Thread: Solder fume extraction.

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.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Xfigio

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 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..

Hummmmm . . . . . dispersal would not even make it onto my long list of choices for leaded solder work.
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.

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.

Originally Posted by BobL

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.

First/second pass? No comprende

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/

Originally Posted by Xfigio

First/second pass? No comprende

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.

Originally Posted by BobL

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.

Ahhh, got you now.

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.

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.

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.