ABIBLOG USA: ABICOR BINZEL's Welding Blog

Fume extraction systems are designed to help you, which also requires you take care of them. Maintenance is a simple, yet important part of keeping your fume extraction systems running at their optimal performance level. Whether you have a portable or large stationary fume system, the maintenance is manageable and necessary. These different systems require their own specific attention, but ultimately use the same maintenance checklist. 

Are you looking to continue advancing your welding process? You've completed the first step by adding robots to your operation, but now you're looking to improve safety among your team. Step two is setting up a robotic fume extraction system in your plant to improve air quality. The xFUME^® ROBO by ABICOR BINZEL USA and CA is the most effective and economical way to control welding smoke emissions with fume source capture.

How to mitigate welding fume is a big topic. People, by instinct, oftentimes say, "Oh, I'll put a mask on and that'll be sufficient"

Now, however, there is a systematic approach that's been used by OSHA or any health and safety offices. Now, the approach is to start looking at the process, and starting at the bottom of mitigation pyramid and systematically moving up.

Eliminating or Substituting the Weld Process

The first question to ask is if it is possible to eliminate or substitute the process that's causing the fume? Obviously, most of the time it's not possible to remove welding from the operation. But it's worth considering if you are using stick welding or flux core welding whether you can substitute this process for a better process as far as smoke creation?

What is welding fumes? We all have an idea of what is welding fume. It is obviously coming from molten metal that you create when you're welding. The mixture of the welding smoke is changing from one process to the other, but overall, it's a mixture of very fine particles and gases.

When you start looking at fume extraction solutions, there are a multitude of engineered possibilities to assist in the capture of weld fume. These are typically the most effective way of dealing with weld fume in the workplace apart from removing the welding process.

If you are a welder, weld foreman, or welding engineer using a fume extraction welding gun, the shroud is one of the more unique features you have questions about.

Fume extraction systems are not all created equally for welding. While the basic premise of a system is the same, and from the outside many look similar, like any product there are a variety of features and specifications that impact fume extraction welding performance in an industrial setting. The factors you will be looking at when sorting through all the choices will be items like:

Fume extraction is becoming a more necessary solution for industrial companies in the wake of continued research findings and government recommendations. Having a good grasp on what fume extraction systems are and how they work is important as you begin to consider fume extraction in your plant.

As more people become aware of the harmful effects of welding fumes and regulations are put in place, more are moving to fume extraction torches as a solution.

In this blog we will go into detail on fume extraction torches; how they operate, design features, limitations, and maintenance so that you know what to expect before making the jump.

With fume extraction welding, the effectiveness of the smoke capture is always dependent on the strength of the fume extraction system. No matter how effective the torch or skilled the welder, without a system strong enough to capture the smoke, both the welder and the environment will not be spared from the harmful effects of metallic fumes.