Face shield protection

[Ted Baxter]

I am considering buying a Trend Airshield I currently use a Uvex sheild does the Trend offer any more impact protection?

This is important to me since I I only have one eye and would like to have better protection than I am currently using.

[Mick Fagan]

If you are wood turning, then my experience is that anything that is powered with filtered air, is better than anything unpowered. If the powered shield also has an impact rating, then that is better again.

I myself have gradually upgraded through various face masks, then a face mask with a half face respirator and finally to a full facemask, impact rated with a powered and filtered air flow.

My choice in my country was down to two possibilities, the Trend and the JSP Powercap Active IP. The IP in the name stands for Impact, as I understand it. I turned alongside other members of my turning club who were using the Trend and the JSP Powercap Active IP.

I chose this unit because it was around the lightest unit I could find which had filtered air and also had an impact rated shield as well as an impact rated covering on the top of the head.

It also does not have any cables to a battery on the waist, which one industrial unit I looked at had.

If you are able, then a powered respirator with rated impact resistance would be my preference over anything. I tried a Uvex Bionic faceshield, while it was good, I needed to use a half face respirator and in warm weather it was a bit too hot.

One thing I have found with a powered faceshield, is that you are cooler in warm to hot weather. The airflow in my unit runs from the top down over my face, use of a chap stick or something else is also important to keep the lip skin from drying out.

Mick.

[Michael Mills]

The Airshield Pro which I pulled up stated...
VISOR APPROVAL Z87.1
NOT NIOSH APPROVED

If it has the + rating I assume they would state it.
Below is the difference and those with a + rating must have the + embossed during production.
AFAIK the Bionic does have the + rating. Check your shield. If it has the + and the data on the Airshied Pro is correct then you already have greater protection from impact.

Summary
Here are the basic specs.
MOST shields sold at woodworking stores are Z87.1, NOT Z87.1+

Standard: Z87.1
Withstand a 1” Steel Ball dropped from a height of 50 Inches without fracture.
That it.

High Impact: Z87.1+ Face shields must withstand these two tests.
HIGH VELOCITY Impact Test
Projectile Specs: Diameter: 1/4" steel ball - Velocity: 150 feet per second (102 mph)
HIGH MASS Impact Test
A pointed projectile is dropped from a height of 51.2" without fracture.
Projectile Specs: Length - 5"; Diameter - 1"; Wt: 1 pound, 1.6 oz

[Grant Wilkinson]

Mike: There has been a lot of discussion on forums about impact resistance. Like you, I only have one good eye, so I'm a bit paranoid about protecting it. I use a 3M unit, with a bump cap and a shield with a rigid frame around it. It has the + rating. However, in talking to 3M reps, they emphasize that, although an impact may not fracture it (depending on what hits it), a large piece of wood travelling very fast could well deform the shield enough to make a mess of my face. Some turners have advocated police riot masks, baseball catcher masks and other protection that is made to take hard hits. Unfortunately, I believe it is accurate that there is no plastic shield out there that is designed to withstand a strike from a moderately large chunk of wood travelling at high velocity. The key, I believe, is to do your best to turn solid wood and to stay out of the way.

[Eugene Dixon]

What do hockey players wear?

[Bill Dufour]

What do hockey players wear?

If the OP is in Russia that may limit his choices.
Bill D

[Grant Wilkinson]

@Eugene: That's a good question so I looked it up. It seems that a couple of companies make shields that fit on hockey helmets and the shields are rated to stop a frozen puck hitting the shield at 200 kph. Now, if I can figure out how to attach a shield like that to my 3M bump cap with its belt-mounted air supply, I would be very happy. The hockey shields cost about $100 Cdn so it would be a pricey experiment. If anyone here knows of anyone who has tried to adapt a hockey shield to turning, I'd love to hear about it.

[Eugene Dixon]

@Eugene: That's a good question so I looked it up. It seems that a couple of companies make shields that fit on hockey helmets and the shields are rated to stop a frozen puck hitting the shield at 200 kph. Now, if I can figure out how to attach a shield like that to my 3M bump cap with its belt-mounted air supply, I would be very happy. The hockey shields cost about $100 Cdn so it would be a pricey experiment. If anyone here knows of anyone who has tried to adapt a hockey shield to turning, I'd love to hear about it.

Keep us posted, pleased.

[David Bassett]

I recall a couple articles that seem relevant to this thread that Lynne Yamaguchi (http://lynneyamaguchi.com/) wrote after, or as she was, recovering from a serious injury:


Safety Maters (http://lynneyamaguchi.com/Yamaguchi_SafetyMatters.pdf)
Assess Your Risk (http://lynneyamaguchi.com/Yamaguchi_AssessYourRisk.pdf)

It seems she has settled on a range of solutions depending on situation, up to and including a Riot Helmet & Face Shield *and* using the machine guard on her lathe. What I especially like is the research she did on what the various standards really mean allowing me to judge my own risk and protection in the specific situations I face.

[Dale Bonertz]

I am going to play devils advocate here. It will hurt like hell to get hit with something coming off the lathe no matter where it hits you. The best defense on not getting hit is practice safe turning and never stand in the line of fire. I hear folks say that often then watch them make that "quick" cut standing in the line of fire mainly because they haven't taught themselves how to turn with the less dominate hand. Teach yourself to turn with either hand and it is pretty easy to not stand in the line of fire with larger items like bowls, hollow forms and etc. When turning spindles is really one of the only things that is harder to not be in the line of fire. The reason I bring this up is if you are going to get a riot helmet for the chance event of getting hit in the head versus a Trend, 3m or other dust and face protection you are really missing the point of personal protection. There is a constant risk of lung damage due to dust and minimal risk of getting hit with a flying object if turning correctly.

The trend is a good unit however when I had one I didn't use it due to the weight that hurt my neck. I decided to sell it and get what seems to have been a proven winner the 3m airmate. If a piece does come flying off with these units and you are turning correctly then they will withstand impact. Mainly because they will have to ricochet off of the tool rest or bed of the lathe which will take the majority of the impact and slow the velocity to help the impact on your helmet. Not saying there wouldn't be risk in head injury however that is much less likely than lung issues.

[Roy Scudamore]

Hi All, I am currently looking for a air flow respirator. I can not find the 3M unit. The one I found is made by Vesaflo. I have a touch of a breathing problem and still do not want to give up my turning. Any suggestions or model numbers of the 3M would be great.
Thanks
Roy

[Grant Wilkinson]

@Dale: I couldn't agree more. That's why I said in my post to stay out of the way. But stuff happens and if there is a better way to protect my gorgeous nose, I'm going to use it. I've watched a piece carom off a lathe bed, hit an inadequate face shield and bust a friend's nose. I don't disagree that the carom took some momentum out of that piece, but it was long way from stopped. He was not in the direct line of fire, but sometimes wood does not come at us from the direct line of fire.

As to the Airmate withstanding an impact, 3M would disagree with you. Or, at least, they would not categorically say that their shield will withstand an impact from a big chunk of wood hitting it at high speed. I use the breatheasy, which has a similar bump cap and shield to the airmate, but with the blower on my belt. 3M techs told me that it was not intended to protect me from the possible projectiles that wood turning can generate.

As I see it, the issue with all these specs and their testing is that in many instances, they test to see if the shield will fracture when hit by a projectile and if it does not, it passes. However, I've not seen (and I'm open to be proven wrong) any test that tests if the shield will deform or the frame holding it will release the shield when the shield is hit with a projectile. It does us no good to look at the intact shield on our protective device and see that is in not fractured when it has deformed or come out of the frame (if it has one) and smashed our nose.

[Dave Bunge]

@Eugene: That's a good question so I looked it up. It seems that a couple of companies make shields that fit on hockey helmets and the shields are rated to stop a frozen puck hitting the shield at 200 kph. Now, if I can figure out how to attach a shield like that to my 3M bump cap with its belt-mounted air supply, I would be very happy. The hockey shields cost about $100 Cdn so it would be a pricey experiment. If anyone here knows of anyone who has tried to adapt a hockey shield to turning, I'd love to hear about it.

There have been a number of in depth discussions on this topic at the AAW forum. A guy named Odie once said:

I'm the one who has, and uses, a police riot shield attached to a regular style face shield head band.......and a women's softball fielder's mask (not a catcher's mask) which I've welded extra protection onto the frontal area...I only use them when I ...foresee a problem with wood that is suspect of separating, or otherwise coming apart while turning.

The police riot shield provides a great deal of unobstructed protection, but is very heavy. The women's softball fielder's mask works pretty well, and is my usual choice between the two. My resp-o-rator works with the police riot shield, but cannot be used with the softball fielder's mask.


Odie show pictures of his masks. You can search the AAW forum on "riot" or "Yamaguchi" to find the posts.

I just use the Bionic mask and rely on staying out of the line of fire. For me, this means doing the roughing and most of the shaping of the outside for a bowl while turning left handed.

Dave

[Jon Nuckles]

Hi All, I am currently looking for a air flow respirator. I can not find the 3M unit. The one I found is made by Vesaflo. I have a touch of a breathing problem and still do not want to give up my turning. Any suggestions or model numbers of the 3M would be great.
Thanks
Roy

Hi Roy,
I think this is the 3M unit on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Headgear-Mounted-Respiratory-AS-400LBC-Rechargeable/dp/B002BZT1YI/ref=sr_1_18/135-1794958-3344806?ie=UTF8&qid=1543512145&sr=8-18&keywords=3m+airmate

I searched for airmate because it was mentioned in an earlier post, but I think the airstream is the 3M unit that comes with a helmet and face shield, and that is what the link should take you to.

Jon

[Roy Scudamore]

Thank you Jon, That is the one I found last week.

Roy

[Grant Wilkinson]

@Roy: The Airmate is made by 3M and has the blower in the helmet. The battery is worn on a belt. The Versaflo is also made by 3M. It has the blower and battery mounted on the belt. The biggest advantage of the Versaflo is that you can use different filter cartridges on the blower unit - dust and chemical. Also, the helmet is lighter because the blower is not in the helmet.
@Dave: I have been reading the AAW thread since it began and have read all of Lynne Yamaguchi's blogs, too. Her accident was terrible!

The downside of Odie's set up for me, at least, is that there is no fresh air coming into it. Or, at least he is using the Resporator which has a scuba-type mouthpiece and nose plugs. So, to get filtered air, you need to breath through your mouth.

[Dale Bonertz]

Agreed Grant. My only point was if your going to compromise a health thing it should be the impact portion since it is less likely to happen. Exposure to dust is constant every time we turn. I would much rather have a helmet with face shield and dust protection (my 3m airstream as400 provides) than a hockey face mask with no dust protection. I said airmate above when I meant 3m airstream.

I will look for a link Roy. Just know they are pricey however new lungs cost way more.

[Dale Bonertz]

Roy here one of many places 3m-airstream-powered-air-purifying-respirator-papr-system.html (https://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/3m-airstream-powered-air-purifying-respirator-papr-system.html?fee=3&fep=833&utm_source=Google-Shopping&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=Enviro+Google+Shopping&utm_content=Product-Offers&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuf7fBRD7ARIsACqb8w6tiwko7co7cTFgu0tP lA0za2ETq5vsKX3R2Vlk6Mpybkm744oDGdoaAsbZEALw_wcB). If you google it there are a lot of places that come up who sell them.

[Randy Walker]

Lots of interesting stuff in this thread. I am currently using the Trend air shield. It is a bit top heavy but it does a good job of filtering the air. I'm not sure how it will work out in my shops cold turning area but the cool air on my face during the heat of the summer is nice. I have taken a good look at the battery, fan, and filter system and I think that I can take them off of the helmet and attach them to a belt then use a tube to pipe the air to the helmet. I will have to figure a way to attach the tube but it won't be an obstacle for me. I have also been looking on eBay and discovered that I can get a 12v LI battery pack and a high power computer fan for maybe $50 bucks. I believe I can engineer a good filtered air system from these components too. I am curious to know if anyone else has tried anything like this and how it worked out.

[Roy Scudamore]

Thank you Grant and all that replied

[Matt Mattingley]

I personally don’t think you’re going to get better than a riot shield headgear with respirator or even a goalie mask helmet with eye protection and respirator.

[Grant Wilkinson]

@Dale: You and I are on the same wavelength completely, Dale. I'm just greedy, so I want both. :-) I turn many open segmented pieces and although I've been fortunate to keep most of the intact, I've had some hiccups with pieces flying off. To date, they have been small segments that bounced harmlessly off my Airstream helmet/visor, but I'm always looking for ways to keep the nice air flow and add extra impact protection.

@Randy: Alan Zenreich has done quite a few mods to 3M units, including using lightweight lith ion batteries. He has also rigged up a system to provide air to a 3M bump cap from a hose attached to a hepa room air filter. I think much of what he has done is documented on the AAW forum, and I know that he has some YouTube videos, too.

[Dale Bonertz]

Yes, I spoke with Alan a couple of weeks ago for about an hour. Great knowledgeable guy. I agree totally with you and I want both. Unfortunately what is currently available on the market forces us to compromise in one area or the other. I hope that gets resolved someday. I to have had bark or bark inclusion break free and ricochet and hit me in the face shield. Fortunate for me these occasions didn't harm me or the shield. I really can't imagine anyone turning without a face shield at the very least. Have a great weekend everyone. Turn happy and safely.