Why N95 masks are hard to make • Hacker News Board

Re: Why N95 masks are hard to make

#361

Post by chuckledog » Mon, Mar 23, 2020, 5:01 AM UTC

jennyyang wrote: post #115

chuckledog wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is quite is quite a bit of information readily available about sterilizing disposable N95 masks with UV-C light. While not nearly as good as a fresh mask, this might be a preferable alternative to reusing the same mask unsterilized. https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(18)30140-8/pd... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4699414/ https://www.peakprosperity.com/forum-topic/can-uv-light-disi...…

We actually bought 2 UVC light bulbs just to sterilize my masks. We only have a handful, and believed early on that UVC could make them reusable, but have no proof. But using them is very hard. They produce ozone which is harmful to your lungs, and the light themselves are harmful to your eyes and skin. So I don't have a safe way to set this up yet. Now that we are all quarantined maybe we can have more time to figur…

@jennyyang did you make your UVC setup yet? Here is what I wound up with over the weekend https://twitter.com/choser/status/1241933729536200709?s=21 I also found the system a bit hazardous and am treating it with more respect now. It seems pretty powerful even at 13W. I was sterilizing my masks for 2 hours, now am just doing one minute per side.

Re: Why N95 masks are hard to make

#362

Post by coldtea » Mon, Mar 23, 2020, 10:26 PM UTC

simonh wrote: post #346

piokoch wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"quality of life" what's that, that's a question. Does buying new car every 3 years is a condition for a good life quality? New iPhone every 2 years? Pair of shoes/trousers or fashionable t-shirt every month? Maybe people will just discover that driving older car does not really deteriorate their life quality and new iPhone does not really matter, it just allows Apple to put more cash on the huge pile they already ha…

Dude, if you don’t want a new phone don’t buy one. It’s ok. Nobody will get upset.

It's about the quality of life on a society that prioritizes gadgets and BS consumption, not about what one can do as individual.

Even if one doesn't "buy a new phone" it's still affected by a society hell bent on such trivia.

Re: Why N95 masks are hard to make

#363

Post by droithomme » Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 5:18 AM UTC

_2d30 wrote: post #19

droithomme wrote: post #9

I made a dozen good homemade masks in a few hours, and I am inept at sewing. With some practice I could make 200 a day. There's no point to doing so, it would be illegal for me to sell them. US is doing nothing whatsoever to ramp up mask or ventilator production. It's going to result in a lot of deaths.

Of a material that is sufficient to meet the standards of N95 masks?

Here's some info about N95 specific materials.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/8149292...

N95 is a high standard. N99 higher still. (Why not adopt that then?) There are also other mitigation efforts available not as good as N95 that are massively better than nothing and which are also attainable.

Insinuating as you have that only N95 is acceptable and nothing else whatsoever is acceptable means that millions will die in your universe since N95 is in the actual universe we live in unavailable at present. The perfect is the enemy of the good. But hey let's hold out for that perfection and then watch as the world incinerates.