New glovebox design questions

[jbrass]

Here is a few pics of the glovebox i built today. Not quite finishes needs gloves and cleaning. I never made one with a fan anyone wanna throw a few suggestions on placement and type.

[oakchild]

Is that a fan on the side? If so what are you using as your filter?

I did something similar. Here is my design:

• 99.997% 0.3 micron HEPA Filters.
• Computer Fans with Tyvek for exhaust.
• Toilet Flanges for arm holes
• Test Plugs to stop the holes
• Shoulder Length Mylar gloves (Not shown in pictures).
• RTV Gasket seal on the lid with screws to tighten the lid on.
• Lexan window for easy viewing.
• Everything is sealed up with sillicon.

Running the fans, the only air in enters through the HEPA filters. I spray Oust inside, then I run the fans for 20-30 minutes prior to work. The fans are shut off during work for still air if dealing with anything open to the air (Agar, making syringes ect). I will leave the fans running if I am just shooting jars up or something like that where still air isn't needed.

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[EmmisonJ]

very impressive, looks high budget and fancy

i followed limeade's tek from a few weeks ago and made a glovebox. so far it has served me very well. when it's not being used as a glovebox, i unscrew one of the couplings and remove one of the gloves and use that same coupling to tighten down a piece of tyvek over the pvc as one big gaping hole for FAE for incubation then fruiting chamber. great idea for a multipurpose chamber if you only do one cycle at a time

[mestophilies]

Hot Damn Oakchild! Your becoming my own personal McGuiver! Not only am I stealing your airpump chamber idea I have to snatch up your glovebox. I really like this one. Great work!

How are you attaching your lid? Just put the regular old one on with the silicone as "weather stripping" so to speak then screw it down? And are you just using screws or nuts and bolts type thing?

[Dr_T]

Why in the world would you want a fan in a glovebox?

A flowhood has an open front, the air spills out. This thing is supposed to have still air inside, not be moving it around.

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by mestophilies

Hot Damn Oakchild! Your becoming my own personal McGuiver! Not only am I stealing your airpump chamber idea I have to snatch up your glovebox. I really like this one. Great work!

How are you attaching your lid? Just put the regular old one on with the silicone as "weather stripping" so to speak then screw it down? And are you just using screws or nuts and bolts type thing?

For lid attatchment:

1. Put lid on, snapped into position.
2. Mark arrows in permanent marker on one end of the lid and one end of the chamber as after this process the lid will only go on one way.
3. Drill holes just smaller than the thread of the screws you will be using.
4. Remove lid
5. Tap holes in the flange of the tub with the correct thread for your screws.
6. Drill the holes in the lid a little wider to provide clearance for the screws.
7. Run RTV Seal around flange of the tub circling each tapped hole in the flange.
8. Let dry.

When attaching the lid, remember that the tapped holes in the flanges will strip easy. DON'T OVERTIGHTEN! You only should turn the screw until it is flush with the lid and you start to feel a little more resistance to turning. This is sufficient to squeeze the gasket and provide an airtight seal. If you do strip a screw hole, you can put a nut on the other side of it.

Hope this helps.

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by Dr_T

Why in the world would you want a fan in a glovebox?

A flowhood has an open front, the air spills out. This thing is supposed to have still air inside, not be moving it around.

You are missing the point! The fan is not running while you are using the glovebox. The fan is run for 20-30 minutes before you use it to assure that you have clean air on the inside.

This isn't strictly necessary, but it sure the hell helps if you live in an area with an over abundance of various mold spores. It is virtually impossible to keep your glovebox clean otherwise. Previously I had my glovebox unfiltered and just used Oust and still got contams on my agar work. But with Oust and the HEPA filter (2 for $40 at Target BTW), my work is clean!

There is also an issue with cross contamination of the strains you are working with. Funny story: FOAF took some PESA prints in his/her glovebox that were super dark (Fucking came off the gills in sheets and left an 1/8 thick layer of spores all stuck together on the tin foil!) . At some later date He/She was doing some agar work to isolate a good Oyster strain (Dry spores lightly scraped over plates with an innoculating loop). He/She picked the best looking substrain and fruited it. Turned out it was PESA! . He/She should have known better, Oyster Myc is not very Rhizomorphic, and the picked strian was super Rhizomorphic. There were so many PESA spores floating around in there that a few survived the Ousting and landed on His/Her plates.

I would use a flow hood, but $60 for a kickass glovebox that is equivelently clean is a bit more in my price range than building a $600 flowhood. Not to say that flowhoods aren't nice. They definately are a lot easier to work at, and I still plan on building one when I have the coin to cough up for such luxuries.

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[Dr_T]

Guess you're right, I was missing the point!

[mestophilies]

Yeah $600 for a flowhood is outside my price range right now. But I already have all the makings for this glovebox except the filters and those I can afford. The wife is buying me an agar kit for x-mas so I need something to work in that I trust to be clean.
Again Oakchild you the freakin McGuiver man!

[ripple]

Hey Dr. T,
Its called a positive pressure glove box.
I have been using mine, with the fan always running, for 5 years
with absolutely no failure.
I know I'm about the only one still using them, but as long as it keeps working,
I'll keep using it.
PEACE

Oh yeah, I also dont even use gloves. Just two arm holes, stick em right in.

[yakima]

thats dope!. i gotta give it a try. how much were the air filters?

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by yakima

thats dope!. i gotta give it a try. how much were the air filters?

I got them at Target. They are the Holmes brand "True HEPA" filters. %99.997 0.3 micron HEPA Filters. They come in a pack of 2 for about $40.

Originally Posted by ripple

Hey Dr. T,
Its called a positive pressure glove box.
I have been using mine, with the fan always running, for 5 years
with absolutely no failure.
I know I'm about the only one still using them, but as long as it keeps working,
I'll keep using it.
PEACE

Oh yeah, I also dont even use gloves. Just two arm holes, stick em right in.

Glad it has been working for you. For everyone else: I really don't recommend running the fans while you are working, Especially if you don't have gloves (Just the Holes) as you will be pulling room air directly in through the holes bypassing the filter completely. Possibly if you have the fans mounted outside the filters pushing air directly through them this could work, but it would be a very bad idea if the fans are mounted like they are in my setup.

Also, anytime you are working with spores you really want to have the fans off as still air is what you really want.


jbrass:
You still haven't answered my questions regarding your design. I just want to make sure you got your question answered!

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[ripple]

Filter is outside. Air is pulled through with the fan to the inside.
Air blows out of the arm holes. Good point on the spores.
I only use it for cloning. Dont even use it for cultures anymore.
I go silicone/airport.

[jbrass]

jbrass:
You still haven't answered my questions regarding your design. I just want to make sure you got your question answered!


Its not a fan yet but that is what i was going to use the hole for. That and just in case i needed a third hand inside to help.

[RockyRaccoon]

don't use a fan in a glovebox . it will only force dirty air to enter . it doesn't matter which way the fan is facing .

i considered making a hole for a third hand also . it's much more important to have extra long gloves than it is to have 3 hands . trust me on this . 2 long gloves will be plenty . 3 short ones will not .

[oakchild]

There probably won't be a good way to mount a filter on that 3rd hole. If you want to go with a fan/filter setup you will probably want to put it on the back side. Also, I noticed that there are some hand grip holes in the upper part of the tub. This will pretty much force you to do an inline filter/fan setup if you want that (i.e. not like my design).

Ask ripple what he did. His setup should work for you.

blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by RockyRaccoon

don't use a fan in a glovebox . it will only force dirty air to enter . it doesn't matter which way the fan is facing .

Not if using a HEPA filter like is described multiple times in this thread. ;-)

-Oakchild

[RockyRaccoon]

Originally Posted by oakchild

Not if using a HEPA filter like is described multiple times in this thread. ;-)

-Oakchild

well it doesn't look like he made the lid airtight as you did , so it won't make any difference if he puts a hepa filter on . it's still going to circulate dirty air .

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by RockyRaccoon

well it doesn't look like he made the lid airtight as you did , so it won't make any difference if he puts a hepa filter on . it's still going to circulate dirty air .

Not if he puts the fan inline with the filter like ripple did. In that case all the air drawn in comes through the filter creating positive pressure inside the tub and pushing air out of the other holes.

Obviously you still would be better off turning the fan off when you are actually using the thing, but it would still work to scrub the air before you started to work.

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)

[ernestro]

i guess i wont be off-topic if i ask
- what's the deal with a "positive" pressure glovebox? how is it used/concept?
I might be imagining it in a counter- productive way..

[RockyRaccoon]

the volume of air flowing into the chamber is going to equal the volume of air blowing out .

a fan blowing outward will result in a lower pressure inside the chamber than outside (negative pressure) . this will cause new air to be pulled in to equalize the pressure . in most cases , the air will be sucked in through cracks and small openings that would normally not have much air flow . in doing this , a container that would otherwise be considered sealed can become compromised .

a fan blowing inward will cause the pressure to be higher inside , and the air will escape through the same openings mentioned above . this is called positive pressure . if the incoming air is clean (if a filter is used) , positive pressure can be beneficial because the outward flow of air escaping through the cracks can prevent contamination from entering against the current .

[ernestro]

ahh, i missed the filter part ...changes everything
yes i dig the whole gradient thing

cause without a filter it made pretty much no sense..

have it good

[Ben Dover]

Originally Posted by oakchild

I would use a flow hood, but $60 for a kickass glovebox that is equivelently clean is a bit more in my price range than building a $600 flowhood. Not to say that flowhoods aren't nice. They definately are a lot easier to work at, and I still plan on building one when I have the coin to cough up for such luxuries.

I have been looking to build a flowhood soon and my supplies list is around $200

~18" x ~24" x 6" %99.99 HEPA filter ~$100
Used squirrel cage fan Free at your local HVAC company
110V 3 speed motor to replace the big ass one in the fan ~$50
4' x 8' sheet of good quality oak plywood ~$35
Screws, paint, silicone ~$15

I'll be sure to post a rundown of it when I build it, hopefully before xmas

Sorry, off topic but I thought y'all might like to know

[oakchild]

Originally Posted by Ben Dover

I have been looking to build a flowhood soon and my supplies list is around $200

~18" x ~24" x 6" %99.99 HEPA filter ~$100
Used squirrel cage fan Free at your local HVAC company
110V 3 speed motor to replace the big ass one in the fan ~$50
4' x 8' sheet of good quality oak plywood ~$35
Screws, paint, silicone ~$15

I'll be sure to post a rundown of it when I build it, hopefully before xmas

Sorry, off topic but I thought y'all might like to know

I have looked into this before. The problem I keep running into is lack of finding the "Used squirrel cage fan Free at your local HVAC company"

I have resorted to trying "Cheap squirrel cage fan" on Craigslist and Ebay. I check back periodically, but still haven't found anything that is both cheap (<=$100) and up to the task (>=600 CFM).

If you have any advice about the Free fans, shoot me a PM. I would love to know where to get one.

Blessings,
Oakchild

8-)