[TimmyTIG]

farmwelder

'To weld well - you have to be comfortable'.

A respirator - under a hood that will accommodate
a respirator - is not comfortable - BTDT.

It can be hot, wet, and out of position gets heavy,
which speeds fatigue, and exacerbates vision.

Instead of living in the cloud - manage the cloud.

Blowing [fan] the weld area enough to do anything
disturbs the weld envelope - and is a 'no-go'.

What does work is 'drawing' - place the fan/suck
unit behind/over - your weld area.

No respirator, regular hood, and no cloud to search
through.

I have a Farm Store of fans and ducting: 12v to
220v 3-ph.

My most used fan is: a $20.00 box fan from . . .

The key - to this simple/best solution is to take the
fixturing time and effort - to make it work.

Consider 'source capture/venting' the welding plume.


Opus


ps - Weld as naked as you can . . .

I agree with all this. I used to use a 3M with the pink pancakes under my little Huntsman hood. This new place I'm at requires you to have a fit test to use one, though. I didn't want to bother with all that, I started using an industrial fan to draw the fumes away. But, I was still getting a lot of dust from the grinding, plus sometimes you just can't get the fan in the right spot.
So, I bought the Speedglas 9100FX, best decision I ever made. I don't get any of that crap in my nose and lungs anymore.
They sure are proud of those inner clear lenses, though. That's the only gripe I have. I need to figger out a way to make my own.