Air shield as gloated by Philly

[Freetochat]

Following on from John's post, is the battery pack charged on the helmet or separate. Meaning only one charger needs to be bought.

As to prices, I have found DM Tools at £154 and an additional battery included.

 

[CHJ]

Following on from John's post, is the battery pack charged on the helmet or separate. Meaning only one charger needs to be bought.

As to prices, I have found DM Tools at £154 and an additional battery included.

The battery is/are charged separate from the helmet.

Full charge takes 14-15 hours. (overnight)

See the end of this thread (Page 2) for some more details of the battery pack and charging.

 

[wizer]

looking at the info in that other thread, you could upgrade your batteries to 2200mah batteries easily. This would double you capacity (12-16hrs) but increase your charging time.

 

[Woodythepecker]

The battery is charged separate from the mask,

Should you get a extra charger to go along with the free extra battery?, well as John said it all depends how long you are going to use the mask each day, but do remember that it takes 14 hours to charge each battery. I often use mine for 8 hours, so there is no doubt in my mind that the £21 was i paid for it is money well spent.

By the way if you do go for the extra charger do not get it from Axminster because they want £37.75, yet places like Tooled-up and DM Tools are selling them at £21.15.
In fact Axminster are also charging £18.32 for a spare battery, and yet again Tooled-up and DM have them for £14.10.

Regards

Woody

 

[CHJ]

looking at the info in that other thread, you could upgrade your batteries to 2200mah batteries easily. This would double you capacity (12-16hrs) but increase your charging time.

I have been looking at this optionWiZeR but have failed so far to find an intelligent charger that will cover 3.6 volt nominal, if we could locate such then the charging time might even be reduced.

Use of individual (not soldered together) cells would require the manufacture of a new battery pack housing and not be very practical.

 

[Freetochat]

Thanks for all the feedback on price. The deed has been done and the cheapest price I found was here http://www.toolpage.co.uk/viewproduct.c ... 8&CatID=48[/url]

£148.90 including VAT and delivery. (This is for airshield and additional battery).

 

[Barry Burgess]

I paid £135 with 2 batteries and a charger at the London Woodworking show.
You should get it cheaper at one of the shows, possibly at the Kempton Park or Axminster?

 

[Mcluma]

This is what i picked up on the Airshield on DIYBANTER forum

Good Day All

With all the recent info/warnings about CA glue and it's fumes I
decided better safe then sorry. I was turning a birch bowl which
developed a crack. No problem a little CA glue and some saw dust.
Hold it a second let me put on my airshield to be safe !!

Mistake !!

Not thinking far enough ahead the air intake is at the forehead !!!

I put the sawdust in the crack, gave it a shot of CA glue and the mask
filled with fumes. Choke...cough ...eyes burning.

No apparent damage but I'm going back to using a fan sucking the air
away from me .

Just thought you should know

Randy

 

[llangatwgnedd]

Yep, these Airstreams are not Intrinsically Safe, you watch you don't blow yer napper off.

I got to wear these things for 10 hours during a shift, horrid things, in a gaseous
atmosphere (Town Gas) and we are just waiting for one to go off, but the safety Dept wont have it.
Just hope my head is not in it. :shock:

 

[matt]

Still not got round to actually investing in any dust extraction/protection. Finding it hard to justify the expense of the Airshield.

I was wondering whether anyone here successfully uses one of the Vitrex respirators or similar with a beard?

I'm figuring that if I combine a more economical/traditional respirator with dust extraction I may still be better off - just need to know whether my beard is likely to be a significant problem?

 

[CHJ]

Still not got round to actually investing in any dust extraction/protection. Finding it hard to justify the expense of the Airshield.

I was wondering whether anyone here successfully uses one of the Vitrex respirators or similar with a beard?..snip..

Even after having had the problem of enforcing health and safety standards whilst at work I had a hard job justifying the cost of the Airshield for home hobby use.

After extensive search I did not find any alternative to a full face air fed mask that was effective with a beard, and not wishing to push my luck any more than necessary with lung problems I parted with the dosh.

Now I would not be without it, it has become second nature to put it on before switching on a machine and keep it on whilst in the workshop, even whilst sweeping up the floor at the end of the session.

 

[Freetochat]

Having had my Airshield for three weeks, it seems a good piece of kit. For me the main downside is the battery charging. Given the amount of cordless/rechargable items in use to day this could have been made more simple. Rechargable AA's for instance. Perhaps Trend had their sights set on the exhobitant price for replacement batteries and chargers?

 

[CHJ]

Having had my Airshield for three weeks, it seems a good piece of kit. For me the main downside is the battery charging. Given the amount of cordless/rechargable items in use to day this could have been made more simple. Rechargable AA's for instance. Perhaps Trend had their sights set on the exhobitant price for replacement batteries and chargers?

I too think the battery system is poorly designed, whoever came up with the design was obviously not a user of similar equipment.

To have to remove, or at least disturb part of the filtration system to get at the battery is ridiculous.

I am seriously thinking of fitting plugs to the main body to allow top-up charging at least in situ.

 

[matt]

I am seriously thinking of fitting plugs to the main body to allow top-up charging at least in situ.

Whilst it's still on your head?!

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Chas

I am seriously thinking of fitting plugs to the main body to allow top-up charging at least in situ.

I'm sorry, but I've got a picture in my mind of you with the mask on and a cable going straight up to the roof. In the roof space is a system of pulleys, or whatever, to ensure that the cable doesn't get tangled as you move around. :roll:

As I said, sorry.

Cheers
Neil

 

[CHJ]

Funny you should say that :

To be serious though, when working at the lathe with tool rack and sharpening facility near at hand it is not too impractical, certainly not as cumbersome as working with a 'clean air' hose supply that we used to have on some processes.

If you have a coiled sprung lead that cannot reach the rotating parts of machine then there are no real safety issues.

 

[matt]

Just snapped up a bargain Trend T30AF on eBay for £80. Now looking more closely at a mask.

I can't bring myself to spend £££ on the AirShield - mainly because I don't think I could tolerate having such a large thing on my head (I'm not very tolerant of hats etc).

So, even though I have a beard, I think that I will go for either the Trend Airace (http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=31841&recno=6) , although not so sure about having such an unweildy looking item on my face. Or, Axminster's Vitrex offering (http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=32503&recno=5), which is far nearer what I had in mind when I first started exploring this area.

I wear glasses too, therefore, the would be interested to know if anyone else here uses a Vitrex style respirator without it fogging their specs?

Cheers

 

[cambournepete]

Don't know about the Vitrex, but the airace, while it's reasonably comfortable does fog my glasses a bit and suffers very badly from condensation on a cold day.

Pete (who also can't face spending £150 on a mask).

 

[Woodythepecker]

Matt, specs do fog up pretty badly when using the Vitrex and that is with a tash, so i would say that a beard would make matters worse.

Also IMHO the Vitrex is not much good at filtering dust. Whether this was because of my tash i cannot say for certain but i did not like it at all. Another problem is the elasticated straps, they are very uncomfortable and are forever getting tangled up.

As for the Airace, although i have not used one before i cannot see it being in the same league as the Airshield.
Do you know anyone who has one of these and would let you use it for the weekend? Or are there any members that live near him, who would let him try it out?
I know what you mean about not wearing hats, but i am sure once you had used one for a while you would find that they are very light and comfortable.

If you are really against buying the Airshield and are going to buy one of the 2 you mentioned, then i should have my old Vitrex hanging around the workshop somewhere and your welcome to that if you want it (no charge). This will at least help you choose between that and the Airace, and if you do decide to get the Airace you can pass it on to someone else.

If you do want it pm me with your details.

Regards

Woody

 

[tim]

I have the Airace, the vitrex and recently I got the Airshield! :shock:

The Airace is great for a lot of things but if you wish to wear safety glasses etc then they will fog up.

The Airace also does block your downward field of vision which can be annoying and results in walking into things like the sliding rail of a Sheppach TS too often to count!

The Vitrex only gets worn when I'm spraying. It has the charcoal/ aerosol filters fitted and for this its fine.

I bought the Airshield about a week ago for a messy job that I've just got back from involving much sanding etc. I can see that it has a lot too offer in terms of lung protection but I found it quite heavy and if you are doing lots of manual work it can get pretty hot inside even with the breeze blowing. I also found that its easy to forget about the space it takes up on top and found I kept on clonking the top of it when working in low down spaces - only annoying from the third time to the twentieth :x

Its a lot of cash but I can see that for in the workshop it will be great but I think for anything involving site work, I'll stick to using the Airace.

Cheers

Tim