Suggestions for Dust mask/breathing appliance

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Madman1978

Madman1978

Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2020
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670
Location
Springfield
Hey guys

I found out I have lung cancer from my 30-plus years of smoking. On Wednesday I am having a lobe of my right lung removed.

I am thinking I need a better mask system after all this. My budget is tight really tight

What would you suggest?
 
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Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, hopefully it was caught early. I just bought a Trend Air Shield Pro. It is not cheap, nor the most expensive. So far, I really like it and it does what it's supposed to do. It would be my recommendation. Bear in mind, I have only been using it a couple of weeks. I did a fair amount of research before I bought it and I didn't find very much negativity regarding it.
 
I'm so sorry.

I upgraded from a 3/4 to a full 3M face respirator. The kind that have a filter at each cheek. The 'pink' filter works for chemicals, which I need when working with cyanoacrylate. I still let myself breathe the wood dust. 🤔 Might rethink that.
 
Madman1978 said:
Hey guys

I found out I have lung cancer from my 30-plus years of smoking. On Wednesday I am having a lobe of my right lung removed.

I am thinking I need a better mask system after all this. My budget is tight really tight

What would you suggest?
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Sorry to hear about your condition. I use one called Dust Bee Gone. It's not going to stop all micron particles but will keep most dust out of your lungs. It's multiple layers of a synthetic fabric, washable, and it doesn't impede your breathing. Also, won't make glasses fog up. About $40. I've had mine for 30+ years.
 
Todd in PA said:
I'm so sorry.

I upgraded from a 3/4 to a full 3M face respirator. The kind that have a filter at each cheek. The 'pink' filter works for chemicals, which I need when working with cyanoacrylate. I still let myself breathe the wood dust. 🤔 Might rethink that.
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Definitely rethink it! When your body decides to revolt against it...its terrible, and it will never go back. I started wood turning during the pandemic, and was only able to use those cheap blue medical face masks for a while (all other respiratory equipment was reserved for "front line responders" at the time). I already had general allergies, including tree pollen, which is probably why my intolerance was accelerated, but after a couple of years I can't handle wood dust. The reaction is terrible...its like having the flu. So, I wear full respiratory PPE all the time. Occasionally I get exposed...and, it can even be the little bit of dust on my fingers after working, so I always wash my hands before I remove my respirator as well.
 
Bryguy said:
I can't advise on masks, I have a dust removal system upon which I rely. I do, however, wish you a speedy recovery from your surgery.
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I would love to put in a dust collection system. I do have a setup for some of it. mostly for pens but it is not enough. The Electric system is so old I could not add that extra power of power needed to one a system.
 
AllanS said:
mind if I ask what you are using? I've one of these https://www.rockler.com/dust-right-lathe-dust-collection-system and it takes the edge off, if you will. But it could be better.
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AllanS said:
mind if I ask what you are using? I've one of these https://www.rockler.com/dust-right-lathe-dust-collection-system and it takes the edge off, if you will. But it could be better.
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Allan, look into a Dust Bee Gone mask. It stops particular matter down to 3 microns. Doesn't cause glasses to fog and doesn't impede breathing. Between the dust collector and this great mask, you should be protected from breathing dust in. Not effective for chemicals only dust. A good deal at $40 and washable. I've used the same one for over 30 years.
 
I hope the operation is a success. What I am going to say may sound harsh but with a pack of smokes costing $15Cad on average here if you had the money to spend on them there should be lots you can spend on protecting yourself ongoing. I suggest you talk to a respiratory therapist as well as your doctor to find out how fine a particle and the amounts of them you can breathe safely and let that guide you as to what kind of protection you need. Just because some of us get on with more open filtration and others have to get more fanatical in order to work wood safely doesn't mean you should listen to us.
 
BULLWINKLE said:
Allan, look into a Dust Bee Gone mask. It stops particular matter down to 3 microns. Doesn't cause glasses to fog and doesn't impede breathing. Between the dust collector and this great mask, you should be protected from breathing dust in. Not effective for chemicals only dust. A good deal at $40 and washable. I've used the same one for over 30 years.
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Oh, it's not for me. It's for the partner. I don't have a dedicated work shop so everything is done from the garage. I've been told in no uncertain terms that wood and plastic bits in the laundry pile is less than acceptable. So I guess it really is for me then. :)

But thanks for the reference - I'll grabbing that as an interim replacement for the paper masks until I can get the Trend Air Shield listed above.
Spend it on the safety gear or spend it at the hospital. One way or another it's gonna get spent . And I don't like my doc /that/ much.
 
Curly said:
I hope the operation is a success. What I am going to say may sound harsh but with a pack of smokes costing $15Cad on average here if you had the money to spend on them there should be lots you can spend on protecting yourself ongoing. I suggest you talk to a respiratory therapist as well as your doctor to find out how fine a particle and the amounts of them you can breathe safely and let that guide you as to what kind of protection you need. Just because some of us get on with more open filtration and others have to get more fanatical in order to work wood safely doesn't mean you should listen to us.
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I quit 11 years ago.
 
My biggest issue here is the power source. I currently have one circuit for power in the entire apartment. They have a double pull 20 in that slot which acts like 2. But I can't run too much on this. The grounds in the outlets are suspect, in my opinion. But I use power strips with extra protection.

I have to see if I have room for a dust collector with that huge bag. But I will need to move more towards this.
 

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Madman1978 said:
My biggest issue here is the power source. I currently have one circuit for power in the entire apartment. They have a double pull 20 in that slot which acts like 2. But I can't run too much on this. The grounds in the outlets are suspect, in my opinion. But I use power strips with extra protection.

I have to see if I have room for a dust collector with that huge bag. But I will need to move more towards this.
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...just to make sure I understand, when you say you have one circuit for power in the entire apartment, is that one circuit (one breaker) for all outlets? Do you know the power of your panel? As in, is it a 100A panel, 150A, 200A?

If you literally have one breaker for every outlet, then you really should be careful. Even if it is a 20A, if you have EVERYTHING (outlet based) running on that one breaker, you probably already have too much...
 
Yes, just one circuit. and one outlet in the bedroom and one in the living room. This is an old building so I have to live it. Panel size I am not sure. I know it was switched over at some point from screw-in fuses to breakers. I am going to assume these are decades old.
 
GaryMGg said:
Hope your surgery goes well.

Google RZ Mask
I'm really impressed by these.
I cut about 10 acres of tall pasture grass on a compact tractor in the summer and not only was it not hot, I had absolutely no debris in my nose when done.
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The surgery was on the 14th. Now dealing with recovery. chest hurts of course, but where the cut me open doesn't. Wierd I know.

I will check them out.
 
Madman1978 said:
Yes, just one circuit. and one outlet in the bedroom and one in the living room. This is an old building so I have to live it. Panel size I am not sure. I know it was switched over at some point from screw-in fuses to breakers. I am going to assume these are decades old.
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Gocha. Well, I can only say, continue to be wary of putting in a full sized dust collector in there. Might not be worth the risks. Do you have room for an overhead air filter? Or even a decent shelf or something you could put one on? I have one of those, and it does a lot to suck up a lot of the small dust.

It is not as good as a proper dust collector, and a full size DC with proper ducting is next on my list, and I've put a lot of effort into figuring out what would be necessary for it to be useful... Key thing I've discovered is you usually need a fairly good sized unit even for a small shop, to really suck up all the FINE dust. Apparently (to my surprise) sucking up the chips and larger scale dust is actually easier than sucking up all the fine dust...fine dust is where things get more complex and costly.

I'll offer that, so far, I'm doing pretty well with a Fein shop vac, a simple bucket based vortex system, and some 4" ducting. It gets most of it. The vac is around 8 amps or so. Not too bad, but...again, if you really have just one circuit, and are also running other power tools... Even that 8 amps might be too much. I have separate circuits in a subpanel I installed in my workshop for the overhead air filter, shop vac, and lathe. I also have separate circuits for my mitersaw/bandsaw, and I have a second lathe also on its own circuit. So, when I'm running all these things together, each one, basically, is on its own breaker...
 
Madman1978 said:
Hey guys

I found out I have lung cancer from my 30-plus years of smoking. On Wednesday I am having a lobe of my right lung removed.

I am thinking I need a better mask system after all this. My budget is tight really tight

What would you suggest?
Click to expand...
I've been using this one...

GVS SPR457 Elipse P100 Dust Half Mask Respirator with replaceable and reusable filters included, blue, m/l size

Got it from Amazon. Works well for me with my asthma and allergies.
 
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