I'm after some cotton dust masks that are hard to get a hold of nowadays thanks to H&S. Whilst I fully understand the implications, I still want some. These masks are comprised of a bendy aluminium cutout and a stack of soft cotton pleats that you use with the cutout frame. If anyone knows a place, or a person, please do tell. I'm always looking, and have ideas for DIY replacements, but I can't bring myself to do it myself.
Cheers
Chris
search for Draper 12496 Dust Mask, these are the ones you are describing. They are my favourite dustmask too - the white 'cup' type which seem to be more prevalent nowadays are crap IMV - they don't seal to the face
Surely it would only take a few minutes with a pie dish, or drinks can, and some scissors: I think even I could manage that? (Incidentally, I already keep a stack of opened out Al drink can metal plate. It can be written on easily by indenting with a fine Bic, and then makes long lasting plant labels, cut to whatever size you like. Cutting out a mask shape would present few difficulties.)
S
Wilkinsons are your friend - bought dome there a short while ago - cheap as chips.
Google for 'Martindale' and 'mask'. I remember the name!
Funny coincidence that, I am currently asking for them to be collected to make into shim stock. They are reputed to be of a very accurate thickness.
It's very easy with pointy scissors to cut around the shoulder of the can at top and bottom and then down one side to open them out. Then you can use the old paper folding trick of dragging the curved piece of metal a few times under a ruler until it is flat. Once you have a handy sheaf of neat rectangles of the various metals, you do start to find numerous uses for them. For shims though, I would at least go for the ones you can pick up with a magnet (The Al ones tend to have a pinky/bluey tinge, while the steel, to me, look more on the yellowish side so I can often tell by looking, but a magnet always helps - and you don't want plant labels going rusty.)
(Oh and these days it's more of an 'accurate thinness' than thickness - hence a selection of takeaway and disposable pie dish bottoms come in handy for the thicker requirements - like the mask holder above.)
Sspamlet explained on 23/05/2010 :
I have got them as 0.007mm thick (or thin).
I cut my first with a Stanley knife, to top and bottom, then a pair of scissors down the side. I'll try the scissors all the way on the next can which turns up.
In message , Harry Bloomfield writes
So, 100 of them are still less than a mm thick ?
Well worth it: sooner or later that Stanley will take the top of your finger off - even when using it against a ruler you can still fail to notice how far over the edge your finger tips are getting...
SPhil, Medway & Bob - Thankyou kindly!
Spamlet - Cheers for the suggestion but after careful consideration I've decided that I do like my nose/face after all so I think I'll stick with the purchasing route. I wonder what would suffice as a good replacement for filters though. Surgical gauze perhaps? It's probably a lot more expensive tbh
I always used to just fold a hanky over and over: as I recall the official gauzes were always too small and let too much dust through and couldn't be made to stay on one's nose, no matter how hard you squeezed the metal (Just like the modern cup types in fact). On the other hand, the pukka rubber and screw in filter types, just had you drowning in sweat and drool, gave you a skin rash, and the straps always broke just at the wrong moment - pulling out you hair as they did so. Glad I don't have to go into dodgy atmospheres for longer than I can hold my breath these days!
S
Aluminium does not make good shim stock due to its tendency to 'cold flow' when used in compression.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.