ABIBLOG USA: ABICOR BINZEL's Welding Blog

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.

Let's face it: for most people looking at Fume Extraction, many of them have never seen fume extractions solutions before aside from extractor arms. 

That means most Safety Managers, Production Managers, or business Owners - and I may be talking to you directly - don't even know what questions to ask themselves before getting started.

The robotic fume extraction landscape has featured few lean, advanced, and cost-effective solutions for manufacturers. While fume extraction for manual welding has experienced a significant spike in new solutions entering the market – from high-vacuum systems to multi-gun units, to countless new fume extraction gun concepts – robotics has remained ignored and mostly unchanged with minimal innovation to speak of.

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.

With fume extraction systems in welding, the filter is usually a non-consideration. After all, it’s the fume extraction system doing all the work, right?

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.

We get it, not everyone loves fume extraction torches. For one reason of another, whether you're a welder or a welding engineer or a project manager, the same problems or complaints come up when it comes to fume guns.

Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is one of today’s most popular welding methods in nearly all industrial manufacturing fields. This is a positive development; however, the process has a wide range of risks for the welder. Welders protect themselves from the negative effects of welding by wearing protective gear to protect the body and eyes from burns, electrical shock and bright light and ultraviolet radiation.