Welding fumes extractor

Blue.

Member
Livestock Farmer
My grandad welded all his working life with a hand held mask,ripping half his intestines out did him more damage but he lived healthily till 91.

It’s just another reason not to employ anyone.
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Two questions chaps. What are these air fed masks costing? I have an old mask I’m thinking of replacing and it’s clarity is 1/3/1. The 3 is really bad according to google but would a part time user notice? It’s an ancient xelux auto darkening one that is still a runner.

Thanks
 

tinman

Member
Location
Ulster
Two questions chaps. What are these air fed masks costing? I have an old mask I’m thinking of replacing and it’s clarity is 1/3/1. The 3 is really bad according to google but would a part time user notice? It’s an ancient xelux auto darkening one that is still a runner.

Thanks
the speedglass one i put up a few posts back was €1000 5 years ago.

i bought this mask from this crowd a year ago for 209 iirc, i see their up a tenner since, you may think its dear for a mask but by god its a good one, big screen that's white/blue rather than green tint to it, its got its fair share of use for the last 12 mths and apart from replacing the battery when it told me its been faultless.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lincoln-...var=440991014104&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
 

tinman

Member
Location
Ulster
Quite right, the average Joe who fixes the odd thing here n there is never going to justify having an air fed unit.
Likewise, anyone who is a regular user, will still use a standard helmet for tacking up, or tiny jobs where you are only welding for a few minutes?

That’s what I intend to do anyway, the air fed helmet will come into its own on bigger projects, where everything is fitted up and tacked, and final welding can commence. It’s sensible then to get rigged up with the air fed helmet and crack on in comfort.

I could have got a conversion kit for my Esab A50, but then I’d be committed to using it all the time! So chose to have a second unit.
thats exactly the way i work it here as well.
setting it up on you is akin to putting on a pair of overalls to tighten a nut so it gets pulled out for the longer jobs but the minute or two on the mig i use my auto mask and take my chances for tbh imo this is only a cover your ass scheme what with these new regs.

after all, i have to now, by law, have an air fed mask to weld but yet i can go into the shop and buy a packet of cigarettes and smoke em to my hearts content.......:rolleyes:
of course that has nothing to do with revenue like.................
 
Think I will stick with a hand held screen
How am I going to manage a fag in my mouth otherwise

Should solve your problem . [emoji849]
IMG_3899.jpg
 

GT7810

Member
Location
North Yorkshire
We used to have speedglas airfed units where I used to work, great bits of kit as the welding screen used to flip up so the helmet could be used for grinding aswell. They also keep you nice and cool throughout summer. About time the law was changed, makes me wonder if the reason why it wasnt done sooner was to stop people being put off taking a career in fabrication and then having a skills gap, resulting in a decline in manufacturing in the country. Dunno just a thought
 

tinman

Member
Location
Ulster
We used to have speedglas airfed units where I used to work, great bits of kit as the welding screen used to flip up so the helmet could be used for grinding aswell. They also keep you nice and cool throughout summer. About time the law was changed, makes me wonder if the reason why it wasnt done sooner was to stop people being put off taking a career in fabrication and then having a skills gap, resulting in a decline in manufacturing in the country. Dunno just a thought
im afraid it wasn't air fed masks or welding fumes that resulted in a skills gap and a decline in manufacturing on mainland UK.
high-interest rates, an appreciation in Sterling, tight fiscal policy and a government in the early 80's that reduced inflation to curb the double figures of the latter could have a lot more to do with your skills gap.
and then of course we have the far east, no matter what you think the UK could produce, they'll do it cheaper anyways.
and that's what we wanted isn't it??. cheaper products for the consumer, i mean if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then its a duck isn't it...., its all about the bottom line, how much profit can be made, for the majority of mainstream people out there don't care where the product is made as long as its the right price and dose what it says on the tin, longevity isn't much of a concern any more to most, our glorious throw away society.......
ive gone from being amazed to astonished at the quality people accept in this day and its their own fault, you keep buying they keep making but there's no going back now, its too late.
altho there's one thing id agree with you on, the speed glass air fed mask is a great bit of kit, have one myself.
 
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Deutzdx3

Member
You won’t go wrong with an surfed. I have Jackson albatross air fed and they are great. Welding visor flips so it turns into a grinding helmet. Best one out there.

Regards fume extractors. There are plenty portable ones around. Not cheap mind. I have extractors over welding benches like other mentioned extractor hood design which is fine for production work.

For farm welding a mobile will be the best option as work is varied to say the least.
 

Chalky

Member
Spoke to an inspection engineer who signs off these 'solutions'. He warned very strongly against 'cobbling up' something-as I had planned! Go with filtered mask for operator & welding caddy for building. Extractor fans & any 'farm bodge'(even if it works) are a. superfluous as they do not solve the issue, and b. not tested so the paperwork & testing to check your scrapheap challenge contraption may well be as expensive as getting an 'out of the box' solution. Plus, what you have made may well fail-so wasted expense.

He was very much 'dont waste money on this and that' type who understood that we are not into shipbuilding!
 
This is my extractor fan. I let the building, which is now my workshop, for 17 years before I took it back for my own use. One of my tenants installed this fan years ago, I was pleased to find that it still workred.

As luck would have it, it's immediately above where I wanted to place my welding bench. If I stand back after I've been welding for a few seconds, I can see the fumes rising vertically and finding their way to the fan. It's about 8'-6" above floor level. I know that it's not ideal but I don't do much welding these days.
Workshop Extractor Fan.jpg
on't do much welding these days.
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
This is my extractor fan. I let the building, which is now my workshop, for 17 years before I took it back for my own use. One of my tenants installed this fan years ago, I was pleased to find that it still workred.

As luck would have it, it's immediately above where I wanted to place my welding bench. If I stand back after I've been welding for a few seconds, I can see the fumes rising vertically and finding their way to the fan. It's about 8'-6" above floor level. I know that it's not ideal but I don't do much welding these days.View attachment 789776 on't do much welding these days.

I like it and should think it more than adequate. Sadly I don’t think an HSE inspector will be ticking the ‘good’ box on his clip board. Pleased to be persuaded otherwise.
 
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