Hi, 

I am new to this and wanted to ask about my soldering equipment setup. The desking I am planning on soldering on is about 2 meters away from the window. Do I need to invest in a fan or filter system for the fumes? Note: I am planning on practicing my soldering one mute fpv circuit board before I start making my first drone.

Thank you in advance.

its realy unhealthy, not just to our lungs also to the rest of the nature, but i dont have a plan around.

a fan doesnt help, it needs a filter or direct fresh air in the room. you wont die by a few minutes soldering, but start with caution about it by a fan or anything is a great thought. change things later does collisoln with lazyness sometimes.

there are a few filter with fans to buy. if you have a fan from a pc, paired with a tube to the window would bring mouvement to the air away from you, it deosnt realy need much. ro much airflow can cause cooling to the solder iron and makes heat transmisson worse, it needs a low amount of airflow.

Hi Hummus,

Rosin Flux is made primarily from pines and other plants. Although it
is not toxic, it can be irritating and is said to be contributor to occupational 
asthma when inhaled on a long term basis. Plus, some folks might be
allergic. So, breathing the fumes might not be the best idea.

I can find no evidence that rosin fumes adversely effect the Earth's
atmosphere in general. 

In fact, the lead in the solder has more negative effects than the solder.
For the most part, it is the Rosin that creates the fumes not the metals
as the metals do not generally get hot enough to vaporize. 

Even so, you might consider getting a small fan (perhaps with a filter)
or even wear a mask. 

Tutorial  How to Solder - Principles, Technics, Etc. 


Later, iFly  

IIRC, the smoke you see is the flux burning off and the temp required to vaporize lead is way hotter than what we solder at. Back into the hobby. Minimal soldering relative to in the past. But, considering the low prices and easily sourced. Fan box with filter is on the shopping list.

for simple small area extraction:

KOTTO Solder Smoke Absorber Remover Fume Extractor Smoke Prevention Absorber DIY Working Fan for Soldering Station
https://www.amazon.com/Absorber-Remover-...B07VWDN29F

others:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=soldering+fan...dering+fan

--------------------------------

for venting fumes both soldering & 3d printer outside through a window or through a filter:

TURBRO AirSupply ES4, 4 Inch Inline Duct Fan with Solid Metal Case, 195 CFM Quiet Vent Fan with Variable Speed Controlled for Grow Tent and Ventilation
https://www.amazon.com/TURBRO-ES4-Hydrop...B0894RP1Y2

others:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4+fan+inline

---------------------------------

charcoal filter:
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=4+fan+inline+charcoal+filter

hit utube for more info/ideas

I would go with a fan, an activated carbon fibre pad on one side of it and a hepa on the other side. If you have the space and especially if you have a 3d printer and anything else that produces fumes, you could rig up an extractor system and vent to outside air. If you are into the whole manufacturing side of the hobby, having good fume and dust extraction/filtration would be useful. If it's just for soldering, you could probably DIY a fume hood cupboard from a large plastic storage box, some 120mm pc fans and the activated charcoal pad. There are a few designs on Youtube and on a few other websites.

If you want commercial level, they do exist. But no idea of cost.

If I ever start doing it properly i will probably go with a glove box type build, but I want to get more into 3D printing and also possibly CNC milling, so building a better system would probably be a boon.

I've never actually bothered with a fume extractor myself and I've been doing soldering for more years than I can remember, but I'm only an occasional solderer. Unless you spend hours every day soldering or you have a pre-existing asthma or another respiratory condition then you can probably get away without one like me. Like others have said, unless you have an extractor with a carbon filter or one that exhausts fumes to the outside world then all you are doing is drawing the flux smoke away from getting in your face but not actually removing it from your breathing environment.

If you have a 3D printer and you fancy building your own then Oscar has a nice tutorial for building a carbon filter one at the link below...

https://oscarliang.com/diy-solder-smoke-extractor

I have been soldering for...well...decades and have never used a fan of any type.
I did buy a small "air filtering" device with a fan in it, but the thing didn't have
enough power to actually pull the fumes out of my work space. So, yeah, that
didn't work. 

That said, I do, from time to time, think about it. Yet, I still have no fan.

(04-Mar-2024, 11:11 AM)SnowLeopardFPV Wrote: or you have a pre-existing asthma or another respiratory condition

For me, this.

(04-Mar-2024, 12:34 PM)iFly4rotors Wrote: I have been soldering for...well...decades and have never used a fan of any type.
I did buy a small "air filtering" device with a fan in it, but the thing didn't have
enough power to actually pull the fumes out of my work space. So, yeah, that
didn't work. 

That said, I do, from time to time, think about it. Yet, I still have no fan.

I think it isn't just soldering. Air filtration and capture is more something you consider when you are doing things that seriously impact your health, not that huffing flux and lead fumes isn't bad for you, but they will give you problems in 30-40 years, but other things are quicker. Resin printing (which i don't do) is listed as one very good use for an extraction system. Milling carbon fibre is another one, although in that usage case you would pull the fibres to a hepa and trap them because they are that bad and you don't want to be blowing fibres out into the world. If you look at the handful of FPV influencers that mill CF, they tend to do the cutting underwater to avoid dust, but that requires a proper workshop. Ever used a plasma cutter, you 100% need extraction for that usage case, or you do it in the open air, never do it in an enclosed environment. I would love a plasma cutter, but a 2d plotter style plasma cutter. Welding fumes are also pretty bad for you. The main one, that we don't do in this hobby is 2 pack painting, which is basically isocyanates and yes these are very very bad for you.

Sorry realised that turned into a long paragraph.