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 . . .
