Fume and Particle Extraction

[Andy249]

Fume and Particle Extraction...

Been doing a lot of research on this, my shed/factory has poor ventilation, it has a 13 foot roller door, a personal door right beside that and another 30 foot down the wall there is another double personal door, problem is this doesn't provide for very good flow through ventilation. All in all it is a pretty good way to get a good pea soup fog happening!

Of course there are many systems on the market that extract and filter fume to confuse the whole issue!! One thing that has caught my eye however is an extractor setup that is attached to the MIG gun. This would have to add to the overall weight of the gun I would assume, has anyone used this sort of setup? Any feedback or suggestions? All of the work I am doing is aluminium welding with either GMAW or GTAW.

[Paul Seaman]

First I would worry about getting overhead ventilation, a wholehouse fan or attic fan would do wonders, best of all its inexpensive compared to most welding equipment. If you still have an issue go deeper into the problem.

Good luck,

[klsm54]

Andy249, You can open up a big can of worms when you start talking about fume extraction. If you have high ceilings, over 10 feet, pjseaman's advice is great. Even with our environment police in the USA (OSHA), they check for fume and particulate at the worker level, not up in the rafters. So pulling the fumes and particulates up, and exhausting them high, is probably the most economical way to handle this situation. It does have some drawbacks. The main one being the temperature of your shop. I don't know what part of Autralia you are from, or how cold it gets there, but that is the big drawback, the loss of heat in colder weather. If you live where the temperatures are warm year round, your problem is solved.

Source capture, is the next most economical method, which includes smoke exhaust guns as you mentioned. In my experience, or should I say my customers experience, the smoke guns are not the preferred method. They do work, but they tend to be cumbersome and more troublesome than a standard mig gun. The exhaust units with a small cone type hood and flexible arm are much more popular in my marketing area. They work well as long as the weder takes the time to move the arm to follow his work.

[fun4now]

large fan

i would pick a direction to move the air and get a large air circulator fan or 2 pick a door as an out and another as an in blow the air out 1 door causing a suction effect on the other then you wont have the fan shooting on you or your work aria.a good gable mounted 1 would be best if you have an open ceeling.

[Andy249]

Thanks for the replies guys, where I am in Australia it is warmish year round, temperature ranges from about 37 degrees fahrenheit right up to 113 degrees in summer. We have 15 foot ceilings and I am looking at putting exhaust fans into the roof, with some sort of source capture, most likely the duct with the hood. I myself am not to keen on the MIG gun concept as getting into tight places is a necessity, I already curse the push/pull pistol style of guns for the same reason!!

You're right about the can of worms!! This sort of thing is far from something the layman can just pickup go with in terms of suitability for the job as there are so many variables and issues that need to be addressed.

Most places where I have worked we rely on natural flow through ventilation which can be anything from a slight breeze to a full on wind tunnel effect! But alas it really isn't an option in my shed hence the reason why I am looking at exhaust fans. Thanks for the comments guys and keep them rolling in!