vj wrote:
vj found this in rec.crafts.jewelry, from "Peter W.. Rowe,"
:

]So use a decent mask.

what IS a decent mask? i know it's probably been mentioned somewhere
before, but i seldom have time to search newsgroups.

right now, every mask i try to wear means i end up with foggy glasses
and can't see [in addition to being uncomfortable enough to be
completely distracting!] i seem to need to wear SOMETHING, because i
come home from the shop every night with my nose full of silver dust.
i wear a face shield at the torch/centrifuge, but i'd really like to
find something relatively effective/comfortable to wear at the bench.


Without a picture of your w/shop, layout or size, its difficult to
advise the best answer to your dust problem.
I think your looking at the wrong solution, by thinking about a face
mask to prevent dust getting everywhere it shouldnt. Of couse a proper
inflated cuff type well fitted with the correct filter element will be
safe but quite impractical for daily wear. the cheap ones sold in packs
of 20 are only meant for large particles. A complete waste of time in my
view.
Imention this as we were asked a couple of years ago to design and
build for a commercial firm near here a proper large scale( 700cub ft a
min) dust handling and filtration system , this had to meet health ans
safty requirements as well as employers liability responsibilities.
An ordinary household vacumn cleaner is better than nothing but isnt
designed to do what you want apart from being noisy. It pulls a high
vacumn but a relatively low volume of air.
you need the opposite. A low vacumn high volume fan thats
quiet.placed the otherside of the process from you thats making the
dust so its pulling the particles away from you.
This is the normal commercial polishing/ sanding /grinding setup in
industrial silver/ metal finishing factories.
If your in your workshop every day its one of the 1st things you need to
install and switch on everytime your making dust.
you need to also consider the enviromental issues as if your in an urban
area you cant just extract the dusty air into the outside. If your
extracting air from your work area you need to replace it with clean air
from somewhere. So filtration my be also be something you need to consider.
Proper and safe working conditions need to be properly thought through
and constructed. Especially if you have other persons working in your lab.
The last thing you or your helpers want is a persistent cough , then an
xray and then find youve damaged lungs.
theres a particular particle size thats especially dangerous its those
that are the same size as the internal dia of your lung tubules. These
cant be coughed up, they stick and stay there..
smaller get coughed up and larger dont get that far.
Do it properly and youll never regret it.





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