New Pics of the Work Area

[screenxpress]

Okay, I've just a couple little things to add, but basically I'm ready to go.  Here are the pics.

The vent hood was actually pretty easy to make.  It's made with 1 inch HVAC Ductboard (a single 4x10 sheet is all).  I used some 2 inch "L" brackets and bolts/nuts with fender washers to hold it together until I applied the "goop" on the inside.  I cut a hole for the ducting to pass through from the dryer (the solid piping).  Took 2 2x4s and nailed 4 small boards perpendicular (to stabilize and create draft through) on each and set those on top of the dryer extended to the edge of the dryer for support.  The vent hood just sets on top of those boards.    Drilled a hole in the vent hood and extended the crank to raise/lower the elements.  "Gooped" in a starter duct to connect the flexible tubing which pulls the hot air that rises from all 4 sides.  A 70 cfm bathroom exhaust fan (Home Depot) exhausts the hood outside.  Preliminary temp drop was about 25-30 degrees about a foot past the drop of the exit belt (there's a wall there).  The hood cost about $160 for everything.  Hood sets about 5 inches above the top of the dryer and extends about 6 inches past the intake and outtake and about 2 inches on the sides.

I do have plans for a DIY registration guide (similar to Jasons).....and.....get this....possibly a DIY compressed air driven Newman screen stretcher (we'll see)

[tpitman]

Damn, Wayne, that's pretty nice! If that were my place, within 10 minutes there'd be goats milling around eating shirts and an alligator in the toilet.
Nice work on the dryer vent.

[mk162]

Hmmm, I like that idea for the vent hood.  I need something like that on my oven to take some heat off the shirts at the exit.

I wonder if it would be possible to to a small set of fans under the belt to help force the hot air into the vent, almost like those air curtains at stores that blow when the door opens up to keep the cold air in.

[screenxpress]

Hmmm, I like that idea for the vent hood.  I need something like that on my oven to take some heat off the shirts at the exit.

I wonder if it would be possible to to a small set of fans under the belt to help force the hot air into the vent, almost like those air curtains at stores that blow when the door opens up to keep the cold air in.

i would just get a stronger draw fan from graingers. For this time around I jest picked up a bath vent fan from HD and built/modified the inlet to accept the flex line.  Under the belt would lift the garments.

[Shawn (EIP)]

Do you have plans on how to build that hood?

[sportsshoppe]

Coming right along... Looking good

[screenxpress]

Do you have plans on how to build that hood?

ill draw something out tonight. Easy cheese.

[screenxpress]

Shawn: Here's the skinny on the vent hood: 

(1) 4x10 Sheet of 1 inch ductboard - $35
(1) Bucket of Sealant - $18
(12) 2 inch leg steel 90 degree angle brackets - like you would use to repair a table, etc.
(48) 1 1/4 inch bolts with taper heads (to fit in the bracket holes) and nuts
(48) fender washers (ductboard is soft and its to keep the nuts from pulling through until sealant applied)
bathroom fan - $56
Flex tubing - $18

Ductboard comes in 4 x 10 sheets.  I cut 48 inches off so I had a 48 x 48 piece for the lid.  Notice that I made 2 sides pieces 2 inches longer in order to have butt ends on the long sides giving me exactly a 4 foot box and no funky corner cutting (diagonals).  If you get a side of ductboard like I did (4x10), cut the sides running long way from the remaining 4x6 sheet left after cutting the top.  If you cut across, the most you can get is 48 inches, not enough for the 50 inch sides. 

This required 2 people for assembly.  Start with the shorter sides.  Simply set one side up against the inverted top (silver out), and fasten 2 angle brackets to the side and top.  Move to the opposite side and attach the shorter side.  then fasten the longer sides to the top.  then attach one bracket in each corner to secure the corners from flapping around.  Put on rubber gloves and spread on the sealant.  Stuff starts setting up quick, so don't waste time.  Takes 24 hrs to fully cure.   

I cut 2 2x4 the width of the inside.  I cut some 3/4 plywood squares (4) and attached to the narrow sides of the 2x4.  This just gives a nice flat area to support the hood (its not heavy at all) and on the opposite side to keep the 2x4 upright.

My dryer only needed 48 x 48.  If you need (or want) bigger, just cut what you want for the top, attach something rigid for support, like a piece of thin metal flat bar and then just use sealant to make a bigger lid.

For venting, I got a 4 inch dia starter tube (have folding tips on one end to bend out) and goopied it into the lid.  For a fan, I used a medium size bathroom vent fan and I found a piece of flashing at HD that had a cone like extension-some kind of roof jack.  I centered the metal on the fan, allowed for about a 1 inch overlap, cut the excess, bend over the edges and screwed it to the vent fan box to seal the big open inlet.  Used 4 inch flex tubing to connect it all up.  Hope this helps.  If not, email me.

[Gilligan]

So this basically goes over the current tunnel and vents out any escaping heat?  The original vent is left in place right?

[screenxpress]

Refer to first pic. The hood just sets on top of the dryer with a larger footprint to suck rising heat from inflow and exit. Where the existing vent is, I just pushed down to make an impression to locate then cut a circle out and ran the dryer vent thru the hood using the ridged ductwork. 

[Quaddaddy]

How has adding this affected the temperature of the shop?  Also, did it affect your curing temperatures?

[screenxpress]

I'm just getting my shop back into production after a 2 yr hiatus, so I won't have immediate answers.

The fan pulling from the hood vent is only 70 cfm so it's not sucking air out of the chamber.  If you blow a smoke ring, you can see it gently pulled in.

My post early says that the wall behind the dryer took the temp drop of about 30 degrees during a 30 minute test.  Went from 122 degrees to a rise of 92.  Might have crept up a bit on a production run lasting a couple of hours. 

One member here has a stainless steel restaurant vent hood and is running a gable vent fan (much higher cfm).  He IS in production and evidently had not experienced a problem pulling air from the chamber.