A big problem with Covid face masks is air escaping upwards irritating the eyes and fogging the glasses.
Want to buy or make steel (or other) nose clips for face masks that will grab the mask tightly to the nose but remain comfortable for hours.
Must not interfere with glasses.
Any ideas? eg. what grade of steel?
I was thinking something sort of like this ??
mollwollfumble said:
A big problem with Covid face masks is air escaping upwards irritating the eyes and fogging the glasses.Want to buy or make steel (or other) nose clips for face masks that will grab the mask tightly to the nose but remain comfortable for hours.
Must not interfere with glasses.
Any ideas? eg. what grade of steel?
I was thinking something sort of like this ??
dere’s thumthin on my node.
Are you totally mad?
Pipecleaners – sewn in where the mask bridges the nose, or tacked to the front of the mask as stiffener / decoration (I’m picturing spiders, butterflies, novelty glasses).
You’ll want the clip to seal and hold the mask on the bridge of your nose rather than the nostrils.
Rule 303 said:
Pipecleaners – sewn in where the mask bridges the nose, or tacked to the front of the mask as stiffener / decoration (I’m picturing spiders, butterflies, novelty glasses).
>> dere’s thumthin on my node.
> Are you totally mad?
According to my daughter, some of the time. I’m still holding to the idea that it may be possible for a person to roam about on the surface of Venus wearing scuba gear.
roughbarked said:
Rule 303 said:
Pipecleaners – sewn in where the mask bridges the nose, or tacked to the front of the mask as stiffener / decoration (I’m picturing spiders, butterflies, novelty glasses).
Or those plastic coated soft wire ties they use for tying things up with. Mouldable and stiff.
I have a coil of old wire from a hardware store that is stronger than that but unless I can find some way to strengthen it by heat treatment, cold working or geometrically (eg. double thickness) it’s still a trifle too soft.
Paperclip wire would be OK, but gets heaps weaker on cold working. Bend then heat and quench? What is paperclip wire?
Spring steel such as on a clothes peg or bulldog clip is way too strong. Painful.
> novelty glasses
I keep coming to this idea. I like it very much, but which and where at a reasonable cost. Old glasses from an op-shop may not be out of the question, but no two are alike and I need more than one mask.
mollwollfumble said:
>> dere’s thumthin on my node.
> Are you totally mad?According to my daughter, some of the time. I’m still holding to the idea that it may be possible for a person to roam about on the surface of Venus wearing scuba gear.
roughbarked said:
Rule 303 said:
Pipecleaners – sewn in where the mask bridges the nose, or tacked to the front of the mask as stiffener / decoration (I’m picturing spiders, butterflies, novelty glasses).
Or those plastic coated soft wire ties they use for tying things up with. Mouldable and stiff.
Pipecleaners and wire ties have a steel that is way too soft. The slightest knock and it bends out of place. I’ve seen something similar to that used on the bridge of masks before, and they proved totally hopeless.I have a coil of old wire from a hardware store that is stronger than that but unless I can find some way to strengthen it by heat treatment, cold working or geometrically (eg. double thickness) it’s still a trifle too soft.
Paperclip wire would be OK, but gets heaps weaker on cold working. Bend then heat and quench? What is paperclip wire?
Spring steel such as on a clothes peg or bulldog clip is way too strong. Painful.
> novelty glasses
I keep coming to this idea. I like it very much, but which and where at a reasonable cost. Old glasses from an op-shop may not be out of the question, but no two are alike and I need more than one mask.
Blutac.
mollwollfumble said:
>> dere’s thumthin on my node.
> Are you totally mad?According to my daughter, some of the time. I’m still holding to the idea that it may be possible for a person to roam about on the surface of Venus wearing scuba gear.
roughbarked said:
Rule 303 said:
Pipecleaners – sewn in where the mask bridges the nose, or tacked to the front of the mask as stiffener / decoration (I’m picturing spiders, butterflies, novelty glasses).
Or those plastic coated soft wire ties they use for tying things up with. Mouldable and stiff.
Pipecleaners and wire ties have a steel that is way too soft. The slightest knock and it bends out of place. I’ve seen something similar to that used on the bridge of masks before, and they proved totally hopeless.I have a coil of old wire from a hardware store that is stronger than that but unless I can find some way to strengthen it by heat treatment, cold working or geometrically (eg. double thickness) it’s still a trifle too soft.
Paperclip wire would be OK, but gets heaps weaker on cold working. Bend then heat and quench? What is paperclip wire?
Spring steel such as on a clothes peg or bulldog clip is way too strong. Painful.
> novelty glasses
I keep coming to this idea. I like it very much, but which and where at a reasonable cost. Old glasses from an op-shop may not be out of the question, but no two are alike and I need more than one mask.
I see on the web that there is such a thing as “nose wire” made of aluminium specifically for use in making masks. I don’t trust it to be strong enough, or the right shape. They are advertised as “can be bent easily”, which is definitely not what I want. These wires have a rectangular cross section, 5 mm by 0.5 mm. Aluminium 0.5 mm thick, I’d be frightened to break it with a single touch.
This one is 1 mm thick aluminium. Strong enough or not? Would depend on the grade of aluminium.
Back to paperclips. I spotted this on pinterest.
> Chelsea from Lovely Indeed walks us through all the steps to start creating your own paperclips in any crazy shape your heart desires (think custom letters or initials for the gift recipient, hearts for Valentine’s Day, mustaches for people who are still into that). Here’s what you’ll need:
Jewellery wire sounds promising, but not the types sold in Spotlight. Jewellery supply stores such as https://www.firemountaingems.com/shop/wire_wrapping_wire supply a bewildering range of compositions, gauges, and hardnesses. What is “half hard”? sounds promising.
14 gauge is 1.63 mm diameter. 18 gauge is 1.02 mm diameter. So perhaps a full soft 14 gauge wire or a half hard 18 gauge wire?
A google search for the type of wire that paper clips are made from turns up nothing (the top hit is a computer game). Perhaps I can try annealing/normalising paper clips on a gas stove, bending the result using a nail board, then work hardening them by hitting with a hammer or harden by quenching?
mollwollfumble said:
What is “half hard”? sounds promising.
At my age, unlikely.
In the case of wire it is softer but work hardens.
mollwollfumble said:
A big problem with Covid face masks is air escaping upwards irritating the eyes and fogging the glasses.
Instead of dicking around with nose clips, just wander down to the local chemist and get some anti-fog wipes…
> Instead of **cking around with nose clips, just wander down to the local chemist and get some anti-fog wipes…
They don’t actually work though, do they?
I’m made my first nose clip, using the type of steel wire used to tie up concrete reinforcing.
Nowhere near good enough yet, but the type of wire seems promising.
Cut two small pieces of foam to fill the space between your cheek and mask and and attach to the inner side of the mask. Much more comfortable than a peg on your nose.
fsm said:
Cut two small pieces of foam to fill the space between your cheek and mask and and attach to the inner side of the mask. Much more comfortable than a peg on your nose.
+1
roughbarked said:
fsm said:
Cut two small pieces of foam to fill the space between your cheek and mask and and attach to the inner side of the mask. Much more comfortable than a peg on your nose.
+1
Foam! Yes, what a great idea.
I had tried cardboard, but that didn’t work, obviously.
mollwollfumble said:
roughbarked said:
fsm said:
Cut two small pieces of foam to fill the space between your cheek and mask and and attach to the inner side of the mask. Much more comfortable than a peg on your nose.
+1
Foam! Yes, what a great idea.
I had tried cardboard, but that didn’t work, obviously.
Or I could just duck down to Rebel sports and buy this.
Could you wear contacts?
If you’ve got a soldering iron, you could bend braided copper wire (desoldering braid?) to the shape you want and fill with solder to stiffen.
Padded Aluminium finger splints are widely available.
For a perfect fit, use normal plaster of paris bandage (cut into narrow strips, wet, shape into nose / cheeks, set).
Pour wax onto face, allow to harden, make a lost-wax aluminium casting.
…Or just go with the pipecleaners.
A 50:50 mix of gelatin and milk makes an excellent temporary skin glue if you can’t cope with surgical tapes. Mix, warm in microwave, mix, glue.
Rule 303 said:
Could you wear contacts?If you’ve got a soldering iron, you could bend braided copper wire (desoldering braid?) to the shape you want and fill with solder to stiffen.
Padded Aluminium finger splints are widely available.
For a perfect fit, use normal plaster of paris bandage (cut into narrow strips, wet, shape into nose / cheeks, set).
Pour wax onto face, allow to harden, make a lost-wax aluminium casting.
…Or just go with the pipecleaners.
Not sure I’d want to wrap lead solder around my nose where it can contact skin for long periods.
There are stiffer copper wires or you could pull some through a draw plate, it work hardens quite well.
roughbarked said:
Rule 303 said:
Could you wear contacts?If you’ve got a soldering iron, you could bend braided copper wire (desoldering braid?) to the shape you want and fill with solder to stiffen.
Padded Aluminium finger splints are widely available.
For a perfect fit, use normal plaster of paris bandage (cut into narrow strips, wet, shape into nose / cheeks, set).
Pour wax onto face, allow to harden, make a lost-wax aluminium casting.
…Or just go with the pipecleaners.
Not sure I’d want to wrap lead solder around my nose where it can contact skin for long periods.
There are stiffer copper wires or you could pull some through a draw plate, it work hardens quite well.
I like those ideas.
I tried pouring glue onto face, but it stung badly and didn’t harden properly. I also tried making a cardboard nose to fit under mask, not a success.
Designing the shape of a wire support to attach mask tightly over nose. Humorous enough to post here. Sill a bit more fitting to go.
roughbarked said:
Rule 303 said:
Could you wear contacts?If you’ve got a soldering iron, you could bend braided copper wire (desoldering braid?) to the shape you want and fill with solder to stiffen.
Padded Aluminium finger splints are widely available.
For a perfect fit, use normal plaster of paris bandage (cut into narrow strips, wet, shape into nose / cheeks, set).
Pour wax onto face, allow to harden, make a lost-wax aluminium casting.
…Or just go with the pipecleaners.
Not sure I’d want to wrap lead solder around my nose where it can contact skin for long periods.
There are stiffer copper wires or you could pull some through a draw plate, it work hardens quite well.
Modern solders are usually 99% Tin, 1% Copper.
NYC study concludes COVID-19 is as deadly as the 1918 Spanish Flu
Eric Topol, from the Scripps Research Translational Institute, is suggesting another, more ominous, perspective on these comparative numbers. Speaking to the New York Times, Topol says, taking into account all the modern medical innovations that save lives today, it is concerning that COVID-19 is delivering even similar death rates to the Spanish Flu.
“There was no such thing as an intensive care unit, there was no ventilator, there was nothing,” says Topol. “I mean, they basically had masks and distancing. We have so much more, and yet the mortality is roughly comparable.”
In the conclusion to the latest analysis from Faust and his colleagues, it is suggested the goal of this analysis was to help people contextualize the, “unusual magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Understanding the significance of the unfolding pandemic is the first step towards working to decrease transmission.
https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/nyc-coronavirus-deaths-compared-spanish-flu-pandemic/
