Fumes Extractor

I had a need to keep solder flux fumes out of my face whilst doing soldering on my electronics projects. There are plenty of solutions that are available for purchase. For me this is a simple mechanical project with some incorporated electronics, so came up with my own solution from components I had on-hand.

The extractor uses an off the shelf 12V 0.3A DC brushless 120mm PC fan. It's USB powered and has a fan speed control. The working distance is up to 250mm.

My design goal was purely to keep the fumes away from my face, not to filter or cleanse the air of particulates, hence I have not incorporated any fumes filtering. If lack of filtering is unappealing, then this design is not for you.

The extractor is designed to be powered by a USB power source via a USB Type C connector. The extractor uses up to 4W at full fan operational speed. An externally mounted knob can adjust the fan speed from zero to full speed. A power switch is also mounted on the top of the case.