PSA: best materials for DIY face masks
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Anonymous
For the bandana, I don't know if they meant "single" sheet or bandana folded over multiple times. |
Anonymous
| Wow-paper towels! |
Anonymous
I saw a video of how to use coffee filters in the bandana face mask. I'm gonna try that one. - OP |
Anonymous
| One DIY video I saw suggested putting a piece of pipe cleaner, twisty tie, wired ribbon, or some other bendable mental in the top of the mask that goes over the nose so that you can form the mask to the shape of your nose. The mask will be more effective if it conforms to your face. It's easy to just lay the wire at the top edge if the mask and fold it over a couple of times. |
Anonymous
| HEPA filters have glass in many brands correct? Including filtrette filters? |
Anonymous
coffee bag tie. I just threw away the bag. At the city dump now. argh. I tried the twisty tie.. that didn't work well. I will try pipe cleaner. |
Anonymous
| Note that Ebola virus particles are relatively large (0.9 microns), while coronavirus is much smaller (0.125 microns). The data in the OP talks about blocking 1 micron particles, which wouldn't effectively block coronavirus. |
Anonymous
Just don't be the idiot at Trader Joe's who was covering his face/nose with a paper towel and holding it in place with his hand. And switching hands. And then touching stuff while switching hands. FAR better off not using a paper towel at all. |
Anonymous
The virus particles are extremely small. Nobody realistically thinks that a mask is going to block 100% of aerosolized virus, it’s just not possible. However, the droplets that the viruses ride on are very blockable. |
Anonymous
Many HEPA brands have fiberglass which one shouldn’t breathe. Filtrete doesn’t from what I can tell, but they have also said their products shouldn’t be cut to make masks. |
Anonymous
| I think this is admirable but the COVID19 virus is much, much smaller than the ebola virus. |
Anonymous
| Ebola is massive compared to Coronavirus. This graph is misleading as it pertains to the current pandemic. |
Anonymous
|
I ordered some quilting fabric as recommended in the NYT and the below tutorial, which is really easy. I hadn't sewn anything in almost ten years, but I brought out my old sewing machine and made two of these in an hour (took me longer to remember how to set up the thread...). They also have a pocket so you can put in a filter if you like (paper towel, etc). I would not worry about creating the best of the best and accept that these are good enough for what most of us are doing. (Obviously your needs may vary, but for most of us double layered, high quality cotton is good enough.)
Tutorial: https://www.sewcanshe.com/blog/free-face-mask-pattern-fast-and-easy-video-tutorial NYT review of materials: https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-homemade-mask-material-DIY-face-mask-ppe.html If you are lucky enough to know a quilter, ask them to make you a mask. Tests performed at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., showed good results for homemade masks using quilting fabric. Dr. Segal, of Wake Forest Baptist Health, who led the study, noted that quilters tend to use high-quality, high-thread count cotton. The best homemade masks in his study were as good as surgical masks or slightly better, testing in the range of 70 to 79 percent filtration. Homemade masks that used flimsier fabric tested as low as 1 percent filtration, Dr. Segal said. The best-performing designs were a mask constructed of two layers of high-quality, heavyweight “quilter’s cotton,” a two-layer mask made with thick batik fabric, and a double-layer mask with an inner layer of flannel and outer layer of cotton. |
Anonymous
| I think its interesting they didn't test interfacing which is what is recommended in-between fabric. |
Anonymous
| The pattern published in the Washington Post was three layers with interfacing as the middle layer. |