You can also find totes at Walmart and IKEA, it does not need to be clear. Note that the tote has smooth/flat surfaces, many of the ones I looked at had grooves that would interfere. If you use all of the same parts I did, this is the best tote I could find: Get a tote of your choice to match the filter(s) you will be using with enough depth to also house the fan you will be using.
#Laminar flow box how to
HOW TO BUILD IT: You only need 4 parts plus some tools! By the way if you are ever going to make a big purchase on amazon you can come click any of my links first and it helps support my work even if the item you purchase has nothing to do with the link) (Note that using any of my amazon links helps support my work, which is much appreciated. As soon as I move the Met One device out of the flow, it jumps to showing thousands of particles in that air (I show this in the video). The Met One meter has a pump that pulls in air and it can measure the number of particles bigger than a specified size, as you can see in the picture above, the flow hood allows ZERO particles >1µm (one micron) in size through (for reference, trichoderma spores are typically 3 to 5 µm in diameter). That combined with the Met One particle count results are pretty irrefutable proof. I also show video proof that the design works flawlessly (I have made numerous agar dishes with a 100% success rate and even exposed open agar dishes to the flow for 5 minutes before closing them and waiting to see what would grow on them (nothing did!). In the video I show how to use the flow hood, particle counts in various positions, tuning the fan speed, flame test, etc. As far as I know, I am the first person to describe such a low cost laminar flow hood and also provide analytical testing showing that it works.Īlso I want to point out that I DID in fact film this project from start to finish, and I have now released a video version of this. I purchased an expensive Met One laser particle counter to test filters for this project, and PROVE that they were working as expected.
It turns out there are LOTS of fake hepa filters out there that don't actually work. This was easier said than done as I had to test numerous filters and fans before I found the legit ones. Rob lives in Europe so I did my own research and found the parts that are easily obtainable in the U.S. He described the design he came up with that was the inspiration for my own design which I will share with you.
It has a high quality fan and the HEPA filter is good for 2,000+ hours, which by my calculations means a lifetime of use if you were only using it for mycology work, but the filter can also be easily replaced if needed for as little as $18.įirst, credit goes to an anonymous guy I'll call "Rob" who private messaged me about this on Instagram. This design passes the flame test as shown in the picture above, even when it's not turned all the way up to max flow rate. I came up with a design that is light weight, portable, has a powerful variable speed flowrate, and is PROVEN to work (unlike all the silly things out there like a furnace filter duct taped to a box fan haha, or a giant plastic bag taped to a small home air/hepa filter, nope that's not laminar flow, put your arms in there and your work is ruined). They can also be quite heavy (the one I've been using for years weighs nearly 90 lbs) and by no means portable, or even easy to move around your house.
#Laminar flow box free
It takes a couple of hours and requires minimal tools, but if anyone reading this wants to make and sell them for other people feel free to drop a link to your listing in the comments.įor years it's always bothered me that laminar flow boxes were so expensive, out of reach for many young mycologists, but let's be real, they make everything so much easier and most serious mycologists have one. I think building this is pretty easy and I've already built more than a dozen of them. I just built something the mycology community is going to LOVE.
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