Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)

Chas Jones

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949
Location
Cotswolds, UK
As we are coming up to one of the most festive seasons in the UK and USA calendar may I make a plea to all wood manglers, especially Turners, please wear adequate face protection.

Dust is dangerous, high impact small debris is dangerous, high impact larger objects can be life changers and even killers.
The wood turning community around the world has lost too many very talented people by being smashed in the face by a beautiful piece of wood that has decided to leave the chuck, and these are only the ones we know about and receive publicity because of their public profiles.

Demonstrators, I know it’s inconvenient, I know it’s difficult to communicate when using PPE but you are the ones that the new hobbyist is seeing as an example of good practice.
Too many times I hear hobbyists say PPE is so expensive and ‘Insert Prominent Demonstrator’ does not bother.

To all wood Turners:-
Please wear ADEQUATE DUST MASKS and just as important an ADEQUATE IMPACT RESITANT FACE SHIELD when using the Lathe.
The former will help prevent lung damage, severe allergy or life limiting illness down the line, the latter may just instantly save your life.
 
Please wear ADEQUATE DUST MASKS and just as important an ADEQUATE IMPACT RESITANT FACE SHIELD when using the Lathe.
The former will help prevent lung damage, severe allergy or life limiting illness down the line, the latter may just instantly save your life.
Being a little hard headed, I learned the hard way about the face shield... a couple of years back I posted a picture after a bowl flew out of a Longworth chuck as I was removing the bottom tenon... black eye and cut cheek taught me that the proper sequence is, Dust mask on, Face shield on, switch on the lathe on.
Still a little re-miss on the dust mask, but as often as I can, I use a trend air shield for the face shield. ... Batteries don't hold up as well as I would like.
 
Yes it's very important that face shields are adequate with correct medium to heavy duty impact safety standard certification.
Several companies marked versions that 'look' identical but fitted with light splash and small particle resistant visors.

When you have experienced an impact that has cracked a heavy duty visor you are very glad you did the research on the numbers.
 
Hey Chas, great reminder.

I'm curious what the state of the art is on that side of the pond nowadays.

I've tried the Trend didn't really like the recharging and moreso the weight distribution. One downside of being tall and skinny is having a long skinny neck and tending to lean over a bit, so it just never "sat" real well with me. Mostly I use a Uvex S8510 and a 3M 7500 series non-powered respirator. I'm not convinced the Uvex would do as much as I'd like with a really heavy impact, but it certainly helps with the black eye and broken nose level ones (I had one those and replaced the polycarb insert after - I had warning, spindle work and went tick tick tick before it went boom, listen to the wood hah).

I recently saw some folks liking the PowerCap Active IP (note there are two Powercap Active respirators, the non IP one has no impact protection) which I'm about 99% sure is the same as the cheaper (even after shipping..) Axminster APF10 (both have an identical design and the same EN.166.B.1 impact rating). It's a solid 1/2lb lighter than the Trend and the weight distribution is different so I'm thinking it might be worth a try.

I did like the airflow from an active respirator but the 3M, which is probably the "best" answer, is still a bit rich price wise for my tastes.
 
Hey Chas, great reminder.

I'm curious what the state of the art is on that side of the pond nowadays.

.....
I did like the airflow from an active respirator but the 3M, which is probably the "best" answer, is still a bit rich price wise for my tastes.

Much the same here Ryan, power cap or Axminster version being the popular price point, it's the standard I would go for if it was just for use around the workshop shop or servicing dusty machines. As you mention need care in which exact model you are getting.

I've been using a 3M versaflow M100 since 2016 (as a replacement for their earlier model) and can't fault it, several others who wear it all day (professionals) I know of also swear by them.
But as you say they are somewhat heavy on the bank balance, but I guess you get what you pay for when you go down the 'professional route' and for a hobbyist it's as near a lifetime purchase as you can get.
Others go for the solid skull cap M300 version with the better filtration standard, I deliberately went for the open topped lighter weight version headpiece and attempted to improve the inward ingestion dust rating by also using the head and shoulder cowl, glad I did despite looking ridiculous as it removes all 'shavings down the neck niggles as well. Old forum Link if you want to see how over the top it looks, it might well be an extra incentive to go down this route if you have a longer neck and it certainly is in a different ball park for comfort compared with the heavy Trend.
Did replace the head/shoulder cowl after 3 years just because it was looking tacky.

There are a couple of other belt fed brands I've seen in use by 'professionals' here but can't locate any links at the moment.
 
I checked out your old link Chas, and don't see anything too over the top for my tastes. Wood turning isn't a beauty contest. (Good thing too, or none of us would be able to be wood turners, lol.)

I also noticed in the refeenced thread that in some instances you guys over there speak a bit different English than us Yanks. :D
 
3M versaflow M100

I agree there's a lot to like about that design.

The batteries are moved to where the weight isn't on your head and also moving the air intake low and behind should help keep the filters from clogging quite as quickly.

I can also see the cape setup actually being real smart, especially if you're working with any exotics that are allergen triggers (or have any problems in that direction with other woods which isn't super uncommon).

Thing to think about for sure :)
 
Hey Chas, great reminder.

I'm curious what the state of the art is on that side of the pond nowadays.

I've tried the Trend didn't really like the recharging and moreso the weight distribution. One downside of being tall and skinny is having a long skinny neck and tending to lean over a bit, so it just never "sat" real well with me
That is the one thing I dislike about the Trend... the weight... I have arthritis in my neck and after a day with the Trend, my neck is sore as heck.... I have two sets of batteries and can charge one while using the other, except takes too long to charge.....fully charged are supposed to last 8 hours... usually get about 4 ... but I do like the positive air flow.
 
That is the one thing I dislike about the Trend... the weight... I have arthritis in my neck and after a day with the Trend, my neck is sore as heck.... I have two sets of batteries and can charge one while using the other, except takes too long to charge.....fully charged are supposed to last 8 hours... usually get about 4 ... but I do like the positive air flow.
I agree with you on the weight. Like you, I have 2 batteries for mine and back when they still worked, I liked hooking up both batteries at the same time for better airflow. But your comments about the batteries reminded me of something I've thought about doing with my Trend instead of replacing the batteries. It would be pretty easy to rig up a wired connection to power it, or perhaps build a belt mounted battery pack. Either way I'd lessen the weight on my neck by removing the batteries from the headpiece.
 
Not sure if the batteries generate all the weight... you still have the motor and fans on top of your head.... I like the helmet with the hose up the back and the batteries on the belt... may be equally as heavy, but the fan motor appears to be lower on the belt... it's outside my budget, but does look nice.
 
Not sure if the batteries generate all the weight... you still have the motor and fans on top of your head....
Not sure what the current spec. of the Airshield Pro. is, but when I reviewed an earlier model in about 2007 these were the figures.

Trend Airshield pro. 920 gram
Battery pack 195 gram (8hr)
(1115 gr am total in use)

The lower filter rated Power Cap at the time was
PowerCap IP 570 gram
Battery pack 310 gram (8hr)
 
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