DIY Cloth Mask Tutorial - Simple, No Pleat Design

Table of Contents:

1. Premise
2. Advisory
3. Machine Sewing – Basic Guide
4. Hand Sewing – Basic Guide
5. Material Selection
6. Making a DIY Cloth Mask
7. Usage Instructions
8. Miscellaneous Information & Resources

Premise

This guide to making cloth masks is part of a ‘community protection’ containment strategy for COVID-19. COVID-19’s most useful tool is the unknown infected individual. Some people who catch the coronavirus are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic – this allows them to slip past our current containment strategies and unknowingly spread the virus in public.

However, if everyone wears a reusable mask (e.g. a cloth mask) in public, the unknown infected individuals will also be masked, limiting their ability to spread the virus widely.

Although a cloth mask is not very effective at protecting its wearer from catching the virus, it is very effective at containing the contaminated aerosol issuing from an infectious individual. In addition, any contaminants that escape from the mask will also not be able to travel very far.

This strategy calls for YOU to wear a mask in public to protect others in case you are a silent carrier. If everyone does this, protection will be conferred on the entire community.

Please share this information and make a cloth mask for yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues and start wearing them. The more masks you put on other people, the more protected everybody is. This strategy will help slow infection rates, even in areas where the virus is already free spreading. Together with other properly executed containment strategies such as social distancing, good hygiene, contact tracing and self-quarantine, it is even possible to reverse the situation in affected communities.

Advisory

1. Do NOT put masks on individuals who cannot remove them without assistance. This includes infants and the frail elderly; it is a suffocation hazard to them.
2. DO refrain from wearing masks if you experience genuine breathing difficulties with it.
3. Do NOT sleep with a mask on, this is very dangerous.
4. For the majority of us who are able to wear a mask, DO understand that a seemingly healthy individual may have underlying medical problems that precludes them from wearing a mask.
5. Do NOT apply any type of ‘waterproof spray’ on the mask. These substances have been linked to respiratory damage and may cause you problems in the long run.
6. Do NOT wear a cloth mask to a high risk area such as hospitals and clinics (unless you really do not have access to surgical or N95 masks).
7. Do NOT hoard cloth masks and the materials used to make them. Remember that everyone needs to wear a mask for the strategy to be effective. Buy what you need and leave the rest for others.
8. When shopping for fabric, do NOT put the product to your face to check if the fabric is ‘breathable’. This is very unhygienic and puts you and others at risk of infection. 
9. Same goes when shopping for cloth masks; do NOT try them on.
10. Wash you mask BEFORE using it for the first time.
11. DO continue to practice social distancing, good hygiene and follow the quarantine/lockdown instructions of your government.

Machine Sewing – Basic Guide

Sewing Machine 101:

• Basic sewing machines use a needle and mechanisms to work 2 threads into a stitch.
• The top thread comes from a spool and the bottom thread comes from a bobbin, which is essentially a smaller plastic spool. 
• You will need to fill the bobbin with thread from the main spool (there is a mechanism in every sewing machine for this to achieve the correct tension) and load both threads into the machine.
• Every sewing machine is slightly different, so consult your manual on how to do this.

Parts of a Sewing Machine:

• Foot Controller: 
• Sewing machines come with a foot pedal that you press to get the machine going. 
• The amount of pressure you place on the foot pedal will dictate how fast the machine goes.
• Balance/Hand Wheel: 
• Turning the balance wheel does the same thing as what pressing the foot controller does. 
• The wheel allows you to adjust the needle position and fine tune the stitch. 
• In most sewing machines, turning the balance wheel towards you (counterclockwise) makes the machine stitch forwards and vice versa. 
• There is usually a marking on the balance wheel that, when lined up with a marking on the sewing machine, indicates that the needle it at its highest point.
• Needle Assembly:
• This is the assembly that moves up and down to make the stitch.
• During operation, ensure that your fingers do NOT go under the needle when it is moving.
• Turn the balance wheel a full circle and take note of the components that move up and down, you do NOT want your hand to be in the way of these components during operation.
• Presser Foot:
• This is a metal foot that holds the fabric down during sewing.
• It works in tandem with the feed dog below to move the cloth forwards or backwards.
• There is a lever to engage/disengage the presser foot (i.e. move it up and down). 
• You move the presser foot up, put your fabric underneath it and engage the presser foot to lock the fabric in place.
• Reverse Sewing Lever:
• Pressing this lever will make the machine sew backwards.
• This can be done while the machine is in operation – stitches done without pressing the lever will be forward stitches and stitches done with the lever pressed will be reverse stitches (the feed dogs will move the cloth backwards).
• Pattern Selection Dial:
• This allows you to select the stitch pattern on your sewing machine.
• Only turn the dial when the needle is at its highest point and not in any fabric. This is because the needle will shift position when you rotate the dial and may get damaged if it is engaged.

Making Stitches:

• Move the needle to it’s highest point.
• Select the stitch pattern you want with the pattern selection dial.
• Load the top and bottom threads.
• Disengage the presser foot, place the fabric under the presser foot and engage the presser foot.
• Turn the balance wheel forward (counterclockwise) to sink the needle into the fabric.
• Press lightly on the foot controller and make around 5 forward stitches.
• Press the reverse sewing lever and make around the same number of stitches backwards. This is called a backstitch.
• A backstitch serves to lock the ends of the thread in place via the mess of thread it creates.
• Release the reverse sewing lever and continue to sew forwards.
• At the end of the stitch, do another backstitch to lock the other end of the thread in place (stitch to the end, reverse stitch around 5 stitches and forward stitch again till the end of the stitch).
• Disengage the presser foot, take the cloth out and cut the threads. You should leave a decent amount of thread (5cm or more) behind. (disengaging the presser foot allows you to pull more thread freely through the machine).
• Let the excess thread fall towards the back of the sewing machine so it does not get stuck in your next stitch.

Hemming:

• The bare ends of a piece of fabric are prone to fraying – individuals threads pull out easily and the fabric begins to unravel.
• Hemming is a basic sewing operation that prevents fraying.
• One of the most basic hems is a double fold hem.
• The end of the cloth is folded in twice, this hides the end of the fabric inside the fold and protects it from damage.
• The fold is then stitched to prevent it from coming apart.
• Use small clips (e.g. paper clips) or pins to hold the fold in place before stitching.
• Remove the clips/pins as it nears the needle of your sewing machine. Do NOT stitch over pins or clips. This will damage the needle.
• You can also iron the folds so that they hold better. This will result in better work, but is not absolutely necessary.

Miscellaneous

• Threading a Needle:
• If you have trouble getting a thread through the needle, cut a little off the end of the thread with a pair of sharp scissors. 
• This is because the end of the thread tends to fray over time and the little hairs sticking out prevent the thread from going through the eye of the needle easily.
• If you are still having trouble, apply a little water to the end of the thread and straighten it (by twisting it) before trying again.
• Cutting Cloth:
• Using a pair of sharp scissors to cut your cloth will give much better results.
• Try to align the cloth pattern with the direction of the threads (i.e. straight lines should be parallel with the horizontal or vertical threads as much as possible).
• Marking Cloth:
• You can use a pencil to mark your cloth.
• Professionals use tailor’s chalk to mark their cloth. This can be purchased at any sewing store.
• White chalk is used to mark dark cloth and colored chalk is used to mark light cloth.
• If you are making many masks, cut out a piece of cardboard to create a template for marking.
• Pins & Needles:
• If you are using pins or loose needles, prepare something (e.g. a pincushion, magnet or sponge) to stick them to when not in use.
• Count out a specific number of pins and make sure that the exact same number go back into the container when you are done. 
• Use a torchlight and magnet to find any missing pins before your foot finds them!

Hand Sewing – Basic Guide

For those who do not have access to a sewing machine, you can stitch the mask by hand.

Thimbles:

• In addition to a needle and thread, you might want to get a thimble. 
• A thimble is basically a protective cap that is put around the finger (typically the middle finger) that pushes the needle through the fabric.
• You can buy a thimble from the store or make one out of scrap leather or a similar material.

Double Threading your Needle:

• After threading your needle, pull the end of the thread through to match the other end of the thread and tie them together.
• This is called double threading; each stitch you make will now have 2 threads running through it
• This is stronger than a single threaded stitch.

Backstitch:

• This is a strong stitch that is easy to do.
• Start the stitch by making a few stationary backstitches:
• This involves putting a few stitches through the same position (around 5 times), looping them around to create a small mess of threads.
• This locks the ends of the thread in place.
• While looping the threads, create a knot (by passing the thread through the previous loop) somewhere in the middle to secure the stationary backstitch further.
• Continue by stitching forward:
• Thread the needle through the fabric to the other side [Hole 1]
• Thread the needle back through the fabric to the original side around 5mm forward [Hole 2]
• Bring the needle back to [Hole 1] and thread the needle through to the other side.
• Thread the needle back through to the original side 5mm forward of [Hole 2] to make [Hole 3].
• Bring the needle back to [Hole 2] and thread the needle through to the other side.
• Thread the needle back through to the original side 5mm forward of [Hole 3] to make [Hole 4].
• Continue this pattern of sewing till you reach the end of your stitch.
• Make sure to pull the thread fully through and tension each stitch.
• If the stitches wrinkle up, you are over tensioning the stitch.
• Finish the stitch by making a few stationary backstitches as with the start of the stitch to secure the ends of the thread.

Material Selection

Thread: 

• If you are using a sewing machine, purchase thread of a decent quality. Poor quality thread tends to snap often when used in a machine.
• For aesthetic purposes, select a thread that matches the color of your cloth. 

Fabric:

• Choose a breathable fabric for your mask. Fabrics made out of cotton (e.g. denim, drill cotton, quilting cotton, calico cotton...) are usually a good choice.
• You can also use non-woven polypropylene for the outer layer, which some reusable grocery/tote bags are made out of. This material is hydrophobic and may provide additional protection.
• Choose a thinner cloth for comfort if you are making a 2 layer mask (which this tutorial is about).
• Choose a thicker cloth if you are making a 1 layer mask.
• You may choose to make the masks from your old clothes instead of going out to buy new fabric.

Elastic Band:

• A thinner band (4mm or less in width) has more aesthetic appeal, but may be less comfortable.
• A thicker band (5mm or more in width) is more comfortable as it will help spread the pressure out over a larger surface area.
• You may also use string or rubber bands in place of elastic bands if none is available.

Metal Strip (For Nose Bridge):

• Twist tie is a good option. You should be able to find some around your house.
• Alternatively, you can recycle the nose bridge from a used surgical or N95 mask. Remember to wash them first.

Making a DIY Cloth Mask

• This is a very simple, no pleat cloth mask design that features straight cuts and stitches only.
• There are 2 components to the mask: the main body and the pocket.
• The main body is the front of the mask and will house the nose bridge and elastic straps.
• The pocket of the mask is a smaller piece of fabric that is sewn onto the back of the main body. This will create a 2 ply mask with a pocket for additional filter material.
• All measurements used here are in millimeters (mm).

Sewing the Main Body:

• Sew a double fold hem (12mm) into the top and bottom of the main body.
• Insert the metal strip (e.g. twist tie) for the nose bridge into the pocket formed by the top hem.
• Sew a double fold hem into the left and right sides of the main body. This is where the elastic straps will go through.
• Your sewing machine may have trouble stitching the left and right hems at the ends where they intersect with the top and bottom hems. 
• To fix this, sew the ends separately using your sewing machine’s buttonhole stitch function – the stitch that forms the top and the bottom of a buttonhole is perfect for securing the ends.

Sewing the Pocket:

• Sew a double fold hem into the top of the pocket.
• Align the pocket with the main body.
• Tuck the sides in once and sew the pocket to the main body.
• A double fold hem here is not necessary as the edge of the fabric is fairly protected by being inside the pocket.

Threading the Elastic Strap:

• Choose between ear loops and straps that go around the back of your head (recommended)
• Although ear loops are less conspicuous, they may turn out to be quite irritating after a while.
• Having straps that go around the back of your head results in a mask with a tighter fit. The straps can be also adjusted if a particular area gets sore. This is recommended for long term wear.
• For ear loops, cut two lengths of elastic band and thread them through the pockets formed by the double hems on the left and the right side and tie them off.
• For straps that go around the back of your head, cut an elastic strap around 55cm long. Thread it through the top of the left hem, out the bottom of the left hem, through the bottom of the right hem and back up through the top of the right hem. Tie the ends of the elastic band off.
• Use a metal wire with a loop on one end to get the elastic strap through the fold. If you don’t have metal wire at home, you can use a thin wooden stick or sacrifice one of your clothes hangers.

Usage Instructions

• Put the cloth mask on and ‘pull’ on the straps.
• The left and right sides of the mask should ‘wrinkle’ up to form the ‘pleats’ you see in standard surgical masks.
• Wear a cloth mask when you are in public spaces whenever possible.
• Try to minimize the time you spend in public without a mask – for example, when you are eating or drinking, sit down and finish your meal, do not walk down the street munching on snacks.

Washing Your Masks:

• Wash your mask after every use.
• Remove your mask gently to avoid dislodging any contaminants from it.
• Place your cloth mask in a container of soapy water.
• Gently lather/rub additional soap into the mask.
• Let the mask sit in the soapy water for a while (15 minutes) so that they soap can reach all corners of the mask and do its job.
• You can now place your mask in the washing machine or continue to hand wash your mask in a fresh container of soapy water.
• Alternatively, you can also boil your masks for 10 minutes. However, note that some fabric materials (e.g. elastic straps) do not respond well to repeated boiling. Boil a single test mask first to see if this method works for your masks.

Miscellaneous Information & Resources

• There are many other mask designs out on the internet – go look for them and sew your favorite!
• You may use items such as bandanas and balaclavas as temporary substitutes for a cloth mask.

• Another temporary solution would be to wash and reuse surgical and N95 masks.
• Washing in this case should be ‘acceptable’ as exclusion is no longer a priority in this strategy – a washed mask will still be effective at containment.
• This should only be applied to masks worn in the general public where potential exposure to COVID-19 is usually transient and limited.
• Please dispose of any surgical or N95 masks worn in a high-risk area.
• However, in the long term, the use of cloth masks would be preferable as it will not put a strain on the mask supply for medical professionals.

• Additional article on cloth masks & community protection for further reading:
• https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1141/rr-1

Written by Brian Ong from Singapore, March 2020.


Print the following 1:1 scale mask patterns on A4 paper (full size).

Hydra - Your Plant Care Companion Part 2

So the last post left us with the question of how to deliver different amounts of water reliably to multiple pots of plants, given that gravity plays a major role in how water flows through a network of tubes. There are a few indoor watering systems out there that try to solve the gravity problem in different ways:

1. Capillary Action Systems:

• Very simple.
• Low cost.
• No electricity required.

• Usually requires one water source per pot (messy, not good for many plants).
• Soil is kept moist around the clock (plants prefer a wet-dry-wet-dry cycle).
• Size of water source is limited (most of these systems come with the water container attached).

2. Gravity Drip Systems:

• Water source needs to be installed on top of the plants (not discreet, refill & maintenance troublesome).
• Size of water source somewhat limited (how much water are you going to put up there?)
• Systems on the market ran on batteries and gave the same amount of water to each plant.

3. Pressure Drip Systems:

• Requires powerful pump or connection to the water mains.
• Some systems had trouble with the tubing popping out.
• Watering volume is controlled by varying the aperture size of the outlet, which is not very precise.

So how do we create an indoor watering system that can deliver varying amounts of water accurately to multiple potted plants? The only solution was to either have a separate pump for each plant or a solenoid or pinch valve array to control the water flow from one pump.

After a lot of digging, I found a manufacturer of (relatively) cheap, but strong pumps. I won't reveal exactly what pumps they are, but despite their small size and price, these pumps could:

• Prime themselves,
• Draw water up to over 2.25m in height,
• Ingest small particles,
• Survive 2 accelerated life tests (5 & 10 years) with no problems.

Best of all, the pumps used common aquarium air tubing that is small, discreet, cheap and readily available. In comparison, a solenoid array system would have cost slightly more and is prone to failure if the sole pump breaks down. These beauties were definitely the way to go!

Now, the pumps need to be controlled, and for that, I decided to employ an Arduino based system. Arduino is an open source electronic prototyping platform based on a microcontroller and a simplified programming language. Although the platform is simple enough to be understood by children, it is very powerful when taken to its full potential. The electronics it is based on is also solid technology.

An Arduino Uno

To give a brief overview of how an Arduino works, the microcontroller has multiple 'pins'. These pins can either act as 'input' or 'output' pins. An input pin can 'measure' the voltage it is 'receiving' (which is then interpreted by the program to mean something, e.g. a button press) whiles an output pin can be instructed by the program to deliver a specific voltage (which may then trigger something else, e.g. an LED turning on). By using these two types of pins as 'building blocks', one can create complex systems to do a wide variety of tasks.

Since the pumps required much more energy than the Arduino pins could supply, the prototype utilized mechanical relays to control the pumps. The switches basically have small electromagnets (controlled by the Arduino) that close the main circuit when activated, thus turning the pumps on. However, these made quite a bit of noise, so the decision was made to switch to a silent alternative for the final product (which I won't reveal).

Mechanical Relay Array (Prototype)

A custom printed circuit board (PCB) was designed for the final product. It was based off the Arduino microcontroller and incorporated the microcontroller chip, buttons, a 16x2 LCD screen, electronic switches for the pumps, protective circuits and the ICSP all on one board.

Electronic Circuit Prototyping - The Messy Truth!

A standard Arduino Uno board is not that hard to understand if you break it down into sections:

1. Power Input - Contains protection components such as decoupling capacitors, a diode for polarity protection and a resettable fuse for overcurrent protection (the Hydra PCB contains all of these components) as well as a MOSFET to regulate the voltage coming in.
2. Microcontroller to USB - Enables the microcontroller to communicate via USB. This involves a separate controller chip to mediate and a few resistors in between.
3. Microcontroller to ICSP - Enables the microcontroller to be programmed via In Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP). This is basically a simple 6-pin connection that is an alternative to the USB. Think of the USB as a grand entrance to a building and the ICSP as a backdoor.
4. Microcontroller Circuit - Contains the actual microcontroller and its crystal (a separate component which the microcontroller uses to measure time).
5. LED - All Arduino boards come with a controllable on-board LED.

An Arduino Uno being programmed via ICSP

I won't go into details about the actual PCB design here, but for those of you who want to try your hand at it, there are two great programs out there, EAGLE and KiCad. I built the circuit in EAGLE at first, but had to switch over to KiCad as the PCB was too large for EAGLE - I had to pay for a premium version of EAGLE to work on a larger PCB; KiCad on the other hand is totally free.

Hydra's Custom PCB

That will be all for this post, look out for the next one on injection molding and supplier sourcing :)

Hydra - Your Plant Care Companion Part 1

This is my first Kickstarter project featuring an automated indoor plant care system :D Since there is a lot of content to blog about, this will be split into a few posts spanning the length of the Kickstarter campaign, which starts today! The topic of this first post will cover my motivations for starting this project and challenges encountered when building the alpha prototype.

For those of you interested viewing the project on Kickstarter, here is the link:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1051087821/1554417840?token=43e4953d

Also, if you guys find this interesting, I would be sincerely happy if y'all help spread the project via our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/plantcarecompanion

Now, I started this project as architecture school was getting really busy and my plants were getting neglected as a result. As I could not find a suitable system in the market to take care of my 20+ plants, I decided to come up with some watering automation of my own. The idea to put it on Kickstarter was on the back of my mind, but I needed to get the device to work first.

The aim of the game was to create a simple, compact watering system that could be installed anywhere. The water source would be a bucket on the ground and there would be a pump that sucks it up to distribute many potted plants, so I ordered a few peristaltic pumps to test the concept out.

For those of you who don't know, peristaltic pumps mimic the motion of peristalsis (the action that makes food move down our gullet and through our intestines) to move liquid through a flexible tube. Compared to the common centrifugal pumps, peristaltic pumps have no problem switching on and off frequently and are much more precise, which makes them more suitable for laboratory and medical applications.

However, I was soon to learn about gravity! It turns out that branching the outlet of the peristaltic pump into many different tubes to water many plants will not cut it as the all water will flow out of the tube outlet closest to the ground, no two ways about it!

One option would have been to make the outlets very small (basically pinhole) and use pressure in the tubes to even things out. However, we found that even with this, the bottom-most outlet was still favored and it would have been very hard to quantify the amount of water each plant received. In addition, one watering system in the market did exactly this and reviews did mention tubes popping out due to the pressure involved!

To find out how I solved this problem, stay tuned for the next blog post!

Cheers,
Brian.

Fish Tank Stand

Hi, I just finished architecture school (with a masters) so I FINALLY have time to update this blog. I did a few projects since my last post so do look out for DIY fish tank lights, a cello with a broken neck and my next series of posts (right after this one) that will feature my first Kickstarter project!

Now, onto this project, it's a 2' x 1.5' fish tank stand (height: 3') made out of Kapur dimensional lumber, plywood and blockboard. 

The Kapur lumber was recycled from 2 previous fish tank stands I made (they were one of my first woodworking projects, even before the plywood bookshelves). Those creations were wayy over-engineered so I took them apart and trimmed the salvaged lumber down to size for use in this project. The plywood and lumber were spare pieces found in my school's fabrication lab so this a 100% reused wood project!

For those of you who don't know blockboard, it is a much lighter alternative to plywood (and particle board or MDF for that matter), although it does not have the strips at the side which I like to exploit in plywood for visual effect. It is not as strong as plywood, but is excellent for bracing in projects like these where the stress exerted on the material is not too high.

Structurally, the tank is held up by 4 'pillars' of solid kapur wood. The top structure is made out of kapur wood 'beams', one along each side and one across the middle of the rectangle to support the span of plywood in between. The entire structure is braced on all sides (except the bottom) with either plywood or blockboard.

Being a 2' x 1.5' tank, I would expect this stand to hold up a 2' x 1.5' x 2' fish tank, which should weigh in at around 200 - 225 kg with the weight of the glass and substrate factored in.

The stand was designed with a double leaf door and 2 openings at the side for wires, air tubes and pipes to find their way in. The openings also serve to ventilate the interior of the cabinet if a sump (a secondary tank that connects the primary aquarium, a sump serves to hold aquarium equipment and misbehaving fish) were to be placed there.

The stand has held a 1' x 1' x 1' nano reef tank for the past year or so and serves as a hub for the power chords all the rest of my aquariums use. Now I am finished with architecture school, I may consider upgrading the reef tank in the near future :)

IKEA TEGEL

Hej!

I recently participated in the IKEA Young Designer's Award 2014 (http://www.singapore-ikea.com/yda/index.php) and got into the finals! Here is a glimpse into the concept and prototype of IKEA TEGEL:

IKEA TEGEL is a modular furniture concept. Users stack rectangular TEGEL Bocks, which come in various sizes, on top of each other to form anything from a bookshelf to a TV stand to a shoe rack in any size they want. Furniture designed with TEGEL can also curve around corners and funny edges, depending on how you orient the blocks. The smaller TEGEL blocks are also sturdy enough to be abused as stools and foot rests!

Each block is made out of 18mm melamine coated plywood and finished off with white PVC edge banding. The blocks all have a standardized depth of 25 cm (enough for most books), but vary in height and length.

Each TEGEL bock is simple to put together. A simple butt joint connects the top, bottom and sides of the block (2 screws per joint) and is reinforced with a flat L bracket that sits flush against the surface. The L bracket should ideally be made out of steel but I settled for laser cut 5mm acrylic for the prototype instead as flat L brackets are hard to find in the right size and expensive.

Altogether, I made 21 TEGEL blocks of varying sizes, cutting 366 grooves for the L brackets, drilling 1176 holes and screwing 504 screws. The entire manufacturing process from cutting the plywood (supplied in long planks) to edge banding and cleaning took 7 days and cost about $250.

To bring the idea of TEGEL further, I also conceptualize 'special' blocks that would include features such as lighting (for plants, a small fish tank or for display pieces) and a glass cabinet door so that people can really play around with the concept of modular furniture! What's even better about TEGEL is that it can be rearranged, making it highly reusable and environmentally friendly.

The TEGEL blocks are on exhibition at IKEA Tampines (2^nd Level) from the 21^st of March to the 3^rd of April 2014. Please VOTE for the best design!

To Vote:

http://www.singapore-ikea.com/yda/index.php

Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bOGAB5E4t5A

Courtesy of IKEA Singapore

Courtesy of IKEA Singapore

IKEA TEGEL. Design your own furniture.