Thread: breathing gear

I use a Full face sheild, and then when I am sanding, I use a 2 way nose filter, I would reccomend the Triton respirator, I have used that, and found it great

4. Nose & mouth.

I have a very nice soft 3M mask (about $98) that I like to wear.
I also have a Triton full face bash hat but it tends to impair the vision a bit.

I'm with Cliff: Nose & Mouth, preferably with HEPA cartridges. Having a beard makes it less effective but 'tis the best protection bar a fish-bowl. Nose plugs are just self-delusion. (Sorry, Joash! )

I really dislike using fish-bowls... a hangover from handling hazmat in my early SECV days. As soon as it goes on, the heart-rate turbos and I tense up; not the ideal frame of mind for turning.

Trend AirShield for any wood dust (plus, it is a passable face/eye shield). A dual organic vapor cartridge respirator for finishing/CA use.

Tash, I have yet to progress to a full face. Skews comments are pretty well my thoughts as well.
Currently I use a couple of vents sucking around the chuck, a fan to direct the other dust etc away from me toward the door, and use p2 disposalable dust masks. Having two doors I open both during the summer and get cross ventilation which generally takes care of the small floating particles.
I have a full face double respirator but have yet to use it. Made from silicone rubber, its light and has fairly good vision...just dont like the set up, so in the box it stays

Cant go past a RACAL(3M owned)"airstream" helmet, good air flow without a ridiculous hose that gets in the way or a silly shroud/hood thingy that makes you sweat like a pig.
Multitude of different filter elements availabe, they have a pre and main filter, also your face and head is well protected.
Yep they look like a starwars prop but who cares when its your health at concern.
They are the best but the price also reflects that too...

I wear the things for 12 hrs at a time at work, for me respirators were not effective enough and caused my lead(pb) level's to rise to the 40's now I hover around the 15~16ug/dl. The trouble with respirators is its hard not to remove them to talk and easy to forget putting them back on... leaving you exposed, where as a racal you just lift up the face sheild talk then drop it down again.
With the respirator at work you must lift up your face sheild then remove your safety glasses and sometimes remove your helmet just to get the thing back on... plus they are very uncomfortable and you must be clean shaven for them to work.

I have only just started using the Triton head bucket (at $110 on clearance I couldn't resist). Definitly finding less crap up my nose and the smell when turning acrylics isn't as severe. Even though the battery pack is outboard (strapped to your waist) my neck/shoulders were still killing me after the first weekends use. Just need to toughen up a bit I reckon...

I use fans. Four of 'em. I have one on a tall stand that blows over my shoulder, towards the window. There are two shrouded fans in the window, blowing outward. (one of them is an AC squirrel-cage type blower)
The fourth one is an old heating/AC blower, that I've converted into a large air cleaner. It hangs in the rafters, above the lathe (sorta) and just keeps the air moving through four AC filters.
I have a beard, and respirators make me sweat too much, and I can't afford anything better. Don't even have a dust collector. I just use a face shield for protection from UFO.
Das is alles!

I use the Trend air shield, and I love it.
I thought it would be heavy and noisy and I was completely wrong.
after a few minutes I just ignore to have it on. Very comfortable, air flow fantastic (no swetting), breathing as if you didn't have any filters, very efficient.

I use a flexible duct attached to an old kitchen exhaust fan to suck away most of the dust, plus a box type air scrubber, plus a Trend Airshield when sanding.