small inline fan unit with ducting coming out of both sides, one side which leads out a window and the other infront of the soldering station. Kind of like this but instead of having the fumes get filtered in a box, it just gets pushed outside my home.

I'm going to have a 3d printed box thing that can be easily mounted to my window where I can attach the other end of my ducting to.

Parts selection

3D printed things:

• Fume Inlet (includes filter box)
• Inlet holder
• Outlet flange
• Fan holder (extends from my table/window to mount the fan)

On the input side I will probably still include a small dust filter on it to prevent accidentally sucking up small screws and to make cleaning easier.

I ended up choosing this fan for its high CFM, speed controller, and low price compared to others.
https://a.co/d/0PehdyN

Ducting (includes hose clamps):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010588229332.html

Cheapest physical foam filter I could find
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003090089952.html

My main issue is trying to get everything within budget so I have to make sacrifices with the overall effectiveness of this system and cutting back on some design choices like using a duct instead of a proper hose, not having proper filters, and not being able to keep a small clean design.

12/22/2025 1 PM - Started CAD

My idea is that I can open the window and move it up, and I can put the part in the open space and somehow have it secure.

Since I can't really think of a good idea so far, I'll try recreating my window in Fusion then designing my part from there.

To start I got all of the measurements and started the CAD

12/22/2025 8 PM - Finished up CAD

Window Panel

Created the flange and the outside part

Because I wont be able to fit this in one piece on my window, I'll have to break it up into multiple parts.

I moved the vent to the far left so it doesnt get affected by the split pieces and I also shortened the piece a lot to save filament and to make assembly easier.

To put together both parts I decided to go with a sliding dovetail joint at the middle

Finished the window panel

Attachments

For my inlet I'm going to design multiple to experiment and to test which one would work the best.

Created inlet (filter version)

Making the one without a filter was pretty simple, just copy the filter version and remove the holes for the filter

I also made a bigger version in case the other ones are too small.

Fan holder

Now since my soldering station is right next to my fitness rack I figured I could just mount the fan directly to the rack to save space. Since I don't have the exact dimensions of the product I couldn't make it as detailed as I wanted it to be and I'll probalby secure it to the structure with tape.

My inlet holder is just going to be a basic shape

12/22/2025 10 PM - Uploaded to Github

Created the GitHub repo and made the list of parts I need:

These are all the required parts I need for my project

• Filter C$10.08
• Ducting C$14.93
• Inline Fan C$39.99
• Hose Clamps C$5.89

=C$70.89

USD Conversion:
=$51.61

Since that's over the Tier 4 project's funding limit I had to make a cutoff somewhere. Luckily I found cheaper filters on AliExpress which moved the total right below the budget. (New Total: $49.22 USD)

Lastly I finished creating the readme and uploaded my CAD files to my repository.

12/23/2025 - Fixed tolerances

I went back to the CAD and realized my window panel wasn't the right dimensions and the tolerances for the sliding joint were too tight for quick assembly/disassembly. Going back I remeasured my window to make sure everything was right and I fixed both issues

1/2/2026 - New fan adjustments

Since changing the fan blower unit I don't need my intake attachments anymore since my new fan can be sat right on my table infront of where im soldering, same with the intake stand and the fan holder.

This is how my window panel will look in my vertical sliding window. My design allowed me to have the original size I wanted while still being able to easily assemble and disassemble it. I made the height as low as possible to make sure there's enough room to slide the panels in without touching my actual sliding window which is pushed above.

To design the panel for my window I had to take a lot of measurements of my window to roughly recreate it in fusion. After I did that I created a box that has some wiggle room but is still sturdy enough to stay in place. Because it was bigger than the rails infront of my window, I had to split it into two pieces so that I could still use the entire piece. I then created the flange at the bottom right corner with a small raised part to attach the hose clamp to.