COVID19 Home Made "Stuff"

[Too Tall]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Let's put it here. V place is home for some insanely motivated creatives. Let's see your stuff!

Here is a no-sew pleated face mask made from a bandana or suitably sized piece of cloth:

No-Sew Pleated Face Mask with Handkerchief and Hair Tie

[Scott G.]

Rivendell sent a video link to the same type of u-foldit mask.
How to make EASY FACE MASK in 1 MINUTE - NO SEWING! WASHABLE, REUSABLE FACE MASK [XS-XXL] - YouTube
But with a piece filter material added.
I took a apart a 3M purple furnace filter, for the filter material.

[ides1056]

I think when we get Miele bags they come with filters to put inside the unit. The bags themselves are really efficient, so I bet cutting one of those up would do a decent job in addition to whatever is used to keep your face covered.

[Too Tall]

Question for the filter folks. This is basically a sneeze guard right? Do I really need efficient filter material?

[Tom]

I think if you're in contact for more than 10 minutes or so with somebody who is sick, you want the filter. If you're going to protect against casual contact anything is better than nothing. I'm going with the little cloth one they gave me at the doc yesterday ("you only get one so don't lose it!") and a bandanna for backup on the premise that when you need one of something you need two in case the first one breaks. We'll see if the fancy pants N95 urban bicycle ones I ordered ever show up.... then I'm full Ninja. And yes, if you take apart a vacuum cleaner bag some of them have actual HEPA filters in there. Just use a bag you haven't stuck in the vacuum yet, you know?

[sk_tle]

I insert a paper handkerchief between two layers of my bandana as well to act as a kind of filter. Not sure of the efficiency but I guess it is better than nothing.

[AngryScientist]

Question for the filter folks. This is basically a sneeze guard right? Do I really need efficient filter material?

Any fluid takes the path of least resistance. Generally speaking a home brew mask is not going to fit tightly enough against your face to get a good seal, so an efficient filter material is not going to be too meaningful in a home made mask.

I think these concocted masks will provide a measure of safety against spreading germs around, but would not count on one to protect me from inhaling something.

They have to be comfortable and stay on your face well too, if you have to use your hands to fiddle with the mask once you've contaminated your hands, you've torpedoed the whole effort.

[Todd Amunrud]

Question for the filter folks. This is basically a sneeze guard right? Do I really need efficient filter material?

My understanding is no, you don’t. “Filtering” inhalation requires an adequate seal which is difficult to achieve. When you test for an N95 mask, they release an odor near your face and if you smell that odor the mask is not sealed. So inserting a “filter” on a mask that is loose anywhere is not very beneficial. ATMO-as some who’s test fitted N95 for 20 years.

Sneeze-exhalation-don’t touch those spots on my face-mask is home mask development.

[Too Tall]

My understanding is no, you don’t. “Filtering” inhalation requires an adequate seal which is difficult to achieve. When you test for an N95 mask, they release an odor near your face and if you smell that odor the mask is not sealed. So inserting a “filter” on a mask that is loose anywhere is not very beneficial. ATMO-as some who’s test fitted N95 for 20 years.

Sneeze-exhalation-don’t touch those spots on my face-mask is home mask development.

Got it. Thanks much.