Welding & Metal Fabrication
Fume Extraction
MIG, TIG, stick, plasma, grinding — every one of them throws fume your welders shouldn’t be breathing. The only thing that actually keeps them under OSHA’s hex chrome limit is pulling it at the torch, before it gets to their face. We design, supply, and install those systems, and we back every one with a pass-or-free guarantee.
Every system we install comes with our pass-or-free guarantee — your OSHA inspection passes or we come back and fix it on our dime.
Catch It at the Torch, or You’ve Already Lost.
By the time your shop fans have moved the fume across the building, your welder already breathed a lungful of it. And with hexavalent chromium — which you make every time you weld stainless, chrome-moly, or any chromium alloy — that lungful is the kind that causes permanent damage and cancer. You’re not hitting OSHA’s 5 μg/m³ limit with fans and open doors. It comes off the torch, so that’s where you grab it. That’s what we build.
Source Capture Fume Arms
A flexible arm you swing in 6–10 inches off the arc and it grabs the fume before it ever reaches your welder’s face. It’s the most effective control there is for a fixed station, and it’s the one OSHA wants to see. Wall-mount, ceiling-mount, bench-mount — whatever fits your bay.
- Fixed welding stations
- Stainless & chrome-alloy welding
- MIG, TIG, and stick processes
- Production welding environments
- Wall-mount — single station
- Ceiling-mount — overhead reach
- Column-mount — freestanding
- 6–16 ft arm reach options
OSHA 1910.252(c) says you need local exhaust wherever general ventilation can’t hold exposure under the PELs. And for hexavalent chromium (1910.1026), source capture is the only control that reliably gets there. Fans and general ventilation do not hit the 5 μg/m³ hex chrome PEL in a real production shop — OSHA knows it, and inspectors check for it on purpose.
Downdraft & Backdraft Tables
A downdraft table pulls the fume and dust straight down through the work surface while you cut, grind, or weld small parts on top of it. The capture zone is right under the work — nothing to reposition, no chasing the smoke around. For bigger parts, a backdraft setup grabs it from behind instead.
- Plasma cutting — all metals
- Angle grinding & disc finishing
- Small-part welding
- Galvanized & coated material
- Cutting galvanized releases zinc oxide
- Stainless plasma = hex chrome
- Dense fume settles — downdraft captures it
- Eliminates table-level accumulation
Grinding aluminum makes combustible metal dust, and that changes the rules. Under NFPA 660 (effective January 1, 2026), a collector serving aluminum grinding needs explosion protection sized to the dust’s KSt. Aluminum is St-3 (KSt ~415 bar·m/s) — the worst severity class there is. A plain collector with no suppression on it is not compliant for aluminum grinding, full stop.
Portable Fume Extractors
If your welding moves around — maintenance work, repairs, a job shop where the layout changes every week — a portable extractor on wheels gives you source capture without bolting anything down. HEPA filters available when you’re on stainless or anything throwing hex chrome.
- Changing work locations
- Leased space — no permanent install
- Maintenance & repair shops
- Vocational training programs
- Standard polyester — mild steel MIG
- HEPA-rated — stainless & hex chrome
- Activated carbon — ozone & VOCs
- Quick-change cartridge designs
We keep portable extractors in stock for same-week delivery across AZ, CA, NV, NM, and UT. Got an inspection bearing down on you, or a new stainless job starting Monday? We can have a unit on your floor in days, not weeks. Call 602-456-9661 and we’ll check stock.
Every Process. Every Fume. Every PEL.
What comes off the arc changes with your process and your base metal. Here’s what each one makes and what OSHA holds you to.
MIG Welding (GMAW)
Fume the whole time the wire’s feeding. Mild steel throws iron oxide. Stainless throws hexavalent chromium (5 μg/m³ PEL). Aluminum throws aluminum oxide plus ozone. Every one of them needs source capture.
TIG Welding (GTAW)
Less visible smoke than MIG, so guys figure it’s safer. It isn’t — same exposure hazards. Stainless TIG still makes hex chrome, and all TIG makes ozone. Same PELs apply.
Stick Welding (SMAW)
The dirtiest of the common processes. The flux makes a thick smoke loaded with fluorides, manganese, and metal oxides. Manganese has a ceiling limit of 0.02 mg/m³ — get a heavy dose and it goes after the nervous system.
Plasma Cutting
It vaporizes the metal, so whatever’s in the metal ends up in the air. Galvanized gives you zinc oxide (metal fume fever). Stainless gives you hex chrome. The fume’s heavy and drops fast — you want downdraft to catch it.
Grinding & Finishing
Grinding stainless throws hex chrome dust. Grinding aluminum throws combustible St-3 dust that needs NFPA 660 explosion protection. Either way, you need local exhaust to keep it off the floor and out of the air.
Central High-Vac Systems
A bunch of welding stations tied into one collector through overhead duct. The right move for a real production floor. Blast gates open per station automatically — source capture everywhere, at scale.
Common Questions from Metal Fab Shops
Does general ventilation meet OSHA’s hexavalent chromium standard?
No. OSHA 1910.1026 sets the hexavalent chromium PEL at 5 micrograms per cubic meter as an 8-hour TWA, and general ventilation — shop fans, open doors, air moving through the building — won’t reliably get you there in a production shop. The fume spreads across the floor faster than the fans can pull it out. Capturing it at the torch is the only control that consistently holds the line. And inspectors know it — they look specifically for source capture on stainless work and cite general ventilation as not good enough.
Do I need fume extraction for mild steel welding?
Yes. Mild steel fume falls under OSHA 1910.1000 Table Z-1 — 5 mg/m³ for total particulate, 1 mg/m³ for iron oxide fume. And manganese, which is in most mild steel electrodes, has a ceiling limit of 0.02 mg/m³. Put a few welders in a room going at it all day and you blow past those limits without local exhaust. It’s not as nasty as stainless, but it’s still regulated, and OSHA writes up mild steel fume exposure in fab shops all the time.
What’s required for aluminum grinding dust collection?
Aluminum dust is Class St-3 — KSt around 415 bar·m/s, the worst severity class. Under NFPA 660 (effective January 1, 2026), a collector handling aluminum grinding needs real explosion protection: usually chemical suppression, not just a vent, because aluminum keeps burning after a vent lets go. The collector has to be deflagration-rated, and you need isolation to stop flame from running back through the duct. A standard collector with nothing on it is not compliant for aluminum. Our KSt values guide breaks down the whole thing.
How much does a welding fume extraction system cost?
A portable extractor for one station runs about $3,000–$8,000. Source capture arm systems for 1–4 stations with their own collector run $15,000–$40,000 installed. Central systems for 5–15 stations with overhead duct usually land $50,000–$150,000 depending on how many stations, how complex the ductwork is, and whether you need HEPA. For stainless work that needs HEPA afterfilters and certified performance testing, add 25–40% over a mild steel system. Our full 2026 cost guide lays it all out.
Do you serve California fabrication shops?
Yes. We install across all five Southwest states — Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. California shops deal with Cal/OSHA enforcing the same hex chrome and welding fume standards as federal OSHA, plus South Coast AQMD and other local air districts on the exhaust side. We design to whatever your state and local rules require in each area.
Protect Your Welders. Pass Your Inspection.
The free shop assessment covers your fume capture, your PEL exposure, and a fixed-price quote — no guessing. And every system we put in is guaranteed to pass OSHA inspection, or we come back and fix it at no charge.
Prefer to talk first? Call us: 602-456-9661