I have a studio setup in my basement that utilizes parts of three
separate rooms. I do most of my forming and finishing in a room with
a very small window that does little to facilitate any sort of
ventilation. I do a little soldering using a small butane torch in
this room. I don’t do any casting or anything of that sort, at least
not yet. Anything requiring a sink happens in my laundry room, which
has no windows at all. About the most noxious thing I do in there is
use liver of sulfur, which I do pretty infrequently. I can envision
doing some etching in there eventually. In my garage, I have an
acetylene torch that I use infrequently (it would be better placed
inside, but I’m nervous about bringing it into my house), a kiln, and
enameling station. There is a decent window in this room, though I
live in a climate that’s pretty darn cold in winter, so opening
windows for ventilation is not really an option.
As I get a little more serious about my jewelry making and spend
more time on it, I’d like to make sure that I have taken appropriate
safety precautions. I wear a good dust mask with removable filters,
but I’m thinking it’s time for even more protection.
Does anyone have advice on good dust collection/fume extraction
equipment? Ductless is preferable. I’ve looked at the following
units:
I like that this one is portable. Does it help at all with dust, or
is it really just meant for fumes? Also, does anyone know if
enameling itself produces any dangerous fumes and would the Hakko
unit help with that? (I only use Thompson unleaded enamels, but I
know some of them have things like selenium, but I’m not sure if
those elements off gas.)
I keep checking your post in the hope that someone will reply. I am
also considering the Hakko FA-430 fume extractor, but can’t find
anything more than 2 review on Amazon. Can anyone offer an opinion?
The technical specs are a little fuzzy… I have researched fume
extraction and ventilation repeatedly online, and I am never
satisfied that I’ve found a good solution.
I keep checking your post in the hope that someone will reply. I
am also considering the Hakko FA-430 fume extractor, but can't find
anything more than 2 review on Amazon. Can anyone offer an
opinion? The technical specs are a little fuzzy.... I have
researched fume extraction and ventilation repeatedly online, and I
am never satisfied that I've found a good solution.
Ductless ventilation, as in recirculation, fume extraction and air
purification is possible but to do it properly, ie to safe to use
levels is quite beyond the resources of anyone in this trade.
Its done as you will realise in Nuclear submarines that stay
submerged for 3 months at a time and of course on the international
space stace, to give you just 2 examples.
Yuo need to look at the 2 main types of air polution in a closed
system such as you plan to use.
The easy one to solve is the particulate contaminants, from
polishing ,sanding and other processes that make solid and liquid
droplet particles.
these can be filtered out with the right type of filters. your nose
is just one example of a filter. Thats designed to filter out
particulates and is also a sensor telling you when to run!.
The second is much more difficult, thats the removal of gases
produced in soldering, melting and burning out of investments.
Activated charcoal will do it, but you would need kilos of the
stuff, with the right monitoring and gas analysis kit telling you
when to change the charcoal, which costs thousands of dollars to do
to safe levels.\ no, you will need to extract these fumes and vent to
an outside airway, replacing what you remove with fresh air from
somewhere that cannot suck in what you have just blown out. Theres no
other way.
You cannot risk you health on a dailybasis with these gases.
Thanks, Edward. Your response and the others I’ve received in the
last few days have been most helpful. I will get to work on a way to
exhaust the soldering fumes from my space. I am not soldering at all
right now until I get this figured out.
Put an exhaust fan in the small window that you have. Works wonders.
You can test the airflow with a simple smoke test, light a match,
blow it out, observe the smoke.