Dust filter and 'Blackout' - I seek material advice

[Langer]

Greetings from Amsterdam fellow enthusiasts!
It's 5:45am here and it's way to early for a debaucherous day of bars and brothels, so I'm taking some time to get some work done.

I'm looking for a material to use as a dust filter, which will also work as a sort-of blackout.

As some of you may know already, I'm in the process of building a case from Carbon Fiber called project: Helios (http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=188560).

Here's a repost of the design, in an exploded view:
http://www.jesselang.ca/helios/images/helios-concept-1-iso-view-02.jpg

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I'm looking to fill the gaps of all the air intake holes with a filter material of sorts, and I'm leaning 1 of 2 directions.

1) The first idea was to find a filter material similar that used in the front-air-intake on the old Lian-Li PC-60 cases. Something like the pic below.
This idea would involve cutting a bunch of pieces to size and seating them in the cutouts, flush with the exterior of the case and held in-place from the back - which MAY look kinda cool I'll have to experiment and see.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/misc/pc-62-14.jpg

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2) The second, and likely more viable, plan was to fabricate something similar to the system used in the Lian-Li TYR PC-X2000. Something like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/misc/x2000t002.jpg


The idea here being to create 6 carriages on the insides of the chassis, which can be removed for cleaning. I've illustrated the idea below in the form of green rectangles, so you can get a better idea of positioning:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/misc/helios-dust-zones.png

HOWEVER both of the material examples shown above succeed only in dust collection - but I'm also looking for something to black-out the holes.

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So my question to you is:
Does anyone have a suggestion for materials that can be used to catch dust, but are also very hard to see through? I'm looking for 2 possible solutions, one to fit each of the design ideas listed above.

The challenge I see here is finding a material that's opaque, but not overly obstructive as to stop air-flow.

Thanks in advance gentlemen.

*j

[SXRguyinMA]

something like this powder snow pre-filter used in snowmobiles, made by SLP

http://www.heinspeedspecialties.com/inc/sdetail/1121

http://r.b5z.net/i/u/10046520/i/pre-filter.jpg

or these DEMCi filters:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=36_463_500_466&zenid=51d899d86301d18a4a187771bc8c3d45

[Konrad]

I've used black spongy packing foam before (sometimes from the packaging the fans themselves came in). It works fairly well and is cheap/free, but I don't know if it'd be suitable for your mod.

You could always use a black felt marker to "mod" a coffee filter.

[Langer]

Money is no object... I should have also stated that. This thing is going to be a very pricey beast, and I'm not going to cheap out in the final touches

And aesthetics are the utmost priority.

[Konrad]

lol, well if money isn't a primary consideration then perhaps one of these (http://www.rabbitair.com/minusa2-replacement-filters.aspx) or these (http://www.rabbitair.com/biogs-replacement-filters.aspx) will do? (Just the first hit off a google for "air filter", these are replacement filter trays for an air purifier system, available in a variety of colours and particle sizes. There's easily hundreds of different air purifier systems available and many use some unique kind of filter sheets, you could even buy HEPA filters I suppose.)

[Luke122]

What about speaker grill cloth, wrapped around some sort of sponge material?

[Langer]

Thank you all very much for the suggestions - I've got a lot to digest and read-up on, you've all given me some great ideas on how to proceed here.

It's going to take quite a bit of experimenting to get the desired look and performance, but I believe I have a winner:
The great modder who goes by Mach has amazed me once again with some cool suggestions over on RRR... Ceramic Foam Filters!

If I cant get that to work, I'm going to lean towards air filters (HEPA perhaps) wrapped in a loose knit speaker fabric.

Again, gentlemen, I thank you for your help in this manner.

I very much look forward to putting the suggestions to work in the near future when the build get underway!

[Langer]

The plan as it stands is to get some fine stainless steel mesh and mold it into the shape of the cutouts on the panels. This will stop most of the dust.

Then I'm going to procure some very porous (90%) ceramic foam filters made the exact side and shape needed to be placed behind the SS mesh, to add a cool aesthetic and to block out the ability to see inside the case.

Mesh will be from here:
http://www.twpinc.com/twpinc/control/home

Carriages will be made from this:
http://www.arprodesign.com/touch.php

Already in discussions with these guys about engineering a special ceramic filter for air rather than molten Aluminum:
http://www.selee.com/Selee_Corporation_Ceramic_Foam_Filters.php

[Konrad]

Far be it for me to judge another man's mods, I've been known to go into neurotic miniscule overdetailing myself. But I don't quite understand what you're trying to accomplish here.

You want your computer to breathe cleaner, purer air than you do? Or is this necessary to avoid all the filth your (apparently) strong negative pressure system will try to suck in? Just curious.

[slaveofconvention]

I'm thinking the main idea is to utterly conceal the ventilation while still allowing it to remain effective. To put it more crudely - stealth the fans...

[Konrad]

Will it significantly reduce airflow?

[SXRguyinMA]

I think it will with what he intends to use. My Tempest has steel mesh with foam filters and when the LEDs are off it's completely blacked out

[Langer]

First off, the surface texture is smooth like glass, so it'll be easy to clean.
Second they are manufactured with a porosity up to over 90%.
Thirdly, I'm having my own foam engineered to spec and size for my application.
Lastly, I only have about 4-6mm of thickness available to there wont be much room for it to restrict flow.

Hopefully that clears up and doubts. =)

Here's an example of a high porosity ceramic foam filter:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/Langer/misc/ceramicfoam.jpg

[interceptor1985]

ever thought of using airfilters from something like an A/C unit or a vacuum?

[Langer]

Yup, and that will be one of the experiments and options. I'll be using a variety of materials to achieve the final effect.
Thanks a lof for posting. :)

[interceptor1985]

I was thinking of trying the same thing, I'll keep up with your project to see how it go's.

[purestwater]

Another good source for this mesh might be one of the following links:

Be sure to get more than 1 price and shop around a bit, because these guys often buy from one another and mark up prices.

www.mcmaster.com
http://www.bwire.com/