Solder fume extractor — first burn, design notes

Built a fume extractor. Motivation: I solder in a small room and the ventilation is bad. The commercial options are either too expensive or too useless.

Components: 120mm PC fan (Noctua NF-A12x15, 15mm slim), two layers of activated carbon filter material (from an aquarium supply shop, surprisingly cheap), 3D-printed housing in PETG.

The housing is a simple box with a fan mount on one side and a filter chamber on the other. Two layers of filter, friction-fit frame to hold them in. No screws — it needs to be easy to replace the filter.

Fan → [plenum] → [activated carbon, 20mm] → [activated carbon, 20mm] → exhaust

The Noctua runs at 12V from a bench PSU for now. I’ll add a PWM speed controller before the next version.

What works: it pulls fumes away from the work area visibly. The activated carbon absorbs the volatiles — the exhaust air smells notably better than the intake.

What doesn’t work: it’s louder than I expected. The Noctua is a quiet fan, but the housing resonates. PETG is probably too thin at 2mm. Next version will be thicker walls or a different material.

Also: the filter needs replacing after about 8-10 hours of use. That’s more frequent than I’d like. I might add a third filter layer.

Total cost: about CHF 45. The Noctua fan was half of that.