Welding Fume extractors?!?!

[Gamble97]

Which one do you have or use at work? What do you like and dislike?

Ideally what would you spend on one? Would you spend $1000 on one? What if I found a really good one for around $1000-$1200 and did a review, would you purchase it? (SERIOUS buys only)

I have a 1 car garage, hell even for a 2 car garage it would be great for stick/mig welding, plasma cutting, and using chop saws and cut off wheels to keep debris off the floor and out of your face and keep you from breathing it in.

I have found a unit I am interested in purchasing, but want to know what you guys want to see.

 

[Fehrion_sit]

i couldnt spend a 1000 on a fume extractor for my garage, there has to be an answer for the hobby guys

 

[casperfast]

if it was honestly a "fume extractor, i would just open the door and maybe use a small fan blowing outside. i DONT want air moving around in my welding area as it will just blow away my gas shield and the welds will not be to my standards. my buddy runs a large wood furniture manufacturing outfit and has the best dust collection systems you can buy. needless to say the floors and air are clean. but for welding ive always just toughed it unless im welding on something that is powder coated, galvanized etc then the fumes are extremely dangerous and you should limit your exposure to those carcinogens.

 

[Gamble97]

i couldnt spend a 1000 on a fume extractor for my garage, there has to be an answer for the hobby guys

Some people use a bathroom fan and some duct work, but for me there is no way to put a hole to the outside of my garage since I have other peoples garages next to me. Some extractors are a LOT more than $1k.

if it was honestly a "fume extractor, i would just open the door and maybe use a small fan blowing outside. i DONT want air moving around in my welding area as it will just blow away my gas shield and the welds will not be to my standards. my buddy runs a large wood furniture manufacturing outfit and has the best dust collection systems you can buy. needless to say the floors and air are clean. but for welding ive always just toughed it unless im welding on something that is powder coated, galvanized etc then the fumes are extremely dangerous and you should limit your exposure to those carcinogens.

Open the door in winter too when it's really cold? It gets cold in Chicago, not sure about where you are at though.
We use fume extractors at school and you mount them up and behind the work piece so it gets covered in shielding gas then gets extracted. In class I have mine on full time and doesn't seem to be an issue at all, even with stainless. Some even have a low and high speed.

Would be great for those guys at muffler shops that weld galvanized all day long!

 

[Fehrion_sit]

Here's my dust/ welding/ composite fume vent setup. It's a dust collection setup from a woodworking supplier caller Rockler that I mounted and ducted in my garage. Don't laugh I got a lot of shit!

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It moves a lot of air. In that last shot I have the tube pointed directly out the garage door when it open. That fan was $99 and about $100 in tube, pipe and gates

thats what were talking about

 

[casperfast]

when i was a welder in Sacramento for Flowmaster the welding shop has extractors above each workstation about 10-15ft above. they were not really high flow but they worked very well. and it does get cold in oregon, in that instance i crack the door and put a 24in floor fan blowing out.