Lee Valley face shield - or other options

Hi all,

Getting into turning (well, properly) so doing the right thing and looking for a good face shield.

Seems the Lee Valley is the only mid-priced one I can find: Professional Face Shield | Carbatec

Any thoughts on this one, or similar options? I'm not keen on a $30 one as I figure a face is worth some investment, and not after a $500+ respirator one (I have a small mask for when needed, dust extraction at the lathes and in a 12x6 shed with ventilation, and on a budget so hoping to avoid the need for this added cost at present). The shields themselves seem similar quality and to AS standards.

Happy to hear any recommendations or feedback on different ones available.

Thanks in advance,
Darren

For quality and value I reckon its hard to beat the Armadillo face shield.
Yes they only cost about $40 but it is a serious shield and I have been using them for more than 10 years.
I wear mine l lot for metal work (grinding and metal turning) but also wood turning and general wood machine work.
Fully 3D wrap around visor - really good vision, strong and reasonably comfortable.
Visor replacements ($20) readily available - I've replaces 2 of my 3 visors in the 10 years I've had done

I have 3 of these visors, 2 in my shed and one in the car so its always with me for HD chainsaw work.

They work well with behind the neck ear muffs and clip over the head adjustment knob so you can lean over and neither the visor or muffs will fall off.
BTW that's not an Armadillo mask in the photo but its very similar.

BobL where does one get these Armadillo face shield. from please

[QUOTE=Tonyz;2239373]BobL where does one get these Armadillo face shield. from please[/QUOTE
Blackwoods

You need to register to see prices but here's a screen shot
Attachment 494394

Or you can buy exactly the same one from an Ebay seller in Robina, QLD for just $362.95 :oo:.. A classic example of "Buyer Beware".

Thanks Bob, the Armadillo one sounds like a great option.

Darren

Late arrival here, but I had an incident on my lathe some time back which smashed me back to the 13th century for a few months!

Bowl broke, one half vaporised into the place where half-used pens and one sock seem to go.... the other half hit my face at an atavistic speed.

Blood everywhere. Not just a bit here and there, but there were chunks on the ROOF! It was a murder scene.

Broke my nose up on the bridge between my eyes and lower down in the centre... split the skin OPEN on the right from the peak down to my cheek and on the left just a mighty big tear. Hospital fixed me right up... yay socialism! :)

BUT, after that it took a while to get back onto the horse.

I asked the forumites for recommendations (and to show off my profound stupidity and arguably incredible luck) and they suggested a blue high speed impact mask from GasWeld. It has replaceable transparencies for when it gets fogged with scratches. The head and chin parts are removable and the headband washable. I bought two, one for the lathe and the other for the tablesaw/router.

What a silly billy I was. Learn from me. Buy this mask. Its good.


edit - I say its good as it has worked well while on the table saw... the lower blue part keeps the shape of the lens, plus it sits comfortably on ones upper chest (just under my collarbone) so if one were to take an Incredible Bonking, the mask itself isn't shoved INTO your face to act as its air-bag! Ones face would get *smooshed* without it! The impact hits the screen and is pushed into your forehead and chest. This seems to me to be much safer than the masks without this lower support.

The use of this mask allowed me to keep working, even while injured (for the above reason) and gave me great confidence of surviving another attack from my lathe. :)

(all this is just an opinion!)

It was about $40 and was described as a "ballistic" face shield at the time.

Attachment 494433

that looks very much like the Armidillo mentioned above
AM running around Adelaide this week...good gawd the bl....y traffic.
anyway dropped into Blackwoods asked for Armidillo, tried it on felt very comfy so purchased one.
Will be fun to try out on various uses next week.
just found out my crap eye cannot cannot be upgraded. this means I need to take extra care of one good eye that I have always been very causal about.

I also like my Armadillo. Shame Blackwoods isn't open on weekends though, bit inconvenient.