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Wirecutter performed a similar experiment a few years back. Their results were somewhat different, showing that the DIY version helped significantly, but not nearly as well as the best of the commerical ones they tested:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-air-purifier...

I wonder what accounts for the difference in results.

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The wirecutter DIY test used a filter with a rating of FPR 9. Since FPR isn't standardized like MERV or HEPA, it's hard to tell what this means, but likely to be < MERV 13. The OP used a HEPA filter on their testing which is > MERV 16.

Wirecutter pretty consistently produces spurious results, and bad recommendations.

Ben Kuhn and Dan Luu have written about this, Cf.

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