[THE HOOD]
The hood is shelving/paint grade composite pine. Picked it up at Lowes relatively cheap. Doesn't bow badly and is of a good width so you don't have to join any pieces together. The whole thing is held together with finish nails and glue. Dimensions are 17"H X 16"W X 21.5"L. The internal working area is just shy of 12" deep. The filter is a true hepa held in place by a 1" wood sill/frame and sealed with a generous bead of silicone.
The fan box is of the same material and built to the dimensions of the fan, which was a bit large... It's held in place by gravity and kept from tipping or moving around by two biscuits at the base that seats male to female (see pics). The fan is a ventilation fan and really too strong for the application. Trouble is, with winter approaching, its next to impossible to find a fan. I regulate the flow with the towel - letting more or less of the prefiltered air out of the fan box to get the right flow through the hood. I hope to find a smaller barrel fan this spring and then make another fan box to fit the hood.
The piece of wood in front of the fan is an after thought - seems these ventilator fans create quite a vortex if the output is restricted. Suprisingly, the one piece of wood keeps the breeze at bay.
The work area is 3/4 shielded (to keep my bad breath out) by plexy glass hung on two small nails and kept from blowing outward by a rubber band.
[HEAT BOMB]
Hippie, I have you to thank for the initial idea on this one. The heater is a Jager (now made by ehiem, was Ebo Jager) 100W. The bottle is your standard Gatorade - in my case I like the orange flavor - so my bottle was orange. You may like blue or red - either will work also. I drank the Gatorade and now my bottle is clear. The seal for the heater/bottle is 3/4" Ethylene Propylene gasket from us plastics (Was part number 30670 a few years ago, $.64). The gasket and a little mineral oil make a tightly seated fit with no water leakage. The fit is tight enough to keep the heater firmly in the middle of the bottle even with it laid on it's side.
The crazy pipes coming out the top are for a later application of heating several chambers with their own heat bombs, but with only one 100W heater - the one pictured. This is accomplished with some airline tubing, three or four additional (smaller) bottles and two Aqua Lifter AW-20 pumps (About 3.5 GH each). The pipes are rigid airline tubing and held in place with silicone.
All in all I'm satisfied with the results. The flow hood is noisy, but I've had no contams thus far with GTG. The heat bomb is a dream, keeping my cabinet a steady 75 through out.
cheers and happy backyard building...
