How does a portable weld fume extractor work?

A portable weld fume extractor consists of a fan or blower that pulls contaminated air into a filter chamber, where contaminants are filtered out. The intake nozzle is attached to some form of capture device or hood, such as a fume arm, backdraft plenum or a fume gun. Some portable fume extractors, such as many from the VentBoss line, are all-in-on units that include a fume arm, backdraft or downdraft plenum, or flexible hose that attaches to the extractor. Others, like the RoboVent ProCube II, are designed to be hooked up to a production cell, fume gun or hood. A portable weld fume collector will usually come with wheels/castors and a handle that make it easy to move the unit from one location to another and may have other features such as built-in spark control.