Popular Woodworking 2007-08 № 163, страница 38

for a shop vacuum or if you're sanding by hand. It's simply a working platform with holes drilled in it and connected via duct to your dust collection system. When the collector is turned on, it draws air (and dust) down through the top and carries it safely away.

If nothing else seems to work, use your imagination. Temporarily clamping the end of the duct at your bench with a spring clamp, for example, can be an effective way of capturing dust as it is created.

Protect Yourself with a Good Dust Mask or Respirator

Is it only the belt-and-suspender crowd that would think of using personal respiratory protection in a shop already equipped with central dust collection and an overhead air cleaner? Not really. According to one article I've read, the American Conference of Industrial Hygienists says dust concentrations should be no higher than 5 milligrams per cubic meter - about the concentration you'd get if you dispersed a teaspoon of dust in a 560-square-foot shop.

That fact raises the question of why

This Trend Airshield provides a steady flow of filtered air from a battery-powered motor that runs four hours between charges. Turners find this type of respirator especially useful because it combines a full-face shield with respiratory protection.

A down-draft table is a great way of capturing airborne dust. Connected to a portable collector, this table will pick up dust the sander's integral dust collector is bound to miss.

you wouldn't want to invest in a good dust mask or respirator.

At the low end are economical paper dust masks with a single elastic band that fit around the head. These are probably better suited to keeping out pollen or cat dander than the very small dust particles we should be more concerned with. Better versions have two elastic bands for a better fit, and some have small valves in the center of the mask that make it easier to exhale.

These masks offer good protection against airborne dust, providing they fit snugly. Look for a mask rated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)—a N95 mask will remove 95 percent of the particles in the air, but if you're working with potentially hazardous dusts you may want to bump that up to a N100 rating. Throw away the mask when it gets clogged, obviously dirty or contaminated with a substance other than dust. They're relatively inexpensive so don't make heirlooms out of them.

A cartridge-style respirator or a dust mask with a rubber gasket that fits against the face will probably provide

a more secure fit than most disposable paper masks. These cost more, but the mask itself should last a long time and the filters for dust are not very expensive. Moreover, with different cartridges, a respirator also can be used for a variety of other jobs, like spraying finishes or working with solvents.

Some woodworkers prefer hooded respirators, which work on a different principle than masks. A hood or helmet and clear plastic mask cover the face and create a protected pocket of air that

popularwoodworking.com ■ 38