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If your straps are welded, are you sure you’re using a NIOSH N95? N95 straps are, as far as I know, always stapled instead of welded. I don’t believe welds are

If your straps are welded, are you sure you’re using a NIOSH N95? N95 straps are, as far as I know, always stapled instead of welded. I don’t believe welds are strong enough to hold the force required by a NIOSH N95. The straps on higher-quality respirators are not just elastic, they’re some kind of finely braided textile that doesn’t snag hair. The sole difference between the 3M 8210 and the 3M 8210+ is whether it has these more expensive straps.

roseway4 5y ago
I have 8210 N95s and yes, they’re welded (as confirmed on the 3M website): https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000585997/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000585997/
- goodside 5y ago
  Wow, I’m surprised that’s possible — 3M staples their textile straps at least, and Moldex staples both textile and rubber. I’ve never bothered with the cheaper 8210 model with rubber straps, just the 8210+ and the 1860, which both use textile straps and staples.
throwaway81523 5y ago
I thought straps were welded to avoid making potentially leaking punctures by stapling or sewing. I don't understand this issue of hair snags. I have hair, and either my elastic straps don't snag on it, or they snag and I don't notice it as a problem. I'll try to get some 3m masks and check out this special fabric but if it's like the fabric on headlamp straps, it doesn't seem that expensive and it doesn't seem like that big an improvement over fabric. As for the serial numbers: hmm, maybe that could help, but if each number is unique and 1/10th of them actually get checked, then the counterfeiter can just copy a bunch of unique ones and go undetected 99% of the time. (1/10th of the good masks and 1/10th of the counterfeits would be checked, and a detected duplicate would have to be in the intersection of those two sets). In fact if good masks come from known and trusted suppliers, they're even less likely to be checked, so more of the counterfeits can get through. What we really need is an affordable way to test masks at home. It doesn't have to be super precise. A green-yellow-red led for good-marginal-bad would be fine.

roseway4 5y ago

I have 8210 N95s and yes, they’re welded (as confirmed on the 3M website): https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000585997/ https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000585997/

goodside 5y ago
Wow, I’m surprised that’s possible — 3M staples their textile straps at least, and Moldex staples both textile and rubber. I’ve never bothered with the cheaper 8210 model with rubber straps, just the 8210+ and the 1860, which both use textile straps and staples.

throwaway81523 5y ago

I thought straps were welded to avoid making potentially leaking punctures by stapling or sewing. I don't understand this issue of hair snags. I have hair, and either my elastic straps don't snag on it, or they snag and I don't notice it as a problem. I'll try to get some 3m masks and check out this special fabric but if it's like the fabric on headlamp straps, it doesn't seem that expensive and it doesn't seem like that big an improvement over fabric. As for the serial numbers: hmm, maybe that could help, but if each number is unique and 1/10th of them actually get checked, then the counterfeiter can just copy a bunch of unique ones and go undetected 99% of the time. (1/10th of the good masks and 1/10th of the counterfeits would be checked, and a detected duplicate would have to be in the intersection of those two sets). In fact if good masks come from known and trusted suppliers, they're even less likely to be checked, so more of the counterfeits can get through. What we really need is an affordable way to test masks at home. It doesn't have to be super precise. A green-yellow-red led for good-marginal-bad would be fine.