[Max Hardcastle]

Hi LE,

I'm attempting to set up a small bead studio after having moved to a new home, and I'm wondering what size vent fans people usually buy. At my old studio I just used an existing fan and it wasn't very good. I want to do a good job on my ventilation this time around. There is an ace hardware down the street and I noticed that they sell bathroom fans from $17 to $230 but the "CFM" is between 50 and 80. I do plan on getting some flashing and constructing a little cowling to put at the back of my bench so that I'm sucking the air just around the torch head. To be honest I'm not that worried about the noise - I'm rather resigned to the fact that it's going to be noisy regardless because my old one was noisy and every studio I've visited has been noisy too. If it matters, the torch is a hot head, so there won't be leaping flames and immense clouds of metal vapor.

My goal is to spend under $100 on a vent system, but if I find it's not sufficient to set up a high quality system I'll save up more to get a good one.

Thanks y'all!
Max