Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey there, I resently got my first welder as a Christmas gift from my fiance. I'm no geenhorn as such either, I weld alot at work. We have an attached garage and im worried about welding fumes and smoke entering the home and need a place for my projects. So I need a table and plan on adding some sort of exhaust over the table. I had and old furnce fan kicking around that i plan on using by mounting it on the wall and cutting a hole through the wall and running 6 inch ducting. Im hoping this would work? Also I'm planning the table. Was first thinking 1/4 inch steel plate for the top...but found even a half sheet to be pretty pricey. Would 1/8 or 3/16 be to thin? Any advice would be appreciated.

The 6" pipe should be fine, if needed you could make a hood to capture a wider area, I'd think about a filter maybe to keep any mess from staining the outside of your building.

As far as the table, I have a bench I weld on at home all the time with a 1/4" top it works fine, although I am not clamping and beating on it. I typically do smaller projects, parts and automotive stuff at home. If you want to clamp down, back bow any large frames you'll want a heavier top.

I personally like the Strong hand build tables or that style table 5/8" top. I have read about the Certi flat tables that use a structure and thin top, but personally I'm not sold on it. Do a search those tables come up a lot.

Welcome to the forum...sounds like she's a keeper.

rick
what would you consider a suitable filter for
a 6" exhaust?
craig

motox wrote:rick
what would you consider a suitable filter for
a 6" exhaust?
craig

You could find out what's in one of the commercial fume extractors and attempt to replicate the function of that filter stack.

Larry

Larry
thanks very good idea
i have plenty of sheet metal tools
to fabricate a filter holder.
craig

Don't forget the filters from a dust collector for this application will be heavily coated in some very nasty and toxic particles. The commercial filters are often coated with a special resin to trap the nastyness. The big one at our shop are round like an older car intake filter but there 3 ft long. They get something like 380$ a piece for new ones. I think there heppa too but I can't remember the micron rateing on them.

Poland
ill need plan "B" on filters.
$380 above my budget.
craig

motox wrote:Poland
ill need plan "B" on filters.
$380 above my budget.
craig

How about spraying one (or more) of the filters with some K&N filter oil, or a similar substance?

Larry

How about spraying one (or more) of the filters with some K&N filter oil, or a similar substance?

Larry

anyone have any experience with something like this??
craig

I think regular filters would work it's just that you should be real carefull when dealing with them afterward. Also hepa filters or any good filter are not cheap. Most commercial dust collectors will have some sort of shaker, air puffer, or knocker system to jar loose partials off of the filters and down into a collector chute. Plus standard filters are often very flammable so use caution on how close you position them from any area you pull air from especially in a welding or cutting enviroment.

josh
what if this pipe terminated over a water container
similar to a a water table for plasma cutter?
craig

You mean like a water bong?

yes something like my the water table my friend has to trap the gasses that
drop from the cutting... BIG BONG...lol

thinking dropping the pipe into a tub of water with a few
small holes above the water to prevent vapor lock?
crazy/stupid?
craig

Depends on what you use for a fan it has to be able to overcome the static pressure of the water without over amping the motor.

Talk about being hijacked!

it all falls under your exhaust hood heading.

As stated the dust collector filters can be pricey, I really wasn't thinking that direction, just a simple filter to prevent any staining on your outdoor surface or outdoor items in that general area. I was thinking a simple standard dust/dirt filter.

Depending on what type of welding you do and location of said fan hot particles might not be a concern.