Respirator

Sean Yaw

Sean Yaw

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
417
On account of my monumental laziness with respect to personal grooming, I tend to have a pretty large beard. I was reading last night how facial hair can severely impact the efficacy of traditional respirators. I was looking at other options and found some ungodly expensive 3M full face helmet looking things. What do people with facial hair do for lung protection?
 
I prefer a normal respirator but what about something like this...
usaknifemaker.com

Resp-O-Rator Dust Respirator - Model JR-7

The Resp-O-Rator™ is the respirator that you’ve been looking for and is the ultimate respirator for woodworking. It was created and patented by craftsman Jim Duxbury to solve problems that he faced with other respirators. This revolutionary design won’t interfere with goggles, face shields...
usaknifemaker.com usaknifemaker.com
It was designed with things like beards in mind.
 
I've seen old CPAP machines converted for those with beards. I have a close shaven Goatee and that doesn't seem to interfere with a normal respirator.
 
My beard lays on my chest. $1400 for one of those ”ungodly expensive” 3M units didn’t seem so bad to avoid the impact of all the dust and fumes on emphysema.
It’s a matter of assessing priorities and acting on them.

There used to be a device called a Trend Airshield. It was a blower fed positive presssure device that filtered particulate but not fumes. If you check woodcarvers catalogs you will find a modern equivalent. The price is very attractive compared to the industrial units like the 3M.
 
fitzo said:
It’s a matter of assessing priorities and acting on them.
Click to expand...

There is the core of my initial comment. That being said, I probably have a little more facial hair than my respirator seal should indicate at the moment....
 
Sorry. "Ungodly expensive" reads as a little too judgemental. I was very surprised to see that price. Thanks for the "Trend Airshield" lead. I also found a PAPR unit called Powercap Active IP Respirator that is a little more budgetable.
 
Sean Yaw Sean Yaw
I only make 4-5 knives a year and will rehandle a few more, so not very much grinding work on my end. Sometimes I have a beard but always a full goatee. I wear a Moldex half face respirator with P100 filters and N95 pre filters (I use the same setup working in our grain bin facility), I feel this is adequate enough for my needs. YMMV
 
Sean Yaw said:
Sorry. "Ungodly expensive" reads as a little too judgemental. I was very surprised to see that price. Thanks for the "Trend Airshield" lead. I also found a PAPR unit called Powercap Active IP Respirator that is a little more budgetable.
Click to expand...

If you check R J Martin's instagram, you will see a recent post about a new PAPR he picked up. I don't know what pricing was but it may be worth following up.
 
Get a used 3m versaflo PAPR on ebay... It may seem like a lot but it's not much when you consider what cancer can cost you. You only get one set of lungs!
 
I would love to post a video of my knife building shop but it's way to complicated for this old dinosaur. I use a simple shop vac for several steps. The biggest dust maker for me is shaping knife handles. I don't use my 2 x 72 for that but use my oscillating sander to control the dust. I work daily in my knife shop and never use a dust mask and never get snot buggers.
 
I learned here how to use a oscillating sander to not use standard drums. But rather use standard sand paper wrapped around it . Game changer. Dust collection is awesome with a oscillating drum sander. Not to say I don't use my shop vac to collect dust from my 2 x 72"
 
I bought the resp-o-rator a few years ago. I mainly sits on my workbench unused. It's not terribly comfortable, and it's made about as "cheaply" as it can be, which is surprising given how much it costs. Lastly, I always have a big drool spot on my shirt after using it. I feel like it's a great idea, but poorly executed. Some people love them, and I still use mine from time to time, but it's not my favorite.

I also bought a used (or possibly new/old stock) Racal Breath Easy setup on eBay for a really low price. They still pop up from time to time (or various parts for them do) for decent prices, but you have to keep an eye out. It's not bad, and the air blowing into the mask feels nice. I really need a slightly bigger mask for mine though, and the old NiMH battery pack is clunky and heavy. I'll probably fab up a replacement Lithium battery pack one of these days, but for now, it mostly lives on a shelf in my shop.

Lately, I've just been using a regular p100 cartridge respirator from my local big box store. If I cinch it relatively tight, I still get a decent enough seal even with the beard. Is it perfect? No, but it keeps the vast majority of dust out.
I've thought about adding localized dust collection, but you have to be mindful of stray sparks. There's a few different plans out there for spark arrestors or water traps, but it just seems like more of a project (and investment) than I want to get into right now.

I do think a ceiling mounted air cleaner / dust collector would be a good idea though, just to keep a lot of the airborne stuff from going all over the shop. I may look into grabbing one of those sooner than later.
 
Drew Riley said:
I bought the resp-o-rator a few years ago. I mainly sits on my workbench unused. It's not terribly comfortable, and it's made about as "cheaply" as it can be, which is surprising given how much it costs. Lastly, I always have a big drool spot on my shirt after using it. I feel like it's a great idea, but poorly executed. Some people love them, and I still use mine from time to time, but it's not my favorite.

I also bought a used (or possibly new/old stock) Racal Breath Easy setup on eBay for a really low price. They still pop up from time to time (or various parts for them do) for decent prices, but you have to keep an eye out. It's not bad, and the air blowing into the mask feels nice. I really need a slightly bigger mask for mine though, and the old NiMH battery pack is clunky and heavy. I'll probably fab up a replacement Lithium battery pack one of these days, but for now, it mostly lives on a shelf in my shop.

Lately, I've just been using a regular p100 cartridge respirator from my local big box store. If I cinch it relatively tight, I still get a decent enough seal even with the beard. Is it perfect? No, but it keeps the vast majority of dust out.
I've thought about adding localized dust collection, but you have to be mindful of stray sparks. There's a few different plans out there for spark arrestors or water traps, but it just seems like more of a project (and investment) than I want to get into right now.

I do think a ceiling mounted air cleaner / dust collector would be a good idea though, just to keep a lot of the airborne stuff from going all over the shop. I may look into grabbing one of those sooner than later.
Click to expand...
The key to the whole breathe easy thing is the proper mask... An m206 or m207 makes a WORLD of difference
 
I second, or third the 3m versa flow. I bit the bullet a while back and bought one. Yes it's expensive, but it's damn nice. Comes with integrated hearing protection.
Here in the desert, it actually acts like a personal AC, it's great!
 
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