Homebrew PCBs

I'm seriously thinking of FINALLY making myself a decent smoke system for
soldering and etching and could use ideas/comments.  I have a 110V 4" fan
that kicks up pretty good, I don't have the CFM but it's quite strong.  I'm
looking for suggestions for the filtering part.  Ideally, I'd like to design
this thing so that I could use it without having to stuff a pipe out a
window (rain and winter).

The soldering station I have now has a tiny filter on it (1" diameter),
sprinkled with what looks like charcoal dust.  I was thinking of using
filters from a central heating system and chopping them up to size.  The
ones I picked up in a garbage bin are unused white 'cloth' type, not the
filament stuff I used to have in a mobile home ages ago.  I figure this
white cloth stuff would capture more particles, I suppose this is where the
charcoal comes in, I assume the particles stick to it.

Any ideas for a source of charcoal?  Would ashes be good?  Or does it have
to be a special composition?

I was initially thinking of using a kitchen range and placing it in a
window, but I need something I could bring upstairs when I'm etching.  For
the liquid tinning, I go outside on the balcony.  I don't want to do that
crap inside, something about the skull & bones on the bottle gives me the
creeps.

Robert
:)



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