New Fume Guns Give Welders a Shot at Healthier Work Environments

By Jaret Cameron, Technical Director of Welding Processes

It’s a Dirty Job

Most welders will tell you the conditions they work in are less than ideal. In fact, they can be downright nasty. In many cases, you can literally see the air because of the haze caused by fumes and lack of effective air filtration. Welders spend all day sweating in that haze with a hot torch in their hands and then go home covered head-to-toe in what looks like dirt, but is actually very fine debris from weld wire and metal particulates. They are also probably coughing, sneezing and dealing with headaches from inhaling poisonous fumes all day long.

Eye, nose and throat irritations are only the beginning of what can lead to very serious health issues for welders. There are many serious side effects and illnesses that develop due to long-term exposure to hazardous particulates. Is there really any mystery as to why it is so challenging to recruit and retain talented welders in what some would consider a cruddy work environment?

It’s not that welding facility managers are being negligent. Most are trying to keep their workers and equipment safe by keeping up with OSHA regulations. Others strive to adhere to the more stringent guidelines set forth by the ACGIH. Companies incorporate various measures including room ventilation, mobile extraction hoods and personal protective equipment (PAPR) such as dust masks or ventilated helmets. But the fact is these solutions aren’t always enough to keep the welding fume dangers down to a minimum. Whenever possible, welding fumes should be captured at the source to prevent dangerous toxins from ever filling the air in the facility.

Taking Another Look at Fume Guns

While fume guns have been around since the 1970s, significant advances in technology have made them so much more effective than their predecessors that they really should be in a category all their own. In the past, fume guns were very awkward, heavy and bulky. They were difficult to handle for an extended period of time and the weld quality was substandard, at best. Because of the turbulence often generated by older fume guns, shielding gasses would be disturbed or even sucked away by the extraction hose, impacting the action at the arc, creating porous welds and decreasing the weld quality. If that wasn’t enough to deter welders from using them, they were nearly impossible to operate in small spaces—supposedly one of the greatest benefits of a fume gun—and were frequently in need of repair.

But times have changed. There are about a half dozen fume guns on the market today that could be considered “advanced” enough for everyday use by welders thanks to decades of research and testing. Engineers have managed to employ new high-strength plastics to make fume guns both lightweight and more durable. Today’s fume guns often weigh less than a standard 400-amp air-cooled MIG welding gun. The slim design and light weight mean welders can work with comfort and relative ease, making repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome less likely. Also, because the guns are more durable and made with fewer moving parts, the device is much more reliable and welders don’t have to worry about it breaking down on them.

The RoboVent Extractor

In my opinion, one of the best guns available today is the RoboVent Extractor. This welding gun with built-in fume extraction features a new nozzle design that combines a perfect weld with a high capture rate of weld fumes. It is intended for use in MIG and GMAW welding processes that employ shielding gases and it weighs only 2.86 lbs. The Extractor’s nozzle creates a vortex at the tip that leaves shielding gasses untouched so when the gun is properly calibrated to your specific equipment and materials, the Extractor captures 90-95% of weld fumes without sacrificing a high-quality weld. No other weld gun is capable of such a high rate of fume extraction because no other gun can be calibrated for each individual welding job that is being performed.

How it Works

• Faster Gas Flow – Due to the design of the gas nozzle at the inside, the shielding gas comes out faster than normal. The combination of the faster gas flow with the correct extraction flow at the gas nozzle gives a perfect weld in all positions.
• Integrated Fume Extraction – The Extractor is a welding gun with integrated fume extraction. The gun can be connected to a central extraction system or to a stand-alone mobile extraction unit without any problems. The advantage of a portable welding fume extractor unit with an integrated filtration system is that it can be used in different workplaces.
• Flexible and Maneuverable – A ball-and-socket joint between the gun handle and the hose offers flexibility and maneuverability. The Extractor is a very light gun and weighs only 2.86 lbs. (1.3kg). Due to the small size of the handle, the welder does not feel any difference between the Extractor and a standard welding gun.

By investing in fume extraction weld guns in a welding shop, you can substantially reduce the risk of negatively impacting your operations. There is no greater rate of return than creating a work environment that keeps everyone healthy and everything operating at maximum capacity.