In short, no. Fume extraction torches handle any wire – whether flux-cored, metal core, or solid wire. However, depending on the wire used there can be more smoke produced, which is a consideration and an item to evaluate as you look at all the options with fume extraction solutions. With metal core and solid core, you will be looking at higher parameters normally as well as hotter gas mixes, which will translate to faster traveling smoke and more difficult welding positions to do fume extraction with for a source capture solution. Metal core presents one of the common misconceptions of fume extraction welding. For some, it is believed that welding metal core wire with a clean gas mix (i.e., CO2) creates a ‘clean’ smoke that doesn’t need fume extraction. This is a common myth. Toxic particles will still be released into the atmosphere from the base metal and from the wire as it melts to join into the weld joint and without proper fume extraction equipment and procedures in place, your welders and the rest of your workers will breathe it in and be adversely affected by it. Flux-core wire produces a very thick and visible smoke when being welded with. It also releases a lot of particulates into the atmosphere that you would want to catch at the source so as it wasn’t breathed in by your workers. Flux-core is also generally used for low parameter welding, which makes it very easy to extract at the source because lower parameter means slower smoke travel.