Anyone who does a lot of soldering knows the issue: flux fumes drifting straight up into your face. CASS Designs had a big Raspberry Pi handheld project coming up that meant extensive joint work, and the goal here was simply to stop breathing those fumes while working. The result is a small portable extractor built around a printed enclosure, and it looks like a tidy answer to a common bench problem.
The construction path is well thought out. A rough sketch came first, then the housing was modelled in Fusion 360 and prepared in Ultimaker Cura with an Ender 3 profile. The CAD layout is a square body with fan mounts in the corners, plus a separate compartment next to it for the battery pack and switch. The frame came out in white filament, printed on a bed lined with blue painter's tape. To me, splitting the battery and switch into their own section seems a smart way to keep the layout clean.
The parts list is refreshingly simple: a Noctua 140 mm computer case fan, an activated carbon filter sheet trimmed to size with household scissors, a round rocker toggle switch, and a holder carrying four Energizer AA batteries, all joined with connecting wires. The wiring is a soldered series circuit through the batteries, switch and fan leads, and the fan harness was deliberately left uncut so it can serve a computer build later. The STL is published on Thingiverse for anyone else to use.
In use it has been run three times for quick connections and performed really well. A little smell stayed behind, though far less than without it, and no smoke was seen escaping from the back, though the fan may have dispersed it. The maker views the carbon filter as better than nothing but probably not perfect, and longer sessions have not been tried yet, so that remains the open question.
Project by CASS Designs. Watch it on their YouTube channel: