Double Station
Unfortunately for this tutorial Fortunately for me, I already have my shop built .. So I cant show you step by step instructions with pictures but Ill do my best to explain it out.. feel free to contact me with any questions.. There is a list of things you need to build a hood this way at the bottom of the page.. this list does not necessarily include everything you will need..
This is the double station. We work daily on this with a G.T.T. Delta Mag, and a Mirage.. Never had an issue with over heating the station.. As you can see its pretty tall of an opening. From the top of the bench to the hood is around 4feet. This hood is built to make larger pieces and to be able to use the Delta mag.. so you can go smaller if need be.. But I like a large opening so I dont hit my punty on the ceiling.. It took approximately 4 sheets of sheet metal from a H.V.A.C. (Heating Ventilation and air conditioning) supply store.. you can usually find one in your area.. I like using the sheet metal because it comes in 4x8 foot sheets and like 1/16th of an inch thick (its what an H.V.A.C. specialist uses to build ventilation for commercial buildings) .. wich makes a hood really quick and looks pretty good too.I reccommend wearing leather gloves for handling the metal.. especially after you cut it.. its sharp.. One main thing to remember about doing any ventilation is you have to remember the Heat factor into your design.. your torch and hot material creates alot of upward draft motion, cause heat rises! so if you make a hood that the front of the hood is higher or even the same height as the exhaust fan then the power of the heat will automatically over power your exhaust fan and all the bad stuff from the glass will be sent into your breathing space.. So First design quality that needs to be figured in is that your exhaust fan MUST be higher than the front of your hood by atleast 6 inches.. thats the top of your exhaust fan.. The top of your exhaust fan should be the highest point in your hood! Period! The second Main thing to remember when building your hood is air flow.. air likes curves... not square corners.. so square exhaust hoods do not work as good as rounded edge hoods.. think of an air plane front end.. or a bullet.. but like your standing inside of the bullet and its slightly pointing upwards.. the tip of the bullet should be where your exhaust fan should be.. The great thing about the large 4x8 sheet metal is its easy to overlap and put in place so that there is little chance of any air gaps in the metal. make sure that the only place your fan can suck from is the front of the hood.. no air gaps where the table meets.. (well I say no air gaps.. but I mean as few as possible)
This is the double station. We work daily on this with a G.T.T. Delta Mag, and a Mirage.. Never had an issue with over heating the station.. As you can see its pretty tall of an opening. From the top of the bench to the hood is around 4feet. This hood is built to make larger pieces and to be able to use the Delta mag.. so you can go smaller if need be.. But I like a large opening so I dont hit my punty on the ceiling.. It took approximately 4 sheets of sheet metal from a H.V.A.C. (Heating Ventilation and air conditioning) supply store.. you can usually find one in your area.. I like using the sheet metal because it comes in 4x8 foot sheets and like 1/16th of an inch thick (its what an H.V.A.C. specialist uses to build ventilation for commercial buildings) .. wich makes a hood really quick and looks pretty good too.I reccommend wearing leather gloves for handling the metal.. especially after you cut it.. its sharp.. One main thing to remember about doing any ventilation is you have to remember the Heat factor into your design.. your torch and hot material creates alot of upward draft motion, cause heat rises! so if you make a hood that the front of the hood is higher or even the same height as the exhaust fan then the power of the heat will automatically over power your exhaust fan and all the bad stuff from the glass will be sent into your breathing space.. So First design quality that needs to be figured in is that your exhaust fan MUST be higher than the front of your hood by atleast 6 inches.. thats the top of your exhaust fan.. The top of your exhaust fan should be the highest point in your hood! Period! The second Main thing to remember when building your hood is air flow.. air likes curves... not square corners.. so square exhaust hoods do not work as good as rounded edge hoods.. think of an air plane front end.. or a bullet.. but like your standing inside of the bullet and its slightly pointing upwards.. the tip of the bullet should be where your exhaust fan should be.. The great thing about the large 4x8 sheet metal is its easy to overlap and put in place so that there is little chance of any air gaps in the metal. make sure that the only place your fan can suck from is the front of the hood.. no air gaps where the table meets.. (well I say no air gaps.. but I mean as few as possible)
Start with framing end with safe fuming..
This is a side shot of the double vent hood. As you can see all we did was build a frame for the front of the hood to screw to.. and then let the metal over hang.. very simple..
Opposite side view of double station
This is the other side view.. as you can see when we started putting metal up we started with the two outside pieces of metal and screwed them to the outside 2x4 and then just pushed them up to the back wall made them have a nice curve and screwd them off.. wich started us out with a nice round curve 4 feet tall from the bench up .. next we installed a piece of metal on the ceiling that went from the front board to the back wall.. wich was screwed to a small board we placed against the back wall and then a couple small boards going between the front board and the one to the wall.. make sure to remember to make your hood end right at the top of your exhaust fan.. very important! and the front to be atleast 6 inches lower in the front than the top of your exhaust fan.. Heat rises..After getting the top piece of metal up now there was just a few gaps to fill in with some handy patch work.. lol.. and attaching it to your fan.. that all depends on your fan setup.. Remember this is not fun thats why H.V.A.C. specialists make good money.. but it is not that hard if you are getting frustrated take a safety break..and have a friend help..
Ventilation on single hood
This is the single station built beside our double.. same concept as the other one but built in a corner.. it was even easier.. The Fan is an attic exhaust vent fan.1450 cfm $80.00 at lowes or home depot.. mounts to the outside wall or roof. Very simple to install! it has a blow back front cover already and all.. all you have to do is cut a hole in your wall or roof and screw it to the outside pass the wires inside, Cut off the Thermostat control switch and wire the two wires to a plug in.. if you dont know about electricity then let someone who does do that part.. its very simple for anyone who knows about electricity...
Up close of single hood
Making a small collar out of the sheet metal was the easiest way to make the hood on this one meet up with the fan.. I simply cut off a strip of metal about 8 inches wide and 4 feet long rolled it into a circle and screwed it to the inside of the attic exhaust fan. I reccommend wearing leather gloves.. this metal is sharp.. then once you have it screwed in securely you should be able to cut little slices in the metal and fold them over to make a flange to screw them to the metal already there from your hood.. then just make a few slices of metal to cover any gaps that were left any where.. Just cut strips and overlap them and screw the metal to other metal..anywhere that the overlaps kind of bow out and make a spot air can come in screw it together with rooffing screws.. Last and one of the most important aspects of a good ventilation system is INTAKE you have to have as much air coming in as you want to exhaust out.. so if you have a 1250 cfm fan blowing out and you only have a 6 inch pipe for an intake you will not have enough air flow.. Lastly for a nice light inside the new hood we cut an x in the metal directly above the torch bend the four pieces of metal up and put a normal shop light with a 100 watt bulb in there.. and with the shiny metal it very bright in there... hope this helps if you have any questions feel free to ask in the contact us page.. I will assist in making custom hood set ups as well as come make them completely. you pay for travel expenses and some compensation for the work..
Things you may need to build this hood
1) depending on your hood size you will need around- 5 -10 2x4s about $2-3 apiece
2) depending on your hood size you will need -3 and up sheets of 4x8 foot sheet metal 1/16th of an inch thick, if not thinner.. I dont recommend going much thicker.. about $10 a sheet..if not less
3) Metal roofing screws the more the better.. but atleast a hundred screws or so..you can never have to many screws..lol 100 screws are less than $10
4) screw gun, circular saw, and tin snips.. tape measure and level if you feel like it but by eye works just fine....lol
5)Attic exhaust vent fan from any major hardware store $80
Total cost around $150-200
2) depending on your hood size you will need -3 and up sheets of 4x8 foot sheet metal 1/16th of an inch thick, if not thinner.. I dont recommend going much thicker.. about $10 a sheet..if not less
3) Metal roofing screws the more the better.. but atleast a hundred screws or so..you can never have to many screws..lol 100 screws are less than $10
4) screw gun, circular saw, and tin snips.. tape measure and level if you feel like it but by eye works just fine....lol
5)Attic exhaust vent fan from any major hardware store $80
Total cost around $150-200
