Usually within 50 to 150 mm, depending on the nozzle, because the airflow is low and its influence falls away quickly. The aim is to intercept the smoke as it leaves the joint and before it reaches the operator's face. Positioning is far more important to effectiveness than the extractor's rated airflow.

Funnel and cone nozzles for general hand soldering at one point; slot nozzles where the work spans a wider area such as a rework or repair bench; dome or hood types over tasks releasing more vapour; and tip extraction, drawing through a small tube clipped to the iron, for repetitive production soldering where the capture point never moves.

Because a bench operator repositions them constantly, and any arm that sags or creeps back over a few minutes stops being used and gets pushed aside. Friction-jointed and spring-balanced arms are specified to stay exactly where set. It is an ergonomic requirement that directly determines whether the extraction actually protects anyone.

No. It carries cool air with flux vapour and there are no sparks, so the high-temperature and flame-retardant construction that welding demands is unnecessary. What matters instead is flexibility, kink resistance and small bore, since a collapsed section chokes a low-flow system far more noticeably than it would a high-volume one.

Where ESD-sensitive components are handled, yes. Air moving through plastic ducting generates static, and a charged nozzle or arm near an assembly is a hazard to the components as well as to any ESD protocol in force. Anti-static or dissipative hose, nozzles and arms are specified for electronics benches for that reason.

They will physically connect on some systems but perform poorly. Large-bore welding nozzles have the wrong capture geometry for a point source at short range, are too bulky to sit close to a board, and are not anti-static. The reverse substitution is worse: soldering hose has no spark or temperature resistance at all.

Those are ducted machine extraction rather than bench arms, taking a defined volume from the machine's own outlet to the filtration or to atmosphere. The duty is continuous and the contaminant load higher, so the design follows the equipment maker's specification rather than the bench-arm approach used for hand soldering.