Show us your dust-protected woodshop computer

I have plans to build a small electronics corner in my shop to include a desktop computer. My main thought is to build a cabinet to put the computer in and make it pretty air tight. I was then going to make a small vent or two, to the outside (thinking a external part of a dryer vent) if I did two, one would be for intake and the exhaust one would have a small case type ball-bearing fan to induce circulation. I have a flat screen monitor I was gonna mount to the wall and I was going to mount a small shelf above it to minimize dust from landing on top of it. After that it would just use compressed air to keep it clean. I also was going to put a TiVo and a VCR into the cabinet. I have tuner card for the PC and would run everything through that. For Mouse/Keyboard I was going to go with but usable set that is cheap and therefore easy to replace.

Thats all I got to say about thaat….

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Your computer should be in an enclosure with filtered positive air flow. The air flow keeps the dust out. Basicly a down draft table. Every so often open up your cpu and vacuum it out and give your key board the air blast… (I air blast everything but thats me.)

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Hmm, I a now thinking I should put the fan on the in-take side, that way I am creating a positive pressure situation within my cabinet.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

You will definitely need to put the computer “box” (or lap top) in a ventilated, dust protected enclosure. As sIke suggested, this enclosure must have a fan to circulate the air- for a cool environment. The fan must pull the air thru the enclosure. The air must pull thru the enclosure to “assist” the airflow being created by the internal computer ventilation system. Computer fans are available from www.tigerdirect.com or www.newegg.com. You could even take a computer case fan from and old computer and wire it to run from your present computer. To filter the air, a small furnace type filter will work. Remember to change/clean it often.

As for the monitor, if it is an older CRT type, it will attract dust no matter how you protect it unless you completely enclose it in a case. The high voltage on the CRT acts like a “Dust Magnet” and the heat vent slots will allow dust to enter the case. So a complete enclosure, with glass/Plexiglas front, and cooling fan/filter is the only way to be sure dust stays out. If it is a flat panel, there will be less of an issue with static dust attraction but it the monitor should still be protected. sIKE’s idea of the shelf above it should provide fairly good protection.

Keyboards can be protected by a device similar to these http://www.compucover.com/KS_Info.html. An optical mouse will probably be your best bet to keep most of the dust out.

Just some ideas.

I don’t have a photo.. in my case, my computer is in the adjacent room. The problem is ventilation for the heat. A sealed box won’t work since it will cause the computer to overheat.

Now as for the keyboard, you can put it in a sealed bag and type through the plastic wrap.

So if you build a case, you need to create it as a frame and use filters for the sides to allow air to get in. If you want to get fancy, you can put a small fan inside blowing out so that it draws cool air in through the filters to keep the CPU and monitor cool. The front of hte case should be clear so that the monitor can be placed close and you can see it.

-- making sawdust....

Keyboards / mice are cheap. You can buy replacements for $10. Just cover then with a towel when not in use. For the monitor and computer…build enclosures with glass/plexiglass hinged doors. Add a 1 micron filtered 12”x12” (minimum size) openings. Add an exhaust fan oposite the filtered opening to pull air across the monitor / cpu and exhaust heat build up. Doesn’t need to be fancy.

-- DaveH - Boise, Idaho - “How hard can it be? It's only wood!”

I’d borrow the concept used in clean rooms – that is a laminar flow booth. The filtered air would flow horizontally from the back of the booth and out into the shop not allowing any dust to enter. If you Google laminar flow booth you can see what the pros use which could be used as a concept for a shop built model. The computer or anything else in that space would stay clean and cool and be easily accessible.

-- Joe

Thanks for all of the advice. I’ll be using a laptop with an external LCD monitor. keyboard and mouse. I’ll post a picture when I get things set-up.

Mine’s a laptop that put away when doing dusty work. <g>

I have very ready access, as “suspend” works very well.

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

I make money with my machine. It’s in the house. No way I’d have it in the shop. It’s bad enough having it in the house with two large dogs on the loose. Dog hair is bad for computers.
-JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

Standard routine is a can of air once a month with the cabinet off. Have not had a problem in 3 years

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

Somewhere I saw a set up that used a couple automotive air cleaners (the round ones) stacked with a squirrel cage fan ducted into the back of the computer case, giving it a positive pressure. That’s what I would use

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

You could put your computer in a clean space or in the house and use a KVM extender to access it. You only need the keyboard, mouse and a monitor in the shop that way. You could get a KVM extender that uses CAT5 for the connection. You also do video over CAT5 as well as keyboard and mouse over CAT5. Keyboards are cheap as are mice. You can get skins to fit some keyboards to keep dust out but you can also just take them apart and washh them if you dry them good before reassembling. Put a monitor in a ventilated and filtered box with a Lexan front and you’re all set.

We have a number of remote computer locations tied with anesthesia sites in areas where radiation is used during cases. Some of the runs are fairly long. If you want I’ll look on Monday to get you some brand names of the hardware we use. We have a number of ORs now that have all the computers installed in a closet in the hallway with the keyboards mice, displays and even bar code scanners inside the rooms. We even mount one keyboard, trackball and monitor on an arm on the side of the anesthesia machine. The KVM devices for those rooms connect to the closet over fiber which may be a bit overkill for a woodshop.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

My workshop is at the ”1st floor” – pic #1
My computer is located in my son’s bedroom. So saw dust is non-issue.
The motherboard is in the doored cabinet to ensure double proctection – pic #2
The printer, speakers, keyboard and mouse do not really need proctection -pic #3
Pic #1

Pic #2

Pic #3

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Great topic. I was thinking about this same thing the other night. I want to put a tv out there also with a dvd player so I can watch some of my turning and woodworking DVD’s while practicing what I am watching. I hope you get many more posts on this topic. My shop is about 30 feet away from the house so would need to run lots of wiring to have the computer in the house.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

cabinetmaster, if you use the KVM hardware I was talking about, you could do it with one or two CAT5 cables.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

I noticed someone mentioned removing the case, and vacuuming it out now and then- I would highly suggest dry compressed air rather than vaccuuming- the vacuum can cause static electricity, coupled with the plastic nozzle, can zap components. You might get away with it a few times, but eventually there will be a problem

This is what we use in our shop at work: http://www.dustshield.com/std_details.asp?id=88
I am the computer guy and the shop computers are usually cleaner than the ones in the offices. The price is ridiculous but would be easy to replicate. As was said before about the positive airflow – the fan is on the inside of the box and pulls air through the filter then exhausts out the back. it is very important to get a lot of airflow to the computer to keep it from burning out the CPU. keyboards and mice are cheap and are also pretty tough as far as being able to survive in a shop environment.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

Jm82435,
My comming workshop will have no dedicated room for the PC. It will share space with tools-storage, a workbench for hand planing & other operations that do not produce tiny dust (no power tools). Machines that produce tiny dust (TS,BS, Sander & DP) would be located in a dedicated room.

Will it work if I place the PC in an open end box (filtered front opening) with an exhaust fan at the back to draw in-flow air?

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

My solution is close to what DaveR suggested. My shop (garage) shares a common wall with the master BR, so the PC is in the bedroom with the monitor and keyboard is in the shop with cables sharing the TV cable access. The good monitor/keyboard is inside shared by KVM switch with the ones for the shop. Shop monitor is still an old CRT, so I have to dust it occasionally, but that is OK. The keyboard, I just turn over and cover with a towel when not in use.

-- If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free! PJ O'Rourke

Jm82435,
I put that site in my favorites so I can go back and look at it. Looks like they have some good info there on Positve air flow. I’m still waiting for DaveR to get the info on KVM also.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Sorry for the delay in reporting.

The KVM extenders we use in our locations requiring remotes are from Gefen. this will get you 330 of distance with a single CAT5e for VGA, keyboard and mouse. They aren’t cheap but we haven’t had any trouble with these and they make the connection very easy. You can duplicate the keyboard, mouse and video so that you can still use the computer in the house. To gain control you simply move the mouse.

Note that I’m not endorsing the product or saying it is better than another. Neither is my employer. There may be others out there that do the same job at a lower cost.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

I purchased a used smalll compaq that has no fan. One of the desktop ipaq, not portable and slow.
I was given a 20” monitor, so that is what is on it with a server type keyboard (smaller due to
no numeric keypad) and an optical mouse to keep from cleaning the silly ball.
It is basically a laptop in a desktop case. I has no fan and low power and is easy to blow out.
It is hooked into my wireless network using a linksys game adapter. Running a ethernet
cable is not easy in my case, even though it would be preferable.

Since it is on my network, I can snag files from my desktop in the house or use the printer there.

I like the extender idea. I have used them at work before. Most use ethernet cabling, but you cannot
run them through a switch, since they don’t really send/receive ethernet packets. Not a problem,
just don’t want folks to get to excited and then be disappointed. But they do a good job, at least did
for me back when!

-- A strange game. The only winning move is not to play -- Joshua in War Games

I use an old laptop in my shop. It is only used when no dust is flying and it still manages to get dust on it. Canned compressed air keeps it fairly clean. When not in use it is in the traveling case and that pretty much keeps it dust free. Plans and such are done on the desktop in the house where they can be printed to paper and carried to the shop.

-- There are three signs of old age. The first is loss of memory. I forgot the other two!

Mine is a wireless networked laptop that I simply put away when I’m making dust. It was $350 last year @ Newegg.com.

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

Seeing this thread dredged up got me to thinking.

In some of the ORs at work they’ve put up these 72” or larger flat screen displays on the wall for the surgeons. these are rooms where they are doing a lot of scope-type surgeries. Anyway, I was thinking that one of those giant monitors with a wireless mouse and keyboard would be cool in the shop. You could have your plan displayed on the screen and switch over to LumberJocks any time you want. You could see it from anywhere in your shop.

Of course I don’t have room in my shop for something like that not to mention the funds to buy it. ;)

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Yeppers Dave That would be nice. But I too have such a small shop it would not work for me. But it is a great idea.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

This is scary Dave my wife and I were just talking about that very same thing before I read your response.

-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

I have been thinking along the lines of the large format display as well, but rather than a bulky, expensive, and dust-sensitive flat screen, a micro-projector or a set of several micro-projectors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt1_4Hr_-FA or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfarRM0BoM) could be wired to bring images to a variety of work spaces on white walls or pull-down screens.

I have an older 2.4 GHz machine with 17inch CRT to run the CNC in my shop. When chips are flying, I cover it with sheets of plastic. At the end of each day, I blow it all out with compressed air. Computers are designed to operate in folks homes and such with a certain amount of dust and other airborne nastiness. I just make sure I keep it blown out and I have not had a problem. For a $50.00 PC, I don’t see much need for an enclosure or setup that costs me twice that. :) I don’t surf the web or use the CD drives or anything either. I carry my toolpaths out to the shop on a flash drive, plug it in and copy them to the PC. It’s not under a great deal of strain.

I’m interested in seeing what others come up with, however. I’m actually thinking about an enclosure of some sort for my CNC machine.

-- Matt - My Websites - http://www.bestinwood.com - Hand Tools :: http://www.workshopgarage.com - Small Shops

My computer sits in my studio (in the house). I access control and view it from my work shop using my iPod touch. So I dont get dust in my computer. Yes, i am on a mac. :D

Enjoy your day.

-- Mateo

Mac’s rock! Wish I had a CNC controller for mine. Then I could ditch the XP box out in the shop. :)

-- Matt - My Websites - http://www.bestinwood.com - Hand Tools :: http://www.workshopgarage.com - Small Shops

Mateo,

That touch has a pretty small screen for viewing plans, creating lists, or any of the other 1,000,000 uses for a compute in the shop. Do you pine for a bigger display?
...pun intended.