Hello,

I understand that carbon dust is not good for lungs and my question is; what type of respirator do I need? Any particular specifications? Are other reinforcements equally bad, like Kevlar, FG and Diolen?

Thank you

Hi Wabba,

You should, like with many other materials such as MDF, cement, model-board etc, avoid breathing the dust made during trimming. A good quality dust mask is essential, a disposable 'decorators' type mask is really not good enough, you should get a filtered mask that filters to a level of P3 or better, most good hardware stores should carry these and they will not be too expensive. If you have the facility to extract the dust from the tool that will help to minimise the dust in the workshop. Many people do the trimming outside to keep the dust out of there workshop. another thing you might want to do is to wear a paper suit or overalls; the dust can be really itchy (it gets some people more than others) and it means you won't be carrying the dust with you.

As for the other reinforcements, all dust is bad, whether is from wood, plastic, glass, stone etc, the same precautions should be taken either way. Another thing worth noting is that carbon dust is electrically conductive, this can quickly destroy some electric power-tools, ensure that any tools are vacuumed down after use to minimise the build-up, I have found that some tools last forever even thick with dust some go 'pop' within a couple of days!

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical

Thanks for that, I will definitely invest into a proper mask. It was the P3 part that I wasn't sure about.

I thought that the carbon dust would also burn any normal vacuum into a crisp… am I wrong?