Advanced DIY Face Mask from Coffee Filters

While one can find many more such builds, I was confident I could make a better one.

I started by tracing the form of the foldable N95 masks and used materials that are quite commonly available.Assembly of the mask can be done with tape, glue or even staples.

The Needed Materials:

Two Coffee filters of the large size (no.4 cones).

Elastic Sawing Ribbon (18inches or 45cm( or even Rubber Bands.

A non-woven absorbent material like a non-woven gauze. In my case I used Burn Dressing that is synthetic too.

A Bread Bag Tie.

A piece of Self Adhesive Foam Weather Stripping.

The general idea was to make encapsulate the absorbing material between tow layers by the coffee filters. Thus the absorbent material will be holding the airborne droplets moisture will the coffee filters will offer form and stiffness and hopefully an inner barrier.

Not exactly an N95 mask, but a lot better than the common surgical masks.

Building the Mask

Start with the coffee filters, and use the picture or the template to trace the shape

The template can be downloaded from here: Mediafire - Template 1.

Cut and Remove the pieces with the drawn Xs. Fold according to the instructions.

Use glue or hold by tape.

To cut the proper shape of the inner protective layer, use six to eight layers of the nonwoven material by using the photo or this tracing template: Mediafire - Template 2

A tip: Since coffee filters are just paper, do reinforce the inner filter by some tape on the nose bridge area.

To assemble start with the inner layer, lay the middle on top and cover with the outer coffee filter layer. Glue them together on the rim, or fix with tape or staples.

The templates allow for a 5mm rim at the two filters edges to trap the inner layer.

Then you will have to glue the bread zip tie on the nose bridge area on the outer shell, and the foam padding tape on the inside of the mask in the same place.

Lastly Attach the Elastic Sawing Ribbon or Rubber Bands where shawn.

That is all! Time to remember your childhood paper crafts days....