What kind of breathing mask should I purchase working on my xcarve. I am mostly cutting Plywood. I’ll probably grab something on amazon today. Just curious on recommendations. The little bit of cutting I have been doing my lungs dont feel that good.
Dust collector arrives tomorrow. Is there any tricks with having that clean the air too? lol
Thanks for your help!
Ted
This is what I use:
I find it very comfortable.
Thank you. I just ordered it. =)
Different species of wood may affect you differently and what irritates one person may not affect another.
And some individuals bodies just dont tolerate wood dust very well at all.
Fro me personally, walnut is my demon, I love the smell as it is cut but the dust closes up my airway a bit.
The wood in you plywood could have come from just about any where and is lord knows what species.
Then there is the glue used to bond the plies together, see the first line above and replace wood with glue.
Most likely, all you need is a simple dust mask. If you have a medical supply company in your area i like the simple surgical masks to filter nuisance dust and you should be able to get them in quantity. Use em and toss em.
A dust collector is a good idea even if it doesnt get all the stuff removed by the bit, it will pick up the really small dangerous stuff that can become suspended in the air and lodge in your lungs and cause problems. Use a 1 micron filter for the best results.
I use a 3M respirator that has a quick release, so it’s easy to pop down to talk or grab a drink. For just saw dust I just use the round pink filters, but they won’t do much for paint fumes or any other vapors. For Painting I use the organic vapor filters, you can’t even smell the paint.
You can also get a air cleaner for you shop, something liek THIS. Or you can build one yourself (this is what I’m doing), out of a fan and some furnace filters.
Good luck!
The 3M 2097 pink ones are OK but they are rated for oily environments.
The 2297 are gray and really block paint, varnish, etc smells. They are rated for “Nuisance Level Organic Vapor Relief”. Plus they are a heck of a light lighter than the canister 6001 Organic Vapor ones that I reserve for auto paint/primer. That stuff puts out some serious VOC’s.
The masks I use are my new 3M 6500 or my old 3M 6200.
The 3M 6500 series respirator is set up with the 2297’s, and the 6200 with either the 6001 VOC cartridge with 5P71PB1 P95 prefilter held on with a 501 retainer, or a 603 adapter that mimics the cartridge base and uses the prefilters and retainer for a lighter duty setup when VOC’s are not an issue. Plus the prefilters are pretty cheap for a 10 pack(5 pairs).
I will have to look for those! I agree the canister ones are way heavy, I just have never seen the 2297s before. Thanks for the info!
Rusty so you wear glasses with the mask? I have a mask that I like but it interferes with my glasses and if I exhale too quickly I fog. I am really curious about the flip down feature - I am trying to find a video of how it works.
Yup I wear glasses and hear protection, doesn’t seem to bother anything. The exhaust comes out the bottom, so I haven’t had an issue with fogging my glasses. One thing I found was in the winter condensation would build up and end up dripping out the bottom (gross). So just be aware of that, I almost ruined some finishes like that.
The flip down basically just loosens the top strap quickly allowing you to pull the mask down a bit.
This is an old picture from when I first got my machine set up. I found with certain safety glasses it can interfere, but now that I can’t really see with out my real glasses it works great with the ones I have.
someone had to…
I have a set of those filters too. They work great for painting.
you could use that helmet… but then you would have trouble setting the workpiece Zero… they never hit their mark…
good information, I was looking for a respirator myself.
I got mine from HFT, a less costly alternative. It has a rubber face seal and real filters. http://www.harborfreight.com/p95-maintenance-free-dual-cartridge-respirator-large-67727.html
Ha! Well played.
