Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi, new to the forum. I've just started stick welding. Been practicing in my side yard (covered patio, open on the ends). When it's not windy, I get the fumes in the face. Tried an N95 mask, but I can still smell it. I've read about DIY fume extractors, but this seems kinda pointless outdoors. I have a box fan I could use to blow the smoke/fumes away from the immediate area. Any reason why this is a bad idea?
Thanks, JBeasty

A fan to blow away stick welding smoke is a great idea. You'll see Jody do it in some of his videos.

Mick

I like to set up a fan so that it sucks the fumes away.

Awesome guys! I'll try it both ways - suck and blow... Aw hell, you know what I mean.

Just curious Josh, how close do you have to have the fan to your project to effectively pull the smoke away? I Imagine I could put it a good distance further away if I was using it to blow the smoke away, but I like the idea of using it to pull the smoke away, especially on a cold day. Guess I'll just have to test it out and see.

Depends on the fan and how powerful it is.

The big tube at the front is a silencer -It is a second hand turbine, originally used in a engraving machine to extract fumes

Makes me wonder if using my shop-vac would be an option, provided I have enough hose.

JBeasty wrote:Makes me wonder if using my shop-vac would be an option, provided I have enough hose.

I've thought about doing that before. Having a switch by the end of the nozzle would be great too.

Realistically though, I just use a fan to draw the fumes like Poland suggested. Noise kind of gets on my nerves and I like to be relaxed when I weld.

PeteM wrote:

JBeasty wrote:Makes me wonder if using my shop-vac would be an option, provided I have enough hose.

I've thought about doing that before. Having a switch by the end of the nozzle would be great too.

Realistically though, I just use a fan to draw the fumes like Poland suggested. Noise kind of gets on my nerves and I like to be relaxed when I weld.

fumes get everywhere in the tubes and turbine, leaving some material that looks a little greasy.

I dont know how the vacuum filters will appreciate that , as they are intended for dry particles, dust, wood.

if the turbine is at risk, a venturi system may work well enough for fumes.

Yeah, after thinking about it, the fan idea makes the most sense for me. Cheap, easy and relatively quiet. My shop-vac is so loud I wear ear plugs when I run it.

JBeasty wrote:Yeah, after thinking about it, the fan idea makes the most sense for me. Cheap, easy and relatively quiet. My shop-vac is so loud I wear ear plugs when I run it.

Ideally, a turbine is outside.

As those are providing some aspiration à few meters of tubing can be envisaged without too much losses

It is not easy for me due to the walls, so my solution is to create a heavy box with isolation so the noise lower.
The silencer is also effective.

To help à fan, make it more efficient, some length of tubing front and back will help a lot, there are much turbulences around fans the aspiration zone and level is quite small in the end.

I use an "industrial" type in a door I added to the entry door, I could see how different the result is with the tubing (thin aluminium foil) front and back.

Suddenly my cell phone atmospheric pressure detector did notice something (I don't remind, 1-2bar I think), and the whole piece is not hermetic at all.

A few computation volume vs flow, may be useful.

If not too noisy those small units that are intended to be plug on a supple tubing, may do the job too (they are designed to create a good aspiration level unlike fans )

The formulas are easy to find, some on the turbine and fan makers, to choose a model depending of the use.

For a paint booth you look for 0.5m/sec air displacement.
Fumes rise so it may be different, I have a vertical flow (not very strong) and aspiration at floor level.

Put the fan behind you, it will be much more effective. Also, if you line it up right, it will keep the fogging in your welding helmet to a minimum. stick welding is pretty immune to wind and drafts, so let it rip.