Matthias, my wife hates you for giving me the idea to salvage things, but now I have so many cool motors, capacitors, transformers...I'm up to my 6th microwave find. Thanks to your motor explanations I've figured out how to reverse engineer motors. Think I'll use an old dishwasher motor and make me an air purifier like yours.

Why have I been watching your videos for over a year I don't even do any woodworking or anything.

Good afternoon! I know you're a busy man, but I want to share with you my happiness to be learning how to work with wood and you're part of this learning, thank you! The Google translation is not good, sometimes the texts do not make sense, for example I can not know what kind of wood you use, but overall has been very good. Once again, thank you!

Matthias nice work I have done the box fan thing as well. What I found is if you pit a ring around the fan blades about 30 to 40 mm deep and clear the tips by about 5 mm you should stop the losses. The other trick is to put the ring past the fan tips by 10 to 15 mm so the fan is blowing through the ring so it acts like a venturi. You would need to round the corners for better air flow. This is the trick I used on box fans to clean the fiberglass dust out of the air from grinding.

Another great video, of course. Hanging it using pieces of inner tube was pure genius..

Awesome, Matthias! Love how your videos are part woodworking, part diy and part science class. Great stuff!

We just gonna ignore that perfect circle he cut?

Wow, I chuckled at the rubber mounts at the end of the vid. Just a reminder of how much you really think about your ideas. Very cool! Makes me want to build one of these even though I don't have a shop yet!

Hi Matthias, firstly I wanted to say that I think your projects are great! Concerning the efficiency of your fan, I do not know much about air fans. But I am a mariner on a tugboat so I know something about propellors. Normal cargoships have a propellor similar to your fan and are designed for maximal efficiency with minimal fuel consumption. However, I work on a tug, which means the propellors have to provide maximum pulling power. For obtaining this a nozzle is fitted around the propeller which enhances waterflow for more pulling power. I think that if you experiment with a nozzle fitted tight around your fan, you might get more suction. Maybe you have to sand off the ends of the propellor blades to make it fit more tight in the nozzle. I think they call it a ducted fan. Looks like it is a nice project to do on the wood lathe. ;)

Almost no knowledge of woodworking but your videos are radical and I'm learning a whole lot! Keep up the good work!

Just a word of warning. If this is a typical cheap fan domestic motor, the bearings are often seriously prone to gumming up and seizing. I've kept my fans running by maintaining them when the speed starts to drop or they spin down too quickly when switched off, but it's a pain as they have to be dismantled, then the shaft and bearings cleaned and relubed. I can see wood dust causing problems very quickly, especially as it will be quite happy to stick to the oily bearings. Anyway, nice project as always, keep a close eye on the fan motor, though!

I am a mathematician,I get attracted towards all your videos for you use precision in all your works to bring out beautiful objects!

Chaos area? I think that defines most of the work spaces for the rest of us...

I learnt a lot when I took off the grid from my fan. The air wasn't far enough and I learnt that the grid and rings did this job. I really love to learn things that some engineer already knew before you.

Matthias- I love your ingenuity and DIY approach to things. I wanted to pass on some info about your dust cleaners that many woodworkers are not aware of. My father was an engineer and woodworker and did a lot of research on the matter after a friend contracted a lung disease from dust particles. First the motor used is a fire hazard. As another viewer wrote the dust getting through or around the filter will collect on the oily 'open motor'. This is why furnaces and commercial dust boxes use a squirrel cage style motor, where the air does not pass over the motor (I actually use an old furnace motor in my shop dust collector). Second and equally important is the false sense of security that if you don't see dust I don't need a mask. Unfortunately, the big dust our body can filter out it is the fine dust we can't see that gets into our lungs and causes problems. So please use a squirrel cage motor design and a mask! BTW - there is a site by Bill Pentz taking about shop dust and has a lot of filtration information.

There is something very satisfying about this video, how all the pieces slot together so neatly. You are a master craftsman Matthias!

You are not only very talented but have a nice sense of humor as well.

I haven't heard the term "interference fit" since tech school!

love the simplicity of the anti vibration mount

I duct-taped the grill of my box fan to round the corners on the front, and pressure holds the filter to the back. It's a great way to de-must a room

I'm halfway through making one of these after watching your last one a few months ago, really useful.

Another one?. You have the cleanest shop in the world!. Greetings from Spain.

Your air filters inspired me to design one for our makerspace 3d printer room; using a squirrel cage bathroom fan for static pressure, it holds 2x 20x25x5 filters giving not a tonne of airflow but enough to positively pressure the room with clean air. With the door on a closer the workshop dust will stay on the dirty side and the printing room can stay clean.

That tells me you have a real shop. Not a studio. Keep up the awesome work!

I don't know why but I really enjoy watching you make these air filters!!!

Wack on the motor to align bearing, was a priceless tip! Thanks a lot for this. Also, if I may suggest, you could gather all of those useful tips and put in one video. Similar to what Jimmy Diresta did... I personally referred back to his videos quite a few times, which made my life easier in many occasions.

it is ok to have a chaos corner matthias you're still 90% cleaner than me and my shed i think i have more spiders than materials but im a metal worker still love to watch your videos

Matthias, you rocked it as usual. Brilliant.

Nice video. I was in your basement twice. And I saw the chaos area. Your right, it hasn't changed at all

I use box fans with filters in my apartment to keep the dust down since I don't have central air. I made cardboard baffles in all the corners to encase the fan in effectively a tight fitting tube of cardboard which now moves air through the filter much more efficiently.

like number 5,300! I've seen photos of air cleaning rigs like this before on the internet, but this is the first instructional video for making one that I have come across. Thank you for making and posting this.

You are so talented and your videos are such a satisfying pleasure to watch. Thank you for uploading! :)

I knew you weren't happy with the power on the last air cleaner! Thanks for the videos, they are great!

A dedicated chaos area is a must have... I have several I cherish. Thanks for the nice video.

Wow man, you really do make some elegant looking stuff. I'm gonna have to try this.

Such a great idea! Thanks again for a very practical project.

New plywood today, pocket screws tomorrow...

I love these videos, really interesting stuff about the flow direction. Maybe if you want to limit inefficiencies from the venturi effect you could install a diffuser on the outlet? Alternatively a long exit tube would decrease negative outlet flux, and could be easily fashioned from a bucket.

thumbs up for the chaos area :D

Don't be embarrassed about having a chaos area, Matthias! It's the neat freaks you have to look out for...

I just found your channel an hour ago and I already love it!

Informative and clever as always! I really like that ceiling mount with vibration isolation! Also, your "designated chaos area" looks like my entire shop. ;-)

Thanks for another great video with great explainations! It always surprises me how much I learn from your amazing experience!!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and sharing the way you trouble shoot! That alone is an art!

I had to double check if I was still on your channel Matthias. I see a lot of great projects you designed, but never anything that was this simply straight forward and effective before. Nice to know you can do simpler concept too without to much over-engineering. Nice job.... But with that being said I still would like to see a cyclone ie thein baffle version. Like by turning on its side and placing the inlet on its side with round inner wall with reversed the air flow. And few other modifications. But it wouldn't be that much more complex would it??? Ok its easier to think up this stuff then to make it work :) Keep up the good work. You inspire us. I wonder what next project you do, that will be commercialized like your world changing pantorouter?

I like that handle idea as well as the rest of your filter fan.

I always liked your ingenuity. Nice!

If you don't have any chaos, then you aren't actually working, just cleaning your shop all the time.

I really like your ingenuity. And we all need a little "designated chaos area". :)

Lol chaos area. I'm making a pleated air filter at the moment, and happen to put the baffle in line with the fan. Should hopefully have the video up at the end of the month.

Cool cleaner!

I dont have any idea how you do your stuff but I can see you are a very dedicate man... some day ill hope to be like you.

I promise to god your the coolest dude I've ever seen. Seriously. I could only dream to be this damn crafty. you got another subscriber buddy!

Nice beat at 1:59. Can't wait to hear that sampled and put into a track.

Love the precision of your work. Fair to say that though this is a much more elegant build, a box fan with a baffle added to it could give you similar performance?

I found your videos too satisfying. Keep going

The inner tube as vibration dampeners is awesome

Nice build! I think my favorite part was the mounting solution. First time using that?

The air being pulled in from the side is probably just due to the speed of the air being blown away. The fast air has a lower pressure so the air around it wants to move in. Bernoulli stuff. Nice build :)

Great work, Matthias.

Thanks, was recently thinking about an air filter in my workshop, I have an old fan so might give something like this a try.

Lots of clever ideas and work methods wrapped in this, besides being useful for itself. Time to upgrade my own box fan + taped-on filter!

Another great video Matthias. Oh yeah, I loved the chaotic corner, I would be right at home, just extend it to my whole work area. You know what they say though, "a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind". Just exchange workshop for mind.

Same thing happens with prop planes. If you park the plane on gravel an start the engine, the prop will pick up gravel. This is something you shouldn't do because it damages the prop, and nicks in a prop can unbalance it, and the last thing you want if your prop flying apart when you're flying.

Not only do these box fan filters work they work very well. I did not build the 4-sided fan filter, but I will now….Here is the proof they work in cleaning the air….A few months ago my wife told me that she was not breathing very well while sleeping. So, I started putting new filters in our duck system more often, but it didn't seem to help her. I then built a box fan filter with a 24-dollar hepa-filter attached. Then not only did my wife sleep better, but our cat, that we had been giving daily allergy medications to for the last 4 years, because it coughed and sneeze, has not sneeze or cough one time in 4 months since we started using these simple filters. Thank goodness no more cat medicine. Give these simple filters a try I think you will be glad you did. I attached my filter to the box fan by using painter’s tape. If you put the filter on the box fan where the air enters the fan you really do not have to use much tape the air stream keeps it in place. Best of luck! FR.

I've tried this, and there are some limitations to the concept. (I'm a mechanical engineer in the AC field) My first hesitation is the purpose of the setup: health or dust spotting of the work. Health: you really want to get rid of particles in the 1--10 micron range, and a "furnace filter" won't touch that stuff. I know MW used a dust sensor, but those generally don't measure this size particle. If you used a better filter, that little prop fan won't push any air through it anyway. Actually, in the particle size mostly noticed, the air clears by itself because these particles react to gravity. They seem to "gravitate" to my freshly finished surfaces! The other problem is that the fan isn't designed to "pull" large amounts of friction, similar to what a filter (even a light grade furnace filter) produces. Simply put, the fan won't produce. My model was a 20" box fan (easier fit to the 20/20 filter). I got a little air out of it, but not enough to do any good. Commercial dust collectors have fans that will produce air flow through filter friction. These units will produce enough air changes in the space to be effective. However, their filters may not be effective on low-micron dust sizes. You really have to know filter technology to understand the relative effectiveness. If I wanted air filtration for health reasons, I'd look for "merv 15" rating or higher. What do I do, oh expert that I purport?! I have a fan in the middle of the garage that points to the garage door. I open the door (and the side door), run the fan for 15--20 minutes and that "blows out" the space. I also use a central (portable) dust collector with a bag "rated" at 1 micron.

Designated Chaos is one of my favorite bands!

This is awesome!,, not just the fan making but the workshop... if i have a work shop like that, i would spend all my free time in it., time to play the lottery!

awesome ! Keep on trucking ! (from France)

+1 for showing the chaos area! :)

to me you are the best. watch your videos for my inspiration to work.

I always enjoy your videos thanks again. As for the flow of air at the tip of the blades that is caused by the low pressure created by the blade. The different pressure will naturally try and equalize the high pressure air will move around the tip of the blade. This may also explain your problem with air seeming to get interference from the filter. Some smart engineers figured out a couple ways to help slow the migration of air but on a existing fan blade I'm not sure how to apply those methods. One way is winglets - take look at newer commercial airliners. Thx again for a very cool video.

The effect you found with the string near the edge of the propeller blade is the tip vortex. To reduce it you could add a short tube or 'duct' around the prop. There's a nice explanation of the effect here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ecunaK13ndealY0.html Basically you have a lower pressure on the filter side of the propeller which is sucking the air back inside at the edge where there's no blade (or baffle) in the way.

Love your videos!

Excellent work!

That wooden mallet cures anything 😂

Thankyou for showing the string to test airflow. I can use that.

instead of or in addition to baffle.... why not build more of a wind tunnel... would this prevent air from entering from the front?

Love your work

You are so much fun to watch!

Good job Matthias I'm proud of you

Wow, great job!

your air cleaner videos are my favourite

more chaos area! PS how many Kwatts does your shop use?

I like your idea of using a box fan. I'm going to do that plus what you did. I have a smaller oscilating fan that the motor broke and i will put that into a box fan that is 20" x 20" that I have, that the plastic fan blades are breaking off of. If I take the box and use it as my enclosure, all I will have to do is make a slot in the back to slide in and hold the filter in place. After that all that would need to be done would be to make a baffle for the front since we're using a smaller fan blade. Thanks for the ideas!

Matthias Wandel . a great creative I like your creativity, thanks for sharing

Great job!

Ah, so that's where all the chaos in you shop goes.

I love his demonstration an acuracy...

scrap inner tubes are so handy.

My shop IS the chaos area of my shop. ;o) Nice idea with the rubber mounts.

Matthias, does putting together those box joints feel as satisfying as it looks?

You build very nicely

Everyone else on the planet: Butt-joints for the plywood, brad nailed together. Matthias: I'll be making box-joints for this box. And that's why I watch his videos.

Very lucidly explained. Thanks.

Great videos. I am curious if by shortening the axle you lose torque? Kinda like how a longer screwdriver gives you more torque.

Clean job, like always....

I think it's a good idea to use a blower style design. They're much better for static pressure so that you don't have that backflow through the fan blades. I think that'd make your air cleaner more efficient!

Good job.

I like the concept of 'designated chaos'.

Cool!