Got another supplies question for everyone. Having just come home a week ago, I've been hitting the workbench pretty heavily (as some of you may know from my acrylics diatribes...) but lately I've been having pretty constant headaches. And I NEVER get headaches. My guess is from being around glue and paint fumes, and the plastic particles in the air after sanding can't help my health either. I figure it's about damn time I invest in a respirator, but I don't know what to get. The 3M 6300 looks to be a fairly cheap and ubiquitous mask, but is it effective against enamels and CA glues? What kinds of respirators do you all use?

personally I use common disposable dust masks



Probably they aren't too effective against glue or paint fumes but on my opinion there isn't a respirator which can solve the problem. Solution is working in a well ventilated room

Cheers

ditto

disposable dust masks are not effective at all against paint fumes so no paint in wearing one

on the other hand the 3M respirator is effective against fumes I wear one even when painting outside

I use a booth myself. It keeps all fumes away from me and I am very migraine-prone. Only when I am in an area that doesn't have any/or not very good ventilation do I use a half-mask with A1 filters...

I use a mask with a vapour and dust filter when painting and I do cough less when using a mask.

Yes I know you're right , it should be a far better using a professional mask, but anyway, I usually deal with small amounts of glue and I use only acrylic paints in a well ventilated room. I should use a professional mask when I'm using spray primers or i'm sanding down resin parts (as you know resin dust is toxic)....

Otherwise I smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day, so I don't think my healt problems will be caused by kit modelling products ...I'd rather stop smoking than wearing a professional mask

When i'm painting I use a professional painters respirator, even when spraying dull coat and enamels I don't even smell the fumes until I take it off.

Ive used a respirator at work that is dust and particulate rated (used one for 8 years) and those do not keep the fumes out, just dust.

Delbert

Delbert, what's the model that keeps the fumes out? That's really my biggest concern over the dust.

Robby google is your friend just do a search on spray painting respirators and you will be laughing

Hi Robby,
When I first got my airbrush I was practising on an eisel with artist's ink and when I has finished I blew my nose and the tissue was covered in ink. Even though I smoked at the time, I knew that hunched over a model, spraying fine camo patterns breathing paint in, was going to be worse than the smokes.
So I spoke to my brother, who owns a painting business, and he told me to buy a Sundstrom SR90 half face respirator. The brand is Swedish (and we know how particular Scandinavians are with their health regs) and not cheap (I think the kit with mask and filters was about AU$100), but what is your health and hobby worth. But the bottom line is it works. I can have Mr Surfacer, Lacquer Thinners etc open, but while I've got the mask on I wouldn't know, I can't smell a thing. Along with the airbrush, it is probably the best (most used, does its job well) piece of modelling gear I've bought.

P.S. 6 years now non-smoking, that's 44,000 Stuyvesants I haven't inhaled.

Regards,
Lucien

Hey Lucien! Um, is this the mask you're talking about? I hate to upset you, but it's going on Amazon for less than US$30. If this is it, though, I'll gladly pick one up! What about the cartridges though...are they removable/replaceable or do you buy a new mask each time? And is the size pretty true or do they run big or small?

Thanks for the reply and congratulations on quitting!