do you wear a resporator?

[DrewCfromSC]

Hello, after years of alergies and building models again ive noticed after spraying that ive got a headache from sinus troubles. Do you wear a resporator when you paint? Im saving to buy one of those cool vented spray booths. I did have an old last time used was 1995 Devilbis resporator that I wore while restoring my 61 belair that has been in storage. Put it on and it smelled just like the painted car did in 1995. Cant find replacement cartridges for it since its out of production now, what brand do you like and use?

Drew

[Guest G Holding]

3 M 7502, you can get the new cartridges easy anywhere, and prices are cheap enough so you will buy new cartridges

Under 45.00 with a pair of filters When you can smell vapors, time to switch....I keep it in zip loc baggies ...that will let the cartridge last...6 months is time for a change.

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Series-Professional-Facepiece-Respirator/dp/B004HXBCMG/ref=pd_sbs_indust_6

Edited May 13, 2013 by G Holding

[rustbucket82]

Yes, and I don't let my kids in the shop when I am spraying.

[ScaleDale]

Goggles, gloves, 3M professional paint respirator, vented and filtered spray booth in a vented garage, No kids, but they wouldn't be allowed around this stuff if I had any. Toxic Toxic Toxic

This goes for Acrylic, too. Italian Red snot isn't normal.

Dale

[Ace-Garageguy]

This isn't often addressed, but respirator cartridges that sit around a long time between uses can grow mold INSIDE, which you may or may not smell as 'mustiness' next time you use them. If you have allergies, it can make you very uncomfortable. I usually try to leave my cartridges in the bright sun for an hour or so after use to dry out, then put them in a plastic bag as Greg suggests.

Always use at least a decent dust mask when sanding or grinding anything, too.

[High octane]

Yes, wearing a respirator is a very good idea and I wish that I started wearing one a lot sooner than I did. Of course I just love the smell of lacquer. The fumes not only get in your lungs, but also in your liver. A quick spray of a part, I won't wear one, but when I spray a whole body I certainly do.

[Skip]

Yes a respirator is an absolute necessity, your lungs and health are worth more than the respirator and cartridges combined. Some of the stuff we paint with can build up in your body to the point of either allergy or sensetivity to where you can no longer work with or around the paint or chemicals. I know of a very tallented modeler who is no longer in the hobby because he became sensetized to everything from CA glue, laquer thinner, enamel and nearly everything else used to build a model. Some maybe all of this could have been either alleviated by using respirators, spray booth and proper ventilation. I also know of more than a few car painters who are so sensetized to chemicals that they have had to find other work. Anything you can do to minimize your exposure to chemicals is going to lengthen your enjoyable time spent in this hobby. I am amazed at some of the guys I've worked around over the years who scream bloody murder to their employer about chemical exposure, then go home to build models without any respiratory protection.

Bill is also correct about keeping the respirator wrapped up between use. The minute the cartridges are unwrapped from the factory plastic wrapping they begin absorbing stuff out of the air. Keeping them wrapped up in a bag minimizes the exposure time. Many cartridge filters have a time period that the factory says they are good for that information can be found on the cartridge package. Cartridge filters are made to filter out many different toxins whether they be particulate or chemical. Most cartridge filters are not a one size fits all in respect to what they filter out, if there is a question read the manufacturer's pamphlet that comes with the filter. If there is a question what the cartridge you are purchasing filters out ask the salesperson, better yet go to the manufacturer's website.

Don't gamble with your health, it's your responsibility to yourself and your family.

[kurth]

I decided to use a respirator when airbrushing, after a scary experience. I painted my 1/12th porsche 935 in a spray booth,I think I had run out of dust masks, or just forgot to put one on. Any way, due to lighting I found my self having to keep pretty close to it to see what I was doing. I was painting the body white, with MM enamel.

After I finished, I kept smelling paint, where ever I went. I finally looked in the mirror, and my nose hairs were white! I must have been breathing the overspray in. After that I took using protection much more seriously.

[Nacho Z]

Yes. The guys before me have covered it pretty well.

[Guest G Holding]

This isn't often addressed, but respirator cartridges that sit around a long time between uses can grow mold INSIDE, which you may or may not smell as 'mustiness' next time you use them. If you have allergies, it can make you very uncomfortable. I usually try to leave my cartridges in the bright sun for an hour or so after use to dry out, then put them in a plastic bag as Greg suggests.

Always use at least a decent dust mask when sanding or grinding anything, too.

A small silica gel packet inside the zip loc will stop that !.

I usually hang my entire respirator up until the end of the session, then into the Ziploc.

Good info Bill

[Nxr]

I use goggles gloves and the 3m respirator to paint, i mostly paint inside with no spray booth but a workbench and i only paint acrylic and certain enamels inside the apartment, i use all my spray cans and primers outside now (wish i did earlier) or in the basement of the building in the late hours when nobody is there, i do notice some paint dust building up around the bench and my respirator filters get so gray after about 12 paint jobs and primers, i think spraying model master acrylics and enamels with an airbrush and a respirator is fine inside, but lacquers and spray cans should all be used outside or in a very well ventilated area, i do airbrush certain metalizers inside as well, probably should stop doing that but never had problems because of the protection equipment.

[DrewCfromSC]

thank you all. ive got a 3M resporator on the way.

[Blackwolf]

yes I do since I was told that I had copd for years ago and just found out that I have emphysema on top of everything else. I guess take the good with the bad. along with catch 22