Mosquito Net With Magnets for Van Window

by perec3 in Outside > Camping

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Mosquito Net With Magnets for Van Window

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I’m writing this Instructible to help van dwellers sleep with a breeze in summer while keeping the buggers away!

It's pretty simple but works wonders.

Materials needed:

- Mosquito netting, sold in ardware stores by the meter/yard or rolls (https://www.amazon.com/Gardeningwill-Mosquito-Barrier-Hunting-Netting/dp/B00MB8YH2Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534509056&sr=8-3&keywords=mosquito+net+roll)

- Soldering iron. (If you don't have one, you may be able to do it heating a screwdiver head with a lighter)

- Neodimium Magnets 10 x 3 mm (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0796FDYZ8/ref=twister_B077L2Y36K?_encoding=UTF8&th=1)

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* Place moquito netting over the window and mark with permanent marker the location of the magnets, spaced by about 15 cm (6 in) from each other, and making sure each corner has one magnet.

* Cut netting around the marks, leaving an extra 3 cm (1 1/4 in)

I was going to sew the seams and the pockets for the magnets, but thought the soldering iron would do a much quicker job. As it turns out, I was right, but it took a bit of practice to get the temperature and pressure right. These will depend on how thick your netting is and it's composition. With a spare piece, practice until you get it right. In my case, it takes about twice the pressure as you would use with a writing pen, and about twice the speed of (my) hand writing.

RIght after you have passed the iron, press with your fingers to make a good seal.

* Using soldering iron, mark a pocket around each mark, leaving the pocket open at the top to insert the magnet.

* Continue with soldering iron to seam between each pocket

* Insert the magnets in the pockets, and do the final sealing with the iron. Magnets do what they do... so they will try to jump to the soldering iron, or viceversa, so you can hold the magnet down with a clip or clothespeg.

Done!

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Now you can leave your window open and sleep with a breeze.

I'm going to do the same for one of the back doors of the van, so that I can have an air current on hot summer nights.

Future improvement: Next line of defense in the form of a thermo-nuclear device tripped by detection of mosquito wing beating frequency