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Thread: Solder fume extraction.
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14th August 2017, 10:32 PM #1.
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Solder fume extraction.
I've been crook again so not much happening in the bat cave but during the last few days I managed to cobble this Soldering fume extractor together.
I'm not using leaded solder so I am not worried about lead but soldering still produces organic vapours and smoke or dust which irritate airways, especially mine right at the mo' as I have a spot of asthma.
Things came to a head the other day after a bit of a coughing attack using the soldering iron for just a couple of minutes, so I decided to see what I had in the shed that I could use.
IMG_2449.jpg IMG_2447.jpg IMG_2446.jpg
The fan is a 6" 240V fan.
The base of a the stand is from a Logitech PC audio controller, the rest of the stand is made to fit the base and fan
Filters are mini, so called HEPA, spares from a Rhoomba Vac.
The deflector box at the back is folded up from SS sheet from a clothes dryer drum - this diverts the air coming out the back upwards and stops it from blowing stuff across the workbench
The rest you should be able to work out.
Air flow is hardly stellar but it shouldn't be a roaring gale or it could affect the soldering operation, it just needs to sweep up the fumes as they are generated.
I also haven't made any attempt to seal up all the gaps.
I tried to use the particle counter to measure the filtration efficiency but its quite difficult to do because the air coming out of the deflector box contains air coming from gaps in the deflector box . On average it looks like it drops the PM10C from ~2.4 to 0.4 ppb which makes it ~83% efficient. I doubt it will be that for the finest dust and vapours so I may end ip jamming some activated charcoal foam in front of the mini HEPAs.
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15th August 2017, 03:20 AM #2GOLD MEMBER
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How well would it work if you added 15-20cm to the front as an "intake tunnel?"
Then work in the mouth of the tunnel?
Same with sea shell dust = just enough air movement to pull everything in one direction.
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15th August 2017, 10:32 AM #3.
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One could do that but it's unlikely to be needed.
A BMH has twice the intake air velocity (at the same distance from the front) of a naked hood.
This allows an operator to work in clearer space and still get adequate extraction.
As well as moving more air though the duct that's one of the major benefits of using BMHs in WW.
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15th August 2017, 09:44 PM #4
Solder fume extraction.
Interesting BobL. I've tried a bunch of different ways to keep my air clear when soldering, and have never been able to get a sucking action to be effective without it being too close to my work that it's not in the way.
I've settled on a 150mm 12 V fan blowing across the desk. It's enough to dissipate the fumes so I'm not smelling anything. And it's quiet enough (near silent) that it doesn't bother me over several hours at the bench.
I'd be keen to hear how your sucking setup gets on. If it's effective with a filter, I may copy you, as I still use leaded solder.
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15th August 2017, 10:27 PM #5.
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I haven't had chance to try real fumes yet but even if my setup does not capture the fumes in the first pass I banking it it eventually capturing the fumes on subsequent passes.
I've settled on a 150mm 12 V fan blowing across the desk. It's enough to dissipate the fumes so I'm not smelling anything..
Just because there's no smell means very little, as like fine wood dust, lead fumes have no odour.
Dispersing the fumes means you will have contaminated your entire work area with lead dust.
Every time you move something in that room you will be kicking up invisible lead dust and breathing it in and lowering your IQ - I am serious about this.
It sounds like you may need to perform a complete decontamination of that room.
If it has carpet - start by getting rid of the carpet
I would then use an old wet and dry vac cleaner (and connect the air outlet up to a hose that leads outside) and use it to clean the room from floor to ceiling.
Then permanently dispose of the vacuum cleaner away as it will be contaminated with lead dust.
Then wipe down all the surfaces with a surface cleaner at least twice.
If I used leaded solder I would go for something like a fume hood with complete extraction system.
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16th August 2017, 12:36 AM #6Senior Member
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BobL You'd be horrified if you saw my old man soldering, he does all of his soldering inside caravan usually with the doors and windows closed. He is 69 and does have short term memory problems but has had to go back to work a few times as other workers haven't been able to get the factory running. He also has lung issues from someone venting an acid tank while he was changing lights above it so I'm not sure damage from lead would show up.
I always just did as he did but after a bit of reading when this thread popped up and I'm quite impressed at the damage that solder could possible do to you*.
*I haven't read any articles that weren't from companies that weren't selling a product so I need to do some more reading, most of my soldering is done in a car or outside. I have recently bought a big crimper which has cut down on my soldering considerably which is good as soldering 25mm2+ lugs takes a bit of solder.
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16th August 2017, 08:56 AM #7
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16th August 2017, 10:51 AM #8.
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Sorry to hear about your dads health.
The effects of high levels of lead exposure are easy to asses but the effect of low level lead exposure is much trickier since it's mainly on brain faction. It takes a lot of work and money to demonstrate how it reduces general brain function and decision making. A few interesting studies have been done on prison populations and other groups but its hard to tease out the other environmental factors and exposures such as what happened to your dad.
Solder is one of those things we sort of take for granted a bit like we took leaded petrol for granted. The fact that the human race came close to completely dumbing itself down though the use of leaded petrol is not known by many people. That legacy of that is still with us with all towns and cities surrounded by a halo of lead dust that is sitting in the top 30 cm of soil alongside roads. It may in fact explain the increase in general stupidity in the last 80 years.
While its a bit technical you might like to look at articles on peer reviewed articles on lead in the US national Institutes of Health website which is a reliable website.
This was one I found pretty quickly
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485653/
The very fine fumes that get through the filter the first time and get ejected out the top should stay suspended in the air for a reasonable length of time. If the fan is left on for long enough all (or most of) the air in the room should eventually pass through the filter. The fan is thus effectively recycling air through itself and should continue to remove dust during each cycle. IMHO this wouldn't be good enough for lead dust.
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16th August 2017, 11:52 AM #9
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16th August 2017, 12:30 PM #10Novice
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It doesn't matter if your solder contains lead or not, there is no lead in the fumes anyway. As long as you wash your hands after handling the solder and you're not eating it, you're good.
The fumes are from burning flux, and the flux on lead-free solder is worse for you than the flux from leaded solder. Lead-free doesn't wet as well, so the flux is more corrosive.
Flux fumes are sticky, so ought to your filter doesn't have to be anything special for it to work.
You might have more luck blowing the fumes away from you as well.
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16th August 2017, 04:15 PM #11GOLD MEMBER
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I did a lot of reading. True, there's essentially no lead in the smokey fumes from soldering.
But, the fumes from the burning/burnt rosin flux are rather nasty. Whodathunkit?
Any little fan will push and dilute the fumes below an impact level.
Unless you solder 8 hrs/day for 5+ days/week for decades.
Clearly this isn't enough at all for anyone with any pulmonary challenges.
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18th August 2017, 10:41 PM #12.
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I gave the unit a matt black paint job so this is what it looks like.
IMG_2454.jpg
Also made a short vid of far far away it draws fumes.
It's not drawing a lot of air but seems to cope all the way out to the very edge of the frame where you can see one of the puffs curl away over the top.
I'm pretty happy with that.
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