Facemask with respirator

I have a 3m versaflow at work, and cannot say enough good things about it. The price tag is steeeeep, but lungs and eyes are for life.
 
Breathe Easy, Versaflow, any of that hood type work. Look on eBay for them.
You can sometimes find a full package at a reasonable price, but it is usually far cheaper to find the hood and blower separately.

No need to hang the blower on you waist or back. You can put the blower on a shelf, or even outside the grinding area, and use a longer "umbilical" hose to connect to the hood. Lightweight vacuum hoses will work, but you can often find lighter weight hoses for CPAP machines and other breathing equipment. If the blower is in a non-dust area, simple cloth covers on the air intake is sufficient. This increases air flow. I gutted out a pair of filters and placed a cloth pre-filter over the shell.
You can also make your own blower and air filter setup, or use one made for spray-painting hoods.

The batteries are what cost you. New Breathe Easy batteries run hundreds of dollars new, and have a short life. Used ones can be a good price, but may not last long.
You can often find the blower pack super cheap with no battery. It can be wired to run off a transformer or power supply and run all day long. I took the charger that came with one unit (no battery) and wired it with a plug and put a mating socket on the blower. You can also wire the unit to run off a lithium-ion battery pack. (I haven't researched the newer units, but I suspect they now use lithium-ion batteries.)

Another trick is to pipe the air line from the blower to the grinding area (keep it as short as practical) in 1.5" PVC and slip a cap on the end. When grinding, take the cap off and stick your hose on the air supply manifold. You can place several of these ports along the manifold at areas where you will be standing doing grinding and dusty tasks. This manifold system works well with a larger blower or painting booth type air supply. Wire the ON_OFF switch to a central location in the grinding room/area.
 
I use a Powercap currently, and I'm happy with it. There was a half mask I saw recently which has an integrated clear face shield which looks pretty neat. I think it's called forged air or somesuch?
 
Lorien said:
I use a Powercap currently, and I'm happy with it. There was a half mask I saw recently which has an integrated clear face shield which looks pretty neat. I think it's called forged air or somesuch?
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I saw the powercap from Peke safety I’m testing out the clean air HEPA PAPR System from them.
 
I've got a versaflo too. I love it, just fantastic. Yes it's expensive, but it's cheaper than cancer!
 
Buy once cry once.

I was surprised how quickly I acclimated to wearing the hood and dealing with the umbilical. Once you make a habit of putting it on as soon as you come into the grinding room, it became automatic.

One thing I did that helped was I set the hood on the grinder when I take it off. That way I have to pick it up to use the grinder when I come back. Before I did that I would come in to, "Just do one little thing" and find myself still grinding an hour later with no hood on. Now I just put it on while it is in my hands. Habits form quickly but take a long time to break. It is best to start them as a part of your routine and before long it becomes natural.

Welders don't even think about their helmets. They put them on and automatically reach up to flip them down when getting ready to weld.
Jewelers are the same with their Optivisor. They put it on when sitting down at the bench and often forget it is on until leaving the store at the end of the day. I have unconsciously worn it when going to get lunch more than once.
I haven't worn my Optivisor daily for over a year, but when someone hands me something small to look at I automatically reach up and wave my hand over my head to drop the visor down...which is not there.
 
well those are well out of my price range. I was looking at some of the ones in the $100ish range
 
Do you have a beard, Cory? If not, then check out the 3M version of their full face cartridge respirator, FF-402. While I haven't tried it (beard), I have read multiple good reports about it. Price replacement cartridges prior to springing for a mask. They can be outrageous.
 
CWendling said:
well those are well out of my price range. I was looking at some of the ones in the $100ish range
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I get what you are saying, but this is almost like a policeman and his bullet-proof vest. I doubt his wife and family would like to hear, "I don't want to spend $500, I just want a $100 vest."
Wearing a proper filtering unit is important.

Look at the full-face 3-M masks like Fitzo suggested. See what you can find. I gave all mine away or I would send you one.

Go on ebay and search:
Reusable Full Face Cover Respirator Mask for Dust Organic Vapors Wide View US

Reusable Full Face Respirator, Gas Cover Organic Vapor Mask and Anti-Fog

If you shop around and wait for the right deal you can get a Versaflow type hood and a blower separately for not much over $100. You will probably have to make a power supply for the blower, or build your own blower..
 
If you're going 3m full face mask, see their website for accessories.

On the one I have/had/used you can replace the filter mounts with hose mounts and put the filters, battery pack, fan unit on the belt behind you like all those parrs.

Positive pressure filtered intakes are nice, you don't get that Darth Vader inhale feeling.

However on the full face, I still had to strap it down hard to seal and I felt it in my jaw later.
It exacerbated TMJ.

The PAPR with the roomy helmet is the nicest way.
 
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