Has anyone had any experience with the Hakko fume extractors for
silver soldering? I am thinking of purchasing one since it is so cold
out and my usual method of exhausting fumes is freezing me out.
Alice Sprintzen
I have a similar problem and ordered a Oki Fume Extractor thinking
that it was going to solve my problem of the freezing cold. It
hasn’t. The problem is that while the fume extractor does take the
fumes away it does nothing to prevent a buildup of Carbon Monoxide
in my work area (in my basement). Talk to a rep about the unit your
thinking about before buying and make sure you know the return
policy of the company you are purchasing from. I hope that you will
get numerous responses on this subject because the only way I can see
to safely remove the soldering fumes is to vent outside and have a
good source of fresh air to replenish your work area. I’d like to
hear what others think and how they have used fume extractors
successfully.
Sue
I use a Hakko Air Filtration System in my studio and I like it very
much. It’s relatively quiet and efficient at removing soldering
fumes. My only complaint concerns the rectangular nozzle. I would
have prefered it to be made of steel.
Alice
Alice Alper-Rein
ww.jewelrybyy2a.com
Sue,
If you are producing carbon monoxide then your equipment (torch
probably) is faulty!
Using a fue hood is like applying the handbrake when the disk brakes
have stopped working. You must get the torch seen to!
This is very dangerous.
Tony Konrath
These soldering fume extractors were not designed for brazing which
is what jewelers call soldering. They were designed for electronics
soldering (tin/lead) with an electric soldering iron to capture rosin
based flux fumes. The fumes and gases generated by torch brazing are
not at all what they were designed for. I would not want to rely on
one if it were my lungs breathing in that space.
Jim
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
There has been some back and forth on fume extractors. I am working
with the OKI and have found it excellent for my needs in a larger 400
sq ft studio where building ducting to a fresh air outlet is
impossible or so expensive that it is not worth the expense. A friend
of mine is an engineer who is very knowledgable regarding fume
extraction and metals. He has also soldered jewelry and also welded
titanium. I’m planning to sell these units, I believe in them.
However before I do, we are performing additional testing on the
pre-filters, as this is a triple filtration system for electronic
soldering which we are adapting for gas soldering… My engineer
contact will be talking to the engineers at OKI, but basically it is
a pre filter, which sits on top of a hepa filter connected to a
charcoal scrubber.
If you want a unit which will draw fumes away from your face in
simple soldering operations, I stand by this unit. At 20 lbs, it is
light and mobile. What we are building is the metal flexible hose
unit that will take higher heat. Mine was modified with some duct
tape and an off the shelf plenum from Home Depot. I only turn it on
when I need to, and the unit comes with a remote control.
However…I am researching this until I am ABSOLUTELY satisfied that
it is safe for our needs.
I sent him the specs on the OKI unit and this was his response.
“Basically, fume removal does not depend on the source of the fume -
it only depends on the size of the particulate. Lead solder flux
fumes are partly organic and very sticky so they are easy to remove
with most any kind of filter. Brazing fume is basically dry and needs
a finer filter. The unit you are planning to use has a HEPA filter
with 0.3 micron capture efficiency. That is good and will most likely
remove the greater part of the particulate matter - it will not
remove any of the exhaust gases. Neither will any other fume removal
system that does not have a scrubber. From what I remember, the
fluxing elements that you typically use are either acids or borax,
neither one of which is particularly harmful to humans - irritating
but not harmful. The issue with fume removal is to get the
particulate away from the face to lessen the amount that you breath.
Your proposed unit will do this. If soldering operations were a real
hazard, OSHA would have put stringent rules in effect by now - and
they have not.”
If soldering operations were a real hazard, OSHA would have put stringent rules in effect by now - and they have not.
Sorry this is wrong, we are grouped under the regulations for
welding cutting and brazing as what we call soldering is considered
brazing by folks like OSHA. The big reason we don’t have much
scrutiny from OSHA or other regulatory agencies is we are such a
small industry and they don’t have resources to go after workplaces
with only one or a couple of workers. But if you were to ever have
the joy of an OSHA visit the specs for welding, cutting and brazing
would be the ones they would require you to adhere to.
It is not that there are no fume extractors that will do the job it
is that these little desktop units are not really designed for our
work they are meant for electronic soldering not torch brazing. For a
fume extractor that would be more suitable look at something like
this,
If you were to order it with the Magnahelic gage option you could
actually monitor when to replace the filters which is the biggest
problem with the performance of fume extractors you have no idea
when the filter is too clogged to function properly.
If as you say you want to be “ABSOLUTELY satisfied that it is safe
for our needs” you need to get an industrial hygienist to do air
samples that are then analyzed for fume types and particle counts.
Because without such analysis your engineer and the manufacturer are
only offering opinions not facts.
James Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
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