I am looking for good quality long lasting convenient dust mask or respirator. Any suggestions and where to buy.
- posted
20 years ago
I am looking for good quality long lasting convenient dust mask or respirator. Any suggestions and where to buy.
A popular mask is the MSA 'DustFoe', available from Highland Hardware
Having said that, the MSA respirator (Advantage 200) can be fitted with cartridges to deal with just about anything you can possibly run across.
Cheers, Fred McClellan the dash plumber at mindspring dot com
It's really best to have both a mask that's only for dust and a respirator that filters dust and fumes. Comfort masks are okay, but I always feel they don't fit right. I bought a rubber dust mask with replacable filter from OSH. It has one filter element with one inhalation valve and two exhalation valves. It has a one piece rubber head/neck band. I like this mask over my old mask that had only one exhalation valve and elastic head and neck bands that you had to hook together. I prefer the more expensive rubber masks over the cheaper comfort masks. I think the brand I bought is AO, but I see similar masks in WWing catalogs.
To me the rubber is more comfortable and the fit is better. To check if the mask is sitting properly on your face cover the exhalation valves with your palms and gently exhale. If you feel air coming out from the nose bridge lower the mask.
The reason I say to get two types of masks is if you just buy a respirator for fumes and use it for finishing *and* sawing tasks the charcoal element will prematurely wear out and that can get expensive in the long run replacing filters. Store your respirator in an air tight container and use it only when you're working with noxious fumes and use the rubber dust mask for sawing jobs.
When I air brushing a painting for a college project I used a dust mask when I sprayed the acrylic paint and switched to a fume respirator when I cleaned up with solvents.
Layne
I second these ideas. I use a North (rubber) mask with dust filters, but also have organic solvent filters to use when painting or using certain finishes. I use the North mask because it fits my face the best, but you should try other brands also to make sure that you get a good fit. After all, you only get one set of lungs (usually) so the cost of a good mask pays for itself in the long run.
light enough that I don't mind wearing it, the exhaled air is directed so that it doesn't fog my glasses, and most important of all it fits well and seems to do a very good job.
Yes. Mask fit is very important. 3M makes masks in different sizes. You go to your local safety equipment dealer and they can fit you. Thankfully for me the AO Safety dust mask I got fit well...otherwise I would've returned it. Also, it's not ideal to use such masks with a beard as thick facial hair creates gaps.
Layne
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