Which Respirator filters shall I use?
Hello, working with the resins i feel the necessity to buy a respirator but there are so many different filter types. Which do you thing is better to use?
I see different filter codes: A2B2E1K1P3R, A2P3, and so on, which one is worth taking, I don't understand much about the different types of chemical filters.
Thank you for your help.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
This link describing the various types of respiratory filters might be of interest. I'd guess organic vapors are the contaminant of concern and not particulates so some of organic filter might be best. If Prusa can't make any recomendations you might contact 3M and see what they suggest. 3M has excellent customer support.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
You should be contacting Prusa Tech Support for this information, or the supplier of the resin you are using. Prusa makes a blank statement the resin they sell shouldn't need a mask under normal printing conditions, but, I would be curious on the side of caution. Canada and US regs require better safety on these than Euro standards (see MSDS below). So in the Czech Republic, no mask may be okay, but in the US, other standards exist that might require one.
Which resins are you working with? Different filters are for different VOC's, so what you buy should filter the VOC's given off by the material you are printing with. P95 and P100 tell you wether the filter is 95% or 100% effective. N vs P is oil vs water based particulates.
Here's one MSDS Safety Data Sheet for the first Prusa resion in their store: MSDS at the bottom of the page.
https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/resin/945-transparent-tough-resin-1kg.html
And a 3M listing of masks and uses:
And an example spec sheet regards VOC's in play:
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
ps: https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/639110O/3m-respirator-selection-guide.pdf
Hints most of the chemicals above are best filtered using the OV or Organic Vapor masks. Chat with 3M about which mask and filter is best for your specific intermittent use; they are generally short lived, but some have indicators to say when to change cartridges.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
... So in the Czech Republic, no mask may be okay, but in the US, other standards exist that might require one...
And if you live in California, it might be even considered hazardous 😉
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RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
... So in the Czech Republic, no mask may be okay, but in the US, other standards exist that might require one...
And if you live in California, it might be even considered hazardous 😉
Maybe true, but at least you get to know what you are dealing with: no more lead filled paint on your eating plate without adequate markings. Though, Chinese manufactured products still come in and are sold regardless, with lead and cadmium paints.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
Just came across this related thread: if the odors permeate the air and travel, a mask isn't the answer. Perhaps placement and ventilation are a better solution.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
Well Thank you a lot for all coments and suggestions, expecially tim-m30 for the lists and the idea to check the SDS sheets.
I come to the conclusion that a good Organic vapour filter should do a good job. I checked Prusa, Monocure and Elgoo resins SDS and all talking about Methyl acrylate that shows on the Organic vapours list from 3m.
Monocure rapid Flex 100 resin sds also says : Type A-P Filter A= Organic vapours A-AUS / Class1 P2 (anyone knows what P stands for?
Of course the best is a good ventilated place, but also a mask helps a lot.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
Another thing to watch out for with activated charcoal which is commonly used for VOC filtration is that once you stop and put the filter down, it can gas off releasing some of the VOC's back into the atmosphere depending on the VOC's as well as migrate VOC's further into the filter rendering it useless for another use.
We used to get in trouble for popping into the solvent recovery plant for a quick check as even a quick few minutes use of a filter designed for hours of use, used to render the filter useless to use again the next day. You were alright if you used it for a few hours poping in and out of the recovery plant, but one suck in the heavily solvent laden air, and that was the filter countdown time started, no reuse the next day even if it was one suck. This was with MEK and THF.
a charcoal filter is not like a mechanical filter for dust which will continue to work until full then nothing more can get through, but depending on the solvent it holds the VOC's on the large surface area but once full it will allow solvents to freely pass through, and the life of these is not as long as you may think, you could be replacing them maybe weekly or less, so extraction is your better cheaper long term option.
Depending on the solvent, heat will allow the solvent to be released from the activated charcoal and we used to use steam to recover the solvent from the charcoal adsorption beds, this would then be condensed and the solvent would separate from the condensate and the water would sink and the water would float and we would recover solvent from the bottom of the separation tank. So it may be possible to re-activate filters, but I can't help you with that one, but it may be worth checking, steaming then drying with a warm airflow, but for home use probably not cost effective.
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
https://www.xamax.co.uk/blog/how-to-pick-a-dust-mask-rating-p1-vs-p2-vs-p3.html
Normal people believe that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain’t broke, it doesn’t have enough features yet.
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
Another thing to watch out for with activated charcoal which is commonly used for VOC filtration is that once you stop and put the filter down, it can gas off releasing some of the VOC's back into the atmosphere depending on the VOC's as well as migrate VOC's further into the filter rendering it useless for another use.
We used to get in trouble for popping into the solvent recovery plant for a quick check as even a quick few minutes use of a filter designed for hours of use, used to render the filter useless to use again the next day. You were alright if you used it for a few hours poping in and out of the recovery plant, but one suck in the heavily solvent laden air, and that was the filter countdown time started, no reuse the next day even if it was one suck. This was with MEK and THF.
a charcoal filter is not like a mechanical filter for dust which will continue to work until full then nothing more can get through, but depending on the solvent it holds the VOC's on the large surface area but once full it will allow solvents to freely pass through, and the life of these is not as long as you may think, you could be replacing them maybe weekly or less, so extraction is your better cheaper long term option.
Depending on the solvent, heat will allow the solvent to be released from the activated charcoal and we used to use steam to recover the solvent from the charcoal adsorption beds, this would then be condensed and the solvent would separate from the condensate and the water would sink and the water would float and we would recover solvent from the bottom of the separation tank. So it may be possible to re-activate filters, but I can't help you with that one, but it may be worth checking, steaming then drying with a warm airflow, but for home use probably not cost effective.
: O really? I have to check this out. Hope it is not so serious with our printers...
RE: Which Respirator filters shall I use?
very helpful, thank you!