- Thread starter IrishDave
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Gloves and an air fed mask
BrokenBiker
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i use met-wash soap to get eh smell of metal and cutting oils etc off my hands and arms...as for the nose problem...i wear a face mask most of the time when im welding, grinding, sanding, even when im drilling most of the time as the cutting oil gives off a bit of a fume
cumbriasteve
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Usually by developing chest and lung problems when older, or of course you could use a mask when you are young and think the body is indestructible
BrokenBiker
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i discovered it in work, working in direct contact with lead requires a brutal cleaning regiment before breaks and leaving site...we are all issued a bottle when we submit an empty bottle...i just so happen to have 2 bottles on the go (one in work and one at home), bought my first bottle for home and just get it replaced in work now, they cant argue that im using too much as they cant tell me not to wash as much, its against H&S to deprive employees the opportunity to be as clean as possible
blenkie1
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5 years blowing brake dust out with an airline ( yes it was asbestos). Collage said you should have a special hoover for it! Asked the rest of the lads at collage and they hadn't seen one either so did what everyone else did! Spent over 10 years in a coal mine and started wearing a dust mask. It was so hot the mask used fill to up with sweat so your chin was swimming in it so that went. Now they were black bogeys. the showers were stained with black snot being blown out. 12 years working in a fab shop making/repairing car transporters. Used to be so much dust the lights would dim. Open the doors and your gas would blow away. Defo the worst place. Get a lung test every 3 years, x ray now and again with working in the mine and all OK. Must be luck though would not recommend it at all.
I have spent 30 plus years eating dust, mostly timber & grp with quite a bit of welding thrown in. I was the only bloke in Prout catamarans who wore an air fed respirator on a daily basis, most of the others just ground glassfibre with no protection at all. You could see the dust glinting in the sun all day long.
The respirator was a Racal Airstream & i wore it out, i bought another & as they have been discontinued i just bought enough new filters & parts to keep it going for the next 10 years.
Guys would take the **** cos i wore it but i would just say "Better than wearing an iron lung later", this tended to shut them up.
The respirator was a Racal Airstream & i wore it out, i bought another & as they have been discontinued i just bought enough new filters & parts to keep it going for the next 10 years.
Guys would take the **** cos i wore it but i would just say "Better than wearing an iron lung later", this tended to shut them up.
blenkie1
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Racal. Whatever happened to them? We were given them when I worked for British Gas. They were like a hard hat with the filters in the back? Very heavy from what I can remember and we were welding outside most of the time so they never got used. Nightmare in the summer
penfold
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It was the same with hearing protection when I started working in the nineties; the boatyard's tractor was effectively unsilenced yet I was given earache for wearing ear defenders while driving it, everyone else was happy being deafened using it or the travel hoist. The suggestion of having either equipment fitted with functioning exhausts, never mind acoustic hoods, was met with a shrug and a knowing smile, despite the noise level having operational and safety implications over and above hearing damage.
owas
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If the majority of the fumes from welding (ordinary mild steel) typically fly away from you, so your heads not directly in them, is an air fed mask really necessary?
I have the option to use one at work, but just use my 3m respirator instead as it's more comfortable to wear for 8 hours.
I have the option to use one at work, but just use my 3m respirator instead as it's more comfortable to wear for 8 hours.
blenkie1
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Depends what you call uncomfortable/sweaty. I used to get wringing wet, sweat was singeing your eyebrows and you were constantly blowing/wiping it from your eyes. Like I said your mask used to fill up with sweat poring down your face you could feel it swimming around your chin thats uncomfortable. Not recommended at all though. Some of its the luck of the draw. Local man here had just died around here at age 92 and smoked heavily and had no breathing complications. Full fat/creme with everything as well. Wifes dad died at 55 with throat cancer so why has one survived that long and another has not?
Sometimes its the luck of the draw. However if it means making the odds better i would rather wear the ppe.
As for Racal they got taken over by 3m & the airstream was then made by them up until a year ago. There were versions designed specificaly for welding and metalworking. I found it quite comfortable to use with the cooling draft coming down my face & exiting under the chin. Some people coundnt get on with the motor whirring away behind your head but you get used to it. Believe me if you are spending 6 hrs straight grinding grp on a bit boat repair with the dust flying like itchy snow & inches deep on the floor you appreciate a good respirator!
3m now make the versaflow system which has a lightweight headtop fed by air from a belt mounted pump/filter unit, best be sitting down when you look at the prices. Other similar kit is made by sundstrom & martindale. About the cheapest is the Trend airshield but its very poorly balanced.
Axminster tools have just bought a new one out as well.
Another type is an air fed mask (often used by paint sprayers) fed with air from a turbine pump usually placed outside, i was thinking of getting one of these pumps a few years ago for grp laminating but couldnt find a supplier in the uk
As for Racal they got taken over by 3m & the airstream was then made by them up until a year ago. There were versions designed specificaly for welding and metalworking. I found it quite comfortable to use with the cooling draft coming down my face & exiting under the chin. Some people coundnt get on with the motor whirring away behind your head but you get used to it. Believe me if you are spending 6 hrs straight grinding grp on a bit boat repair with the dust flying like itchy snow & inches deep on the floor you appreciate a good respirator!
3m now make the versaflow system which has a lightweight headtop fed by air from a belt mounted pump/filter unit, best be sitting down when you look at the prices. Other similar kit is made by sundstrom & martindale. About the cheapest is the Trend airshield but its very poorly balanced.
Axminster tools have just bought a new one out as well.
Another type is an air fed mask (often used by paint sprayers) fed with air from a turbine pump usually placed outside, i was thinking of getting one of these pumps a few years ago for grp laminating but couldnt find a supplier in the uk
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I think it was Technical who posted a link to the make up of fumes from welding, and in particular stainless steel. If you read that it will make you think about using respiratory protection while welding
I always used to weld with no proper means of stopping myself breathing in all the rubbish. I always use an air fed mask now - why should I slowly kill myself for work?
Every week I take the filter out of the air pack and it is absolutely filthy - that's the weeks worth of cr@p that it has saved me breathing in.
I admit I was always slow to bother with PPE, but having not being able to get to sleep due to streaming eyes because of a spark stuck in there, or ringing ears, or coughing/breathlessness, it's really dumb not to use it.
I think the general culture in factories, building sites etc of being 'soft' for using PPE has gone away over the last 5 years or so.
I have a couple of lads who work for me, only mid 30's but prior to working for me, worked in heavy fabrication - never wore hearing protection and they are slightly deaf. (And not just when I'm shouting at em
)
I always used to weld with no proper means of stopping myself breathing in all the rubbish. I always use an air fed mask now - why should I slowly kill myself for work?
Every week I take the filter out of the air pack and it is absolutely filthy - that's the weeks worth of cr@p that it has saved me breathing in.
I admit I was always slow to bother with PPE, but having not being able to get to sleep due to streaming eyes because of a spark stuck in there, or ringing ears, or coughing/breathlessness, it's really dumb not to use it.
I think the general culture in factories, building sites etc of being 'soft' for using PPE has gone away over the last 5 years or so.
I have a couple of lads who work for me, only mid 30's but prior to working for me, worked in heavy fabrication - never wore hearing protection and they are slightly deaf. (And not just when I'm shouting at em
)
blenkie1
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We started using Racal in, I think 92. Every one got their own personal mask. I thought they were OK can just remember them. Did they have a primary filter, fan and another long filter running along the top of the helmet. Think they had a hard shell. The problem we had they were heavy, face was cool but your head was sweating and trying to get between pipework, awkward places were a nightmare. The Racal man give a good talk about welding fumes and in particular fume fever. I wore mine a lot after that but just no good for what we were doing. Workshop environment maybe but trying to crawl between pipes in a scaled down gas rig was impossible.
This is dust in a coal mine. Yes its bad but the heat and humidity was unreal. the further down you got the worse it was. I went through 2 t-shirts and 2 pairs of socks everyday and you could wring the sweat out of them. Imagine that and having a mask on with a pool of sweat for your chin to dip into and then having 20-30 ton of coal to fill. Air was is short supply to start with. Thats more than a bit uncomfortable. Dust was still not as bad the fab shop I worked at making car transporters mind I thought!
Tinbasherdan
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I have an adflo air fed grinding mask, and one of my speedglas is air fed also, makes a world of dofference. I copped a dose of Galvo flu when I was an appo, and honestly I dont want to ever go through that again. I've been laughed at by lads I worked with many a time , but I'd rather be laughed at than end up like some of the old boys I worked with, gasping for air after waking from one end of the shop to te other
blenkie1
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Funny thing though Dan hardly ever wore a mask, blew brakes out with an air line, had galv/fume fever several times and still manage to pass my medical/x-ray with flying colours. Wore a mask today for the first time in I don't know how long. Not trying to recommend it by any means mind and I think its maybe good luck than anything but I've probably swallowed more dust than most people. Think I will try my best to start wearing them.
