Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Safer Studio: Ventilation


Now that we have a baby in the house I've decided to make some changes in the way I do things in the studio to keep everybody safe and healthy. I already posted about my new electrolytic copper etching method, which allowed me to still make etched pieces during my pregnancy. Now that the baby is here, I'm continuing to revamp my studio.
One of the main things I had to do before I could solder or enamel was to arrange some better ventilation for my studio. My studio is in a pantry, so it's a very small space, but It was already outfitted with a window and a vent fan in the ceiling. What I still needed was some ventilation at the bench level so I wouldn't be breathing in soldering and kiln fumes before they were removed from the space.
My uncle rigged up a nice little ventilation fan for me by building a box around a bathroom vent fan, and hooking it up to a switch and power cord so I can plug it into a regular outlet and switch it on and off. I set it right next to my soldering station so it will remove the fumes as close to the source as possible. I was very fortunate in that a previous tenant had a washer and dryer in the room, so there was a dryer exhaust hole already in the wall. I just got some dryer vent hose stuff to attach the fan to the opening.
I should probably add that I should have done all this a long time ago. It shouldn't take a baby to make me finally care about my health and safety!
Coming soon: safer flux and pickle alternatives!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Outstanding! I just got a copper wire outlet (house is aluminum) and an exhaust fan above my kiln installed.

Amy Nicole said...

I have the exact same "ventilation system"!! My shop is in my master bathroom, and my husband put the bathroom fan right in front of my bench. I just plug it in when I need it, I was surprised how well it works!