respirator parts

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:08 pm

I was really looking forward to doing some intensive grinding on the interior today but when I dusted off my respirator I noticed the little valves (inhalation particularly)are looking pretty bad. This respirator is advertised as having replaceable parts but I can't find them anywhere.

Does anyone have a lead on 3M 6000 series full face respirator parts?

-Britton

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:24 pm

Britton, those inhalation valves aren't really a precision operation. As long as MOST of your exhaled breath goes out the other valves, they're working fine. The important valve is the exhalation valve. If unfiltered air is leaking in through that one, it's an issue obviously.

Can you taste the dust through the mask?

I think the primary purpose of the inhalation valve is to prevent exhaled moisture from affecting the filter element.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:35 pm

Can you taste the dust through the mask?

I think the primary purpose of the inhalation valve is to prevent exhaled moisture from affecting the filter element.

No, the mask "tastes" like it is working correctly. I did try it today and it seemed okay with the vacuum sander but I need the 8" pad on the grinder and I didn't think the mask was up to the task.

I did notice the mask was fogging up easily which with the low light levels became rather frustrating.

If the inhalation valves aren't too high tech maybe I will try something I read about a while back. I think I read that you can put soft rubber in the microwave to make it pliable again. It seems mine sat for a season and began curling up and now they won't lie flat. It definitely needs a tear down and a thorough cleaning. I think I have some green stuff growing in there...

Thanks.

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 3:50 pm

I think I read that you can put soft rubber in the microwave to make it pliable again.

Bad, bad, BAD idea...

Who would have thought the rubber would melt into the plastic plate?

Anyone know where I can get some replacement parts for a respirator?...

-B.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:07 pm

Britton,

At the marina/yard where I work, we get our 3M respirator parts from a local auto-body supplier - along with many other 3M items such as sandpapers, tape, etc. Funny, I just ordered some of those exhalation valves a few days ago.

Now you probably don't need to order your parts from Minnesota, but you might try an auto body supply locally.

Or, if you really can't find what you need, I can get you parts and send them along.

--- Rachel

PS Don't try to dry a cat in there either ;-)

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 4:35 pm

oh man that's too funny!

(funny-unfortunate, you get the idea)

Next time try a little swab of vaseline or sometimes "Armor All" does the trick.

Post by **Tim** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:22 pm

bcooke wrote:
I think I read that you can put soft rubber in the microwave to make it pliable again.
Bad, bad, BAD idea...

Who would have thought the rubber would melt into the plastic plate?

Anyone know where I can get some replacement parts for a respirator?...

-B.

hehe...well, I guess "melted" might be the ultimate definition of "pliable"!

Maybe if you'd thought you'd read further along, you might have seen someone else's similar unfortunate result as well!

Now you really need those replacement parts.

Summersdawn · Post by **Summersdawn** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 5:32 pm

The best way to make old rubber softer and more pliable is to soak it in warm water with a little liquid dish soap. Give it a rinse when you are done. If this doesn't do the trick, time for replacement.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:35 pm

Next time try a little swab of vaseline or sometimes "Armor All" does the trick

The best way to make old rubber softer and more pliable is to soak it in warm water with a little liquid dish soap. Give it a rinse when you are done.

Why does the best advice always come too late?

hehe...well, I guess "melted" might be the ultimate definition of "pliable"!

oh man that's too funny!

PS Don't try to dry a cat in there either ;-)

This isn't the sympathy I was looking for...
-B.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:38 pm

P.S.

Hey Mike, When did you get the new title?!!
Master of the Arcane
I like that.

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:39 pm

I guess I will have to post another 310 nonsense posts to get the title for myself. Let's see, what can I postulate upon next...

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:39 pm

Only 309 now...

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:51 pm

I've no idea. I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out.

Time to pull my head out, eh?

"Master" may be a bit much, however. "Enthusiast of the Arcane", certainly, but I don't know if one can master the arcane any more than one can master sailing. The beauty of the whole moving target thing. =)

Yeah, I suppose we might have related the rubber-softening techniques earlier. Like Tim always says.... the advice around here is worth what you pay for it!

Post by **Tim** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:25 am

bcooke wrote:Why does the best advice always come too late?

Of course, Britton, if you post here and then immediately head to the microwave with respirator (or cat) in hand, you're likely to miss the advice, since we're not all sitting here just waiting, hoping, for a chance to respond to you! hehe

Patience is a virtue. (I keep telling myself that so that maybe one day I'll actually follow that advice too!)

Post by **Tim** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:26 am

bcooke wrote:Only 309 now...

Thank God you stopped there.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:02 pm

308.

They don't call me The Instigator for nothing!

-B.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:10 pm

Tim wrote:Of course, Britton, if you post here and then immediately head to the microwave with respirator (or cat) in hand, you're likely to miss the advice, since we're not all sitting here just waiting, hoping, for a chance to respond to you! hehe

What Do you people do here then?...

Actually, in the time it took to conduct my brave, if stupid, experiment, Mike had posted a reply, which, had I heeded, would have allowed me to do some intensive grinding today. Instead I will make some phone calls and order some more materials... Anyone want to buy my spare kidney?

Patience is a virtue.

Now instead of waiting a day to get my respirator back in action, I will wait a week. Maybe someday I will learn. Probably not though...

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:22 pm

Well, after an intensive search I found them here:

http://www.fastenal.com/web/home.ex

I had to buy them in industrial quantities though so I should be good for many, many years...

-Britton

heartofgold · Post by **heartofgold** » Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:19 pm

We have a 3M dealer who comes through the yard every week with a trailer-full of 3M (and other) marine supplies. I approached him back at the beginning of November looking for the same little valves. Unfortunately, he was unable to get them due to FEMA's needs in the New Orleans and costal Mississippi areas. He finally got me some 2 weeks ago.

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:01 am

On a similar note, we recently got notice from 3M (at the marina/yard where I work) that they anticipate possible shortages of respirators due to people buying them en-masse as protection against bird flu.

The memo also mentioned that "they" (if I remember correctly, a governmental agency) would be investigating any large purchases of respirators or parts (beyond any typical ordering amounts) to guard against hoarding.

Somewhat unnerving.

--- R.

Post by **dasein668** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:19 am

Rachel wrote: they anticipate possible shortages of respirators due to people buying them en-masse as protection against bird flu.

Yikes. I think I'll take my chances, rather than living in a respirator.

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 9:33 am

I heard a soundbite from an epidemiologist to the effect of "money spent on air filtration, flu shots, and other security-blanket type efforts would be far more effectively spent on something that would actually improve one's health, such as membership at a health club".

Yeah, but I can wear my respirator while sitting on the couch watching law&order reruns!

Post by **Tim** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 6:12 pm

I think I'll throw caution to the winds and just walk around normally, without breathing protection.

I'm just that sort of a rebel, I guess!

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:10 pm

You mean to tell me that these repirators can actually block airborne virus'? Sounds rather misguided to me. The virus would probably be happy to sit on the surface of the mask and then pop into your mouth the first time you lifted it for a bite to eat anyway. I saw (and read) "Hotzone"a few years ago and the suits/breathing apparatus they were using to combat virus' did not look like a 3M 6000 series at all.

Now, I could imagine with all the demolition going on in the Gulf Coast that 3M might be selling lots of regulators right now.

-Britton

Figment · Post by **Figment** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:27 pm

I had a chuckle over this thread today when I donned my respirator for the first time in months, honked on the straps, and had a brief moment of panic when the mask wouldn't let me breathe. The exhalation valve was stuck!

Guess I should do a preseason disassembly and cleaning of the works, eh?

Post by **dasein668** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:37 pm

I had a moment like that last winter when some wise guy cut two circles of plastic and insterted them underneath the filter cartridges...

A30_John · Post by **A30_John** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 12:11 am

Tim, how could you?

Post by **Tim** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:14 am

Who says it was me?

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:46 pm

Since I know everyone is in suspence to know when I will be getting back to my grinding...

After three weeks I finally got a call from my supplier to say that the parts had come in. One of their outlets in Texas had them on the shelf.

Turns out my supplier has bad data in their computer system so the parts that were shipped were of the wrong quantity and wrong type. After a long chat it was determined that it was their system at fault and now I will find out in a couple of days if they can even get them. According to a couple of suppliers I have talked with (I am becoming very well known among the industrial suppliers in the area) 3M will only ship these respirator parts in enormous quantities and none of the suppliers wants to get stuck with a 10,000 little rubber intake valves.

From a lost productivity point of view tossing out the respirator and buying a new one would have been far cheaper. I thought I was being wise and frugal with those $1 parts. I compensated by purchasing $800 worth of insulation for the hull and leaving a $700 deposit on some custom stainless steel water/waste tanks. I feel much better now.

Moral of this story. Desite the sales rhetoric. It might be better to consider those 3M respirators disposable; just toss 'em and buy a new one when those flimsy (non microwaveable) parts wear out. Parts are tough to come by and lost productivity is expensive. Of course as long as the temperatures are under 10 degrees and wind is blowing 20+ knots I don't really mind an excuse to avoid the boatyard...

-Britton

A30_John · Post by **A30_John** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:17 pm

Of course as long as the temperatures are under 10 degrees and wind is blowing 20+ knots I don't really mind an excuse to avoid the boatyard...

...and when Spring hits you'll suddenly remember that you had a spare respirator sitting right there on the workbench, hehe. ;-)

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:41 pm

hehe...

ummm...

you know I DO have a half-faced respirator in my "for real job" toolbox... It isn't a 3M brand though. I wonder...

-Britton

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:57 pm

Just because I know everyone is dying to know...

I got the parts today. It only took a month.

The moral of this sad story?... Order a long time in advance or give me a call as I have enough parts to overhaul the respirator ten times now.

-Britton