I wonder if a power respirator would work for you, check them out at rockler. They bring in fresh air. Probably should have a dust collection/filtration system as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Get a regular half face respirator. Get some combination P100/organic vapor cartriges. The whole thing, plus a few sets of spare cartriges will cost less than $50. The combination cartriges will protect you from breathing dust, as well as vapors from paints, lacquers, varnishes, and solvents.

If you plan on wearing a respirator regularly, for extended periods of time, like an hour or more, you should consult a physician to have a fit test. A respirator can restrict your air intake and cause you to faint, even if you're in good physical shape.

sorry, double post!

This post was edited by aidan_m on Wed, Aug 7, 13 at 13:38

You probably should invest in a shop dust collection system, not just a shop vac hooked to your sander.

And make sure you have plenty of air flow through the shop.

Ahh, good old "Sears Horsepower" A 100% efficient motor (no heat output,no internal friction,etc.) at 15 amps / 120 v. would put out somewhere between 1.5 and 2 HP.

Yet, if you measure the output just before the motor stalls and burns up it would be more for a fraction of a second.

I still remember the Sears ad showing their shop vacuum that would out-pump water vs. a 500 hp fire truck pumper. Get real!

Was looking at the half- masks - what's the difference between P100 and N100, or are they one in the same?

So what is horsepower Bob - is it just some bogus thing?
The 6.5 hp shopvac attached to the sander in combination with the n100 mask was actually pretty good but .. the melting plastic smell was kind of a worry. And honestly, I dont think it sucked all that much better than my old Sears vac from 1988 which I still have and was rated at 3 hp..

It's not how much dust you collect , which dust you collect is most important. The stuff you can't see unless light passes through it at the right angle is what will make you sick. A powerful vac may very well blow more fine dust out the exhust and into the air than letting everything fall to the floor. You need a cyclone to catch the majority of big stuff that overwhelms and clogs filters. On the exhust of vac or collector,you need a 5 micron or better felt bag filter along with an overhead 1 micron recirculating filteration system. Without an overhead,2 or 3 micron is aproprate on exhust. If cost prevents aquiring the right equipment,build it your self rather than give up woodworking. A seldom recconized benifit of overhead is to use collector and overhead while sanding the project then turn collector off and leave overhead on while you are away on break,material run,lunch and over night (for long absences,a simple timer is reccomended). That has you exposed briefly while sanding then in clean air for assembly and painting later.
If there is enough intrest,we could brain storm home made dust control ideas.

Klem, to clarify my woodworking is pretty much limited to sanding/refinishing furniture & doors/trim for my house,, some sawing/routing of pieces for trim for the house, shelves, etc. using portable tools so I dont really have a shop - however maybe I'd do more of it (and enjoy it more) if I had a good place to do it in ie basement room with walk out door might work.. So yes Im very interested in any home made dust control ideas you might suggest but its not like I'd be planing and sanding massive amounts of wood or anything.

Was thinking of some sort of portable vac because Ive been needing it also for general clean up and plaster repair (which .... 11 years later isnt yet completely finished in this dang house.) But at this point - will consider anything!

Just place the shop vac outdoors, and run long hoses into the garage. Hook the vacuum hose right up to the dust port of the sander. Every sander with a dust bag can be rigged to hook up to a shop vac hose, you just have to use blue tape sometimes.

What aidan suggest might work if you have powerful enough vac and/or minimize leinght of hose. That wouldn't require investing in exhust filters but will evacuate a lot of conditioned air if working in a liveing area. If you work in air conditioned areas,it is important to realize that dust can escape the vacum and settle where it will be disturbed and inhaled later by everyone present. The same can be said of a garage if it is used for exercise,playroom or other purpose. Describe your work area and we can go from there.

For both comfort and protection it's hard to beat a PAPR (powered air purifying respirator). Expensive upfront, but comfortable enough that you can actually keep it on 10 hours a day. Mine has a lexan face shield and a hard hat which have come in handy both when turning wood and when doing demolition. You can put a HEPA filter into them that will catch the most dangerous small particles.

There are many shop vacs now that can be equipped with HEPA filters, while expensive many of them are also surprisingly quiet when compared to the old sears vacs.

As far as hoses go, I rigged up a pool vacuum hose that runs out to the shop vac in the garage while I remodel my kitchen.

It's wonderful......

Some random thoughts...

There are HEPA shop vacs. Fein and Festool come to mind but they're pretty expensive.

Gore's CleanStream filters work pretty darn well. Another idea might be to run a hose from the output of your shop vac to the outside. Any dust that gets past the filter exits from the building.

Somebody makes a dust collection system for hand drywall sanding that uses a 5 gallon bucket of water between the sander and the vac. The hose could probably be modified to work with power tools as well. I've used it to sand drywall and it works very well.

The design sander itself probably makes a big difference as well. I used a Festool 1/4 sheet orbital that had amazing dust collection. When connected to my old Shop Vac, the suction was so great that the tool was almost stuck to the work surface. I had to modify the hose I was using so I could let a little air in so that I could move the sander around. That never happened with my Porter-Cable sanders.

Whenever possible I sand with a vac. I think the sanding goes faster and the paper lasts longer because you're getting the dust out of the way.

If memory serves, the P designation is for oily particulates.