Fan inside a Blow-drier

Hello,

I am making a suction device for my soldering iron. It will take the fumes in one side, and out the other, which will be out my window. I already made this simple project, the fan is from a Conair Hair-Drier, only 10 bucks. I am running it if a 9V 500mA transformer. I need more suction aka more power! From looking at the circuitry inside it looks like the motor, which is just a small high speed radioshack motor, is powered straight from mains. The motor had 4 diodes around it with three wires extending from three different spots. I think the 3 wires and 4 diodes are just for speed control. It had high, med, and low. (or maybe just high and low) The part that plugs into the Wall has those two buttons so you don't get electrocuted, its very light, doesnt seem like there is a transformer in there. Should I run it from that, or will I probably kill my self? :shock:

thanks,

George L.

Arent hair dryers desigend to work off the mains and not 9V?

Reading between the lines, I am assuming that you are tring to trun a 110volt motor from a 9v wall wart. This does not sound like a recipe for success.

To build a "fume remover", I would take a different approach and use an equipment cooling fan.
This would have the advantages of:
A well defined supply voltage
Rated for continuous operation
Makes far less noise!

If you are continuing with your hair dryer, my suggestion would be to "use the original equipment", re-package it to suit your application and make sure it is well insulated.

JimB

There's no transformer because the voltage drop across the heating coil is used to reduce the voltage supplied to the motor. Think of the heating coil as a big resistor.

Unless you're a fan of fireworks, I wouldn't recommend connecting the motor directly to the mains. It's a low-voltage DC motor (hence the rectifiers).

George L. said:

Should I run it from that, or will I probably kill my self?

Click to expand...

It probably won't kill you, unless you are actually holding onto the thing when you plug it in. (Watch out for the shrapnel.) Of course, the motor won't live thru it ...

I agree with JimB in that using an equipment cooling fan would be a better option.
JB

if your soldering is generating copious amounts of smoke, you are using too much heat and burning the flux. either that or it is poor quality solder.

turn down the heat some and try again.

Typically hair driers use a squirrel cage blower that is quite noisy. It's also high velocity but fairly low volume, which is not exactly what you're looking for. A larger fan is much quieter and actually sucks far more air in.

The best option would be a office fan.

I have one of thos and they are very silent and can move a lot of air.

I have the fan around for these hot sumers to keep me cool.

you might be able to wire it in series with your soldering iron,
depending on the current draw of the heating element,
and the current draw of the iron.

Dont quite see what the diodes were wired to,
if they went to tappings on the heater
then you wont have that option with the iron.

John

The iron probobly wodnt regulate the fan much.

You dont even need regulation.Any cheap ofice fan will do.

I though of about a million different ways to do what you're talking about. Everytime I inhaled a solder fume through my nose because my face was too close to my work I thought, "THATS IT, I'M BUILDING AN EXHAUST!".

Anyway what it boiled down to was a 120mm computer fan and a 12v wallwart power supply. I glued two 5.25" front bay covers from a computer to the bottom of it as feet. I also got two really nice fan grills and secrewed them on. It was more powerful than I needed so I also threw in a speed controller.

And I still solder without it all the time so I'm glad I didn't spend more than a few minutes making it.

speaking of fans and fumes

I don't have a problem with the small amount of smoke from soldering, but when I'm drilling PCBs, that's another story

I have a largish fan blowing directly onto my drilling setup... for two reasons.

first, I use the moving air to keep the drilling surface clear

second, I want to dilute (diffuse?) the concentration of fiberglass particles floating around.

on that note, I also wear a osha approved particulate dust mask, and a full face shield ... the shield is more for protection from the ultra sharp solid carbide drill bit should it break while spinning at 35000 RPM.

Would a vent fan for a stove work? They cost as much as a Blow drier.
Home Depot has them for 10 bucks.

hotwaterwizard said:

Would a vent fan for a stove work? They cost as much as a Blow drier.
Home Depot has them for 10 bucks.

Click to expand...

thats a pretty good suggestion ... I bet the cheap ones are pretty loud, but heck, its not like you have to listen to it 24/7

another idea would be one of those bathroom vent fans ... hook up some flexible plastic drier ducting, route it right out a nearby window