Coronavirus and homemade tools

[piloon]

The cat is out of the bag!
BLUE SHOP cloths. (COSCO has best price)
Yes, that is what I make mine from.
For elastics U can use the ones that come from bundling fresh vegies at the supermarket.
In fact I made masks simply using my office stapler to create the folds.
Also you should note that the manufactured masks use 3 plys.
One sheet of shop towel folded will make a 2 ply easily so take 3 sheets of shop towel and cut in half so you get 2 masks from each 3 sheets.

Since these are 'throw a way' masks the stapler method is more than adequate INMHO
Main problem is the void around your nose area. I suspect a soft 'clip' or dabbing of hot glue could create a nice 'springy' nose clip.
A clothes pin works but they are too tight. LOL.

I got the blue shop rag idea as that is what I use on my shopvac to pick up gyprock dust and that's ultra fine dust!

[Jon]

Do blue shop towels have a strand or fiber orientation or grain? If so, if using multiple layers, would it make sense to alternate the layer orientation 90 degrees? Also, would boiling them have any effect on shrinkage? For reference, note this CDC homemade respiratory mask for bird flu in third world countries. They're made with cotton t-shirts, and they recommend to boil the fabric; also see in the image how they recommend layers of alternating straight and cross grain.

[IntheGroove]

There are other household items you can use to make a face mask...

[Saltfever]

HANDS-FREE DOOR OPENER:
Here is a way to open your doors without touching the handle. Should be of interest to those with 3d printers or a CNC machine. Free Models can be downloaded to your CAD system. If someone modifies the CAD model for easier manufacturability or to fit a different configuration of a handle, please let us know.

[lowracer]

The cat is out of the bag!
<snipped stuff>

Main problem is the void around your nose area. I suspect a soft 'clip' or dabbing of hot glue could create a nice 'springy' nose clip.
A clothes pin works but they are too tight. LOL.
<snipped stuff>

have a look at some of the ground filter coffee packages. locally some of the non-Ziploc bags comes with a piece of coated aluminum "flat", that you can use to reseal the bag

[billd]

Let's look again at faceshields. Here's a good variety of a few designs.

MIT is working on various designs for the pandemic. Here's an 0:58 video of their face shield design:

MIT also has some other coronavirus projects in the mix. You can see them under "active projects" here. Unfortunately, the face shield files "are currently only being provided to professional die cutters". Seems kinda lame.


I also like this beautiful "facehugger" style of face shield I saw floating around. I think this design image is all that's available right now. No idea if it can be reasonably manufactured:




In the lowbuck category, we have this one:

Fullsize image: https://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...d_fullsize.jpg




And some memes. No day would be complete without a coronavirus toilet paper meme. I like the circular groove details on the top of the cake rolls.



US households with taxpaying citizens under a certain income level will be receiving $1,200 checks per adult, and $500 per child. I think I'd rather that the government gave out food coupons or rent vouchers or some such, so that this money can't be spent irresponsibly. Nevertheless, the irony of this stimulus was obviously not lost on this sinking-boat meme:

The idea behind the $1200 is to stimulate the economy the whole economy, all facets of the economy.Not all people live without a backup pantry.
sorta reminds me of the ant & grasshopper IMHO !!!!

[Jon]

This is a clever method to increase surgical mask (as opposed to N95 mask) filtration efficiency, with the use of three rubber bands. 2:34 video:

More:

https://www.fixthemask.com/
https://imgur.com/gallery/KIw75UR

[Frank S]

And in a few months everyone will have bug ears from the rubber bands pulling on their ears

[NeiljohnUK]

And in a few months everyone will have bug ears from the rubber bands pulling on their ears

Regular wearers of 'ear' type surgical masks know the trick of wearing a headband with a button each side to hook the mask onto instead of their ears, surgical masks are an exhalation filter to catch the wearers breath.

[Jon]

Another solution to the mask strap ear problem.