Hello Everybody!
I remember the first time Ive browsed this site, full of excitment and directly wanted to go to the closest department store and buy everything to get my hands dirty
Back then, before I moved out to the country, I lived in a pretty thight Neighbourhood, I will soon tell you why this brings problems.
I had read almost all the safety tutorials on this forum, and that you should prio a more expensive Respirator than a cheap one, why? Because if you buy a cheap one you might
end up with the experience I had.
Where I lived by then, we werent many. We were about 8000 inhabitants, but we lived closed to a quite big city in Sweden with over 200 000 inhabitants, only 10 kilometers away.
Back then, I had no clue what department store that might sell respirators. I really thought of what kind of stores I had available. I could only think of one actually that sold what
I needed, so I went there.
Even if it is one of the cheapest chain of stores there are in Sweden, I didnt knew of any one else that had Respirators, Fiberglass woven and Fiberglass Resin. The store is called "Biltema".
I bought an A1 class mask, that should resist organic Vapors and Fumes. The Fumes that comes from Fiberglass Resin is organic, that I knew. And the Respirator costed me 20,44 dollars, and it was the
only Respirator they had, and it was their own brand.
Excited, I came home and started to Resin outside, when I was done I put my pep works in my garage, that has 2 doors garage to my house, and the Resin smelled really awful when I took off my respirator. When I was in, after I had took off my working clothes, the upper part of my house starts to smell Resin, quite much. It did that over a night, and I hoped it would go away, and it was gone the next day.
I maybe resined a total of 5-6 times, (it didnt smell in my house more than 2 times total, and I sleep on the lower part of my house). Then, I thought that my mask might had leaked, so I went to
Biltema to get it changed, and the guys there knew nothing of it, and I got it changed. When I came home, I resined maybe 1-2 times, and I could really feel the smell through my mask, and I got anxious, because I had read on the 405th that if you can smell it, its dangerous. My first mask hadent smelled, so that one actually worked. I started to ask my family about it, and the 405th by making a thread with a pic of my respirator, no harm they said.
I was still afraid though, I wouldnt let it go, so I didnt resin anything more after that. Instead, I called Biltema´s headquartes and asked them about my Respirator, and that I could smell it through, with changed filters and all ( I had bought new filters in between). The guy in the phone said "Its not the smell that is toxic, and the mask will protect you against those fumes, even though you can smell it". Yeah, sure (irony).
I didnt resin anything more, instead Ive started to grind my helmet. And I was wearing the respirator at that time, and I thinked it worked by then, but I was adviced to use a normal white dustmask, because one told me that a Respirator wont protect you against dust. Somehow, I felt that it was, and only used a dust mask once, no more after that, just my respirator.
Because I got so afraid of the Resin smell, my father told me to stop with that crap if you think it is going to hurt you. I said that I wont take any more risks, and one of my best friends, that
I actually met here on the 405th got very sad of my decesion. But, safety first, whatever it takes.
Now, quite along time ago, Im still browsing the 405th, and I still love it. I started to long after building armor. This Autumn, I moved to a quite big house, with outside houses you could work in, I thought. But in my backhead, I always remembered the smell of resin, like it meant death for me.
I started researching, and found another shop, not far from Biltema that had both a crappy respirator, like Biltema had, and another one that was made from "MSA (Mine Safety "Something), made in Peninsylvia. Today, I asked the personal about it, and got a number to the manufactures for it, and a Wholesaler of Respirators, Im not sure if it was a private company number though. Anyway, I thanked the personal and went home to call them (the MSA mask costed 48,01 dollars with A2 Filters, notice A2).
I called them, and got to a company called Procurator, a Wholesaler of Respirators. I talked to what I think was a Technican, that worked with Respirators. I asked if A2 filters had the same effect that A1 filters had. He told me that it had, and A2 Filters had thicker Carbon filter and lasted longer, that´s good, I thought. I asked him about "Polyester" that Fiberglass Resin is called in Sweden, and if an A2 filter would protect against that. If said the company that sells you the Polyester could had put any substance in that liquid, because Polyester isnt an Element, he couldnt answer. But he told me to Call Biltema and ask what they got in their Polyester, then I could call back, because they are guilty by law to tell what toxic substances that are in what they sell.
I called Biltema Headquartes Customer Service, and talked to a guy and got a really long document, then I looked at it while I was in the phone with this support guy, and I said "Here it says that it contains 41-45 % Styrene, whats the other 55 %? "Ah, thats a combination of Hydrocarbons that isnt toxic" Well, ok then and I called back to Procurator.
I told him what Biltemas Service guy had said, 41-45 % Styrene and he said that the MSA Respirator would be a full support if youre working with that. And he told me how long the filters lasted, and some other information. Then I told him that the Biltema guy wouldnt tell me what that 55 % was, "what? Thats quite strange" he said, but he couldnt do anything about it. Then I told him about the crappy Biltema Respirator I had, and that it smelled through. "It shouldnt" he said, "Through this MSA mask you should not be able to smell, and if you could then the Filters are overfilled".
At this point, I was ?"!"¤="#%(#). He explained very good , and told me how to mesure concentration and such. I thanked him and ended the conversation.
[Above] = The hopefully good MSA Respirator
[Above] = Biltema Crappy Respirator
Earlier this day, I went to Biltema to do some research. I went to Customer Service instantly, where there were 5 Biltema personal, and asked one "Do you have anything to use with Fiberglass to make it harden that is not toxic? (I thought of Aqua Resin)" "No, sorry, ask the guy over there, he knows". The guy I was pointed to talk with was one quite old guy, that seemed to know most about that than anyone else there knew (quite a little, with other words). I asked the same question, and he said "No, but we got Polyester here, and with a Respirator". "You know, I had 2 of your masks + new filters and they leak." "You dont know where they sell non-toxic material" "No, I dont know if they do that in Sweden". "Ok, if you were working with Polyester, what Respirator would you use then?".
"Well, Im a bit of the older generation, Im not that safe (its easier to understand in Swedish, he meant that he dont use any kind of respirator at all, he continued: ) My dad did alot with Polyester, and he got to be 85! But my daughter recently died in Cancer, and we still dont know the reason for that" I asked: "Im using my Respirator as a protection while I grind, maybe its overfilled due to that ( even though I really didnt think it was because of that)". "Well, you should use a Respirator for that, a dust mask wont work. Its fiberglass dust that is the most dangerous, the body cant break that down". "Ok then... Bye!"
I went over to the other Store that had one crappy and 2 good masks. They had a whole catalog with Respirators and masks, and told me to call Procurator. And the Personal woman said "You shouldnt take that cheap mask, I dont think its that good".
At this point, at the evening. I thought, seriously, how much is your life worth, if you cant spend your money on a real Respirator, rather than some rubber crap. In my sitation, I thought this Respirator was the only one that existed in my city, but if I ever start making armor again, then I buy that expensive one with joy. Like you see, Biltema Customer Service tricked me, how much did that Biltema guy really know about his own Respirator?! He maybe was just reading out of a pre-written paper, who knows. I hope I got some people to think about the safety of their sitation, and that you rather prio safety before an extra Pizza.
If it were possible, by Moderators, that you could make some kind of ban list of unserious Safety equiment companies. If, then I bring out the first one, Biltema, Never buy any safety equiment from there.
/Tahu
I remember the first time Ive browsed this site, full of excitment and directly wanted to go to the closest department store and buy everything to get my hands dirty
Back then, before I moved out to the country, I lived in a pretty thight Neighbourhood, I will soon tell you why this brings problems.
I had read almost all the safety tutorials on this forum, and that you should prio a more expensive Respirator than a cheap one, why? Because if you buy a cheap one you might
end up with the experience I had.
Where I lived by then, we werent many. We were about 8000 inhabitants, but we lived closed to a quite big city in Sweden with over 200 000 inhabitants, only 10 kilometers away.
Back then, I had no clue what department store that might sell respirators. I really thought of what kind of stores I had available. I could only think of one actually that sold what
I needed, so I went there.
Even if it is one of the cheapest chain of stores there are in Sweden, I didnt knew of any one else that had Respirators, Fiberglass woven and Fiberglass Resin. The store is called "Biltema".
I bought an A1 class mask, that should resist organic Vapors and Fumes. The Fumes that comes from Fiberglass Resin is organic, that I knew. And the Respirator costed me 20,44 dollars, and it was the
only Respirator they had, and it was their own brand.
Excited, I came home and started to Resin outside, when I was done I put my pep works in my garage, that has 2 doors garage to my house, and the Resin smelled really awful when I took off my respirator. When I was in, after I had took off my working clothes, the upper part of my house starts to smell Resin, quite much. It did that over a night, and I hoped it would go away, and it was gone the next day.
I maybe resined a total of 5-6 times, (it didnt smell in my house more than 2 times total, and I sleep on the lower part of my house). Then, I thought that my mask might had leaked, so I went to
Biltema to get it changed, and the guys there knew nothing of it, and I got it changed. When I came home, I resined maybe 1-2 times, and I could really feel the smell through my mask, and I got anxious, because I had read on the 405th that if you can smell it, its dangerous. My first mask hadent smelled, so that one actually worked. I started to ask my family about it, and the 405th by making a thread with a pic of my respirator, no harm they said.
I was still afraid though, I wouldnt let it go, so I didnt resin anything more after that. Instead, I called Biltema´s headquartes and asked them about my Respirator, and that I could smell it through, with changed filters and all ( I had bought new filters in between). The guy in the phone said "Its not the smell that is toxic, and the mask will protect you against those fumes, even though you can smell it". Yeah, sure (irony).
I didnt resin anything more, instead Ive started to grind my helmet. And I was wearing the respirator at that time, and I thinked it worked by then, but I was adviced to use a normal white dustmask, because one told me that a Respirator wont protect you against dust. Somehow, I felt that it was, and only used a dust mask once, no more after that, just my respirator.
Because I got so afraid of the Resin smell, my father told me to stop with that crap if you think it is going to hurt you. I said that I wont take any more risks, and one of my best friends, that
I actually met here on the 405th got very sad of my decesion. But, safety first, whatever it takes.
Now, quite along time ago, Im still browsing the 405th, and I still love it. I started to long after building armor. This Autumn, I moved to a quite big house, with outside houses you could work in, I thought. But in my backhead, I always remembered the smell of resin, like it meant death for me.
I started researching, and found another shop, not far from Biltema that had both a crappy respirator, like Biltema had, and another one that was made from "MSA (Mine Safety "Something), made in Peninsylvia. Today, I asked the personal about it, and got a number to the manufactures for it, and a Wholesaler of Respirators, Im not sure if it was a private company number though. Anyway, I thanked the personal and went home to call them (the MSA mask costed 48,01 dollars with A2 Filters, notice A2).
I called them, and got to a company called Procurator, a Wholesaler of Respirators. I talked to what I think was a Technican, that worked with Respirators. I asked if A2 filters had the same effect that A1 filters had. He told me that it had, and A2 Filters had thicker Carbon filter and lasted longer, that´s good, I thought. I asked him about "Polyester" that Fiberglass Resin is called in Sweden, and if an A2 filter would protect against that. If said the company that sells you the Polyester could had put any substance in that liquid, because Polyester isnt an Element, he couldnt answer. But he told me to Call Biltema and ask what they got in their Polyester, then I could call back, because they are guilty by law to tell what toxic substances that are in what they sell.
I called Biltema Headquartes Customer Service, and talked to a guy and got a really long document, then I looked at it while I was in the phone with this support guy, and I said "Here it says that it contains 41-45 % Styrene, whats the other 55 %? "Ah, thats a combination of Hydrocarbons that isnt toxic" Well, ok then and I called back to Procurator.
I told him what Biltemas Service guy had said, 41-45 % Styrene and he said that the MSA Respirator would be a full support if youre working with that. And he told me how long the filters lasted, and some other information. Then I told him that the Biltema guy wouldnt tell me what that 55 % was, "what? Thats quite strange" he said, but he couldnt do anything about it. Then I told him about the crappy Biltema Respirator I had, and that it smelled through. "It shouldnt" he said, "Through this MSA mask you should not be able to smell, and if you could then the Filters are overfilled".
At this point, I was ?"!"¤="#%(#). He explained very good , and told me how to mesure concentration and such. I thanked him and ended the conversation.
[Above] = The hopefully good MSA Respirator
[Above] = Biltema Crappy Respirator
Earlier this day, I went to Biltema to do some research. I went to Customer Service instantly, where there were 5 Biltema personal, and asked one "Do you have anything to use with Fiberglass to make it harden that is not toxic? (I thought of Aqua Resin)" "No, sorry, ask the guy over there, he knows". The guy I was pointed to talk with was one quite old guy, that seemed to know most about that than anyone else there knew (quite a little, with other words). I asked the same question, and he said "No, but we got Polyester here, and with a Respirator". "You know, I had 2 of your masks + new filters and they leak." "You dont know where they sell non-toxic material" "No, I dont know if they do that in Sweden". "Ok, if you were working with Polyester, what Respirator would you use then?".
"Well, Im a bit of the older generation, Im not that safe (its easier to understand in Swedish, he meant that he dont use any kind of respirator at all, he continued: ) My dad did alot with Polyester, and he got to be 85! But my daughter recently died in Cancer, and we still dont know the reason for that" I asked: "Im using my Respirator as a protection while I grind, maybe its overfilled due to that ( even though I really didnt think it was because of that)". "Well, you should use a Respirator for that, a dust mask wont work. Its fiberglass dust that is the most dangerous, the body cant break that down". "Ok then... Bye!"
I went over to the other Store that had one crappy and 2 good masks. They had a whole catalog with Respirators and masks, and told me to call Procurator. And the Personal woman said "You shouldnt take that cheap mask, I dont think its that good".
At this point, at the evening. I thought, seriously, how much is your life worth, if you cant spend your money on a real Respirator, rather than some rubber crap. In my sitation, I thought this Respirator was the only one that existed in my city, but if I ever start making armor again, then I buy that expensive one with joy. Like you see, Biltema Customer Service tricked me, how much did that Biltema guy really know about his own Respirator?! He maybe was just reading out of a pre-written paper, who knows. I hope I got some people to think about the safety of their sitation, and that you rather prio safety before an extra Pizza.
If it were possible, by Moderators, that you could make some kind of ban list of unserious Safety equiment companies. If, then I bring out the first one, Biltema, Never buy any safety equiment from there.
/Tahu
