Resp-O-Rator

"Dr. Deb" wrote: Any thought about this thing? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This was discussed a couple of years back. Most everyone thought it was a pretty stupid idea.

If you can live with such a thing, more power to you. It isn't "scrubbed" air, but as I mentioned in the Triton threat, you don't need it. What you need is to reduce your uptake of dust. Putting air intakes where the air is good is a time-honored principle.

Looks pretty dumb, though.

Just saw the typo, but given the marketing of power equipment, might as well let it stand.

Thought on mouth-breathing. You bypass the first stage of a very efficient dust-processing system when you do.

And speaking as a scuba diver, your jaw might get tired of holding the mouthpiece.

MHO - if you want clean air on the cheap, get a squirrel-cage blower (they blow air against pipe resistance better than flat fans do), mount it with a furnace filter on the intake somewhere that it draws air from outside, in an area you'd want to breathe from (ie, not near plumbing vents, chimneys, over the barbeque, etc...) and run a suitable hose (1-1/2 to 2 inch) to a hardhat/faceshield, dangling the hose from the ceiling so you can move around easily. If you run a larger duct to the point where the hose drops, you'll get more air.

Otherwise, there seems to be:

"cheap and not very effective" (this, dust bee gone, dust masks from hardware store) (cue the "dust bee gone traps every particle known to man in any size whatsoever and air does not go around the edges" people

- sorry folks, I don't buy that fiction - you believe it if you like)

"Not too expensive, effective, but unpleasant" (1/2 mask cartridge respirators with P100 filtration [for dust], and carbon for organic vapors if you are also using with paint spray or finishes).

"Expensive, effective, and unpleasant" (full face respirators)

"Expensive and effective, generally the more expensive, the more effective" (powered face-shields on up through Air-mate hard-hats and clones).

Wondering if your current setup works? Turn and sand some black walnut, blow your nose, and check what color came out - if it looks like walnut, you need better filtration.

Thanks Deb, Seems there has been no change since our negative appraisals of the Resp-O-Rator, a couple of years ago. Likely it will join drill lathes, Vertilathes and other novelties that impede more than help newbies to get on with the craft.

Whatever, I think its a good thing to reconsider turning 'innovations' (new or rehashed techniques, tooling and concepts re the craft) after they have been used and misused for a year or two.

Hollow suction gouges, surgical masks, variations on hook tools, lathes on steroids, jigs that hold our hands, etc. etc. arrive regularly; some stay, some don't. It's amazing the efforts made to promote changes in what were generally very simple tools that worked. So often a cure for a non-problem generates a real one and we own another unused tool or abandon a technique that wasn't needed.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

What I have been trying to figure out is how to take my old CPAP (continuous positive air pressure for those who don't have sleep apnea) machine and hook it up to some light weight mask. Ceiling mount, quiet, filtered, and no batteries. robo hippy

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sounds like a good idea. How about attaching a vacuum cleaner hose (or similar) to a respirator face mask with hot glue?

Thanks folks. That is kinda what I thought, but wanted other input.

Deb

Hi! Would you like some comments from the head of a household where all three family members have sleep apnea and use CPAP machines. You know here is is that you have come up with an ideal solution right under our very noses (pun intended). Yes the CPAP machine could actually be located outside your work shop area. I don't know what better soiurce of clean air culd be suggested than from another room. My son and I use two 6' CPAP breathing hoses now conncted together to reach to where we have our CPAP machines located. I would guess that a anyone who uses a CPAP machine will eventually need to replace the CPAP unit as wel as the roitine replacement of hoses. A CPAP provides a better souce of air flow or in the very least as much as a good air hood/mask like the Trend or Triton. The mask might be better fitted to seal it better against air leak so that it will ge totally sealed against dust. But the same priciple is used on the CPAP maily Positive Air Pressure hence the PAP of the Name. The CPAP unit's Filtration could be beefed up a bit if it were felt like it needed to be or in the very least most have a washable/rinsable fiam prefilter that can be washed regularly. But yes the old nose test is the best. If ytou blow your nose after sanding some walnut and you blow out the brown dust from you nose then your filter is not working!

JimC

I had to get a spare part for my machine, and asked the tec if there were any used or reconditioned machines available. He said that they don't sell them like that because they are 'medical machines'. Then he sent me to a woman whose husband had died and she had wanted to sell his machine. I got a almost new machine for $200, and got to chat with the widow for a while. Her husband also did some very nice woodworking which I got to see. Somewhere out there, are a lot of these machines that work fine, and can't be used as medical devices any more. Hmmmm. robo hippy

Like my wife's bone zapper. Blue Cross paid an outrageous amount for it, and it's now useless in a bag unless someone else with the proper length leg and tib/fib fracture comes along. Or mom's wheelchair, which Medicare paid rent on, unknown to me. Paid five hundred + some odd bucks in rent before they sent me a contract renewal. Bought an identical brand new one for $240 delivered and gave theirs back.

Love the liability lawyers.

Well, the engineers need something to do, too. I just wish they'd stop taking everything I use and enjoy off the shelves of the stores to replace them with a "new and improved" (read: "ruined") version.

adding slightly to this thread, after conducting the test at the end of ecnerwal's post and getting a highly colored result, consider what your lungs are worth to you and then buy accordingly. The high priced spread has not only the advantage of actually being effective, the hard hat protects your head from impact from flying wood - if that doesn't interest you, apply the same logic and ask yourself what your brains are worth to you in their original un-smooshed condition.

Bill

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