As the world faces a pandemic of monumental proportions, hospitals have been hit hard. The dual problems of disrupted manufacturing and supply chains and huge spikes in demand have led to many medical centres running out of protective gear. Makers have stepped up to help in many ways by producing equipment, with varying results. [Packy] has shared a link to a 3D-printable face shield that, unlike some designs floating around, is actually approved by the National Institute of Health in the USA.
The shield consists of a 3D printed headband, which is then coupled with a transparent piece of plastic for the face shield itself. This can be lasercut, or sourced from a document cover or transparency sheet. The design is printable in PLA or a variety of other common materials, and can be assembled easily with office supplies where necessary.
The design is available from the NIH here. (Update: 4/1/2020 here’s an alternate link as original link seems to be suffering from heavy server load) For those eager to help out, it’s important to do so in an organised fashion that doesn’t unduly take resources away from healthcare professionals trying to get an important job done. We’ve seen other hacks too, such as these 3D printed ventilator components being rushed into service in Italy.
This is great if you want Qty 1 sometime later today. The same thing could probably be accomplished in a more expedient manner without the delay of 3D printing, though. The visor could be cut and folded from a readily available binder cover as well.
Field expedience needs to go without the 3D printer link until such time as they are so ubiquitous that we commonly see them in the garbage stream. Given our current culture, that shouldn’t take long.
I myself have found the current situation forcing my family to reconsider there ideas of waste and reuse, much to my delight.
My thoughts as well. By the time you get it tested and actually approved (I’m taking this as a provisional recommendation when there’s nothing else available) a manufacturer has already mass produced 1,000,000 units using traditional manufacturing techniques.
Of course if you have a pile of used face shields sitting around you could just cook them, boil them, send them to a radiation sterilization facility, etc. I’d probably do that before I used a non-approved face shield.
But I don’t work in medical field so what do I know. Maybe it’s not that simple.
It’s the 3D-printed hype that clouds judgment of everyone. 3D printing is great technology for prototyping and for making a single, custom parts. But it doesn’t scale and is useless for mass production. For that there are techniques such as injection molding, which can create quite complex shapes in seconds instead of hours. Even if parts have to be assembled, it would be faster and cheaper than 3D printing. Just because you have a hammer doesn’t turn everything into a nail…
The problem with insufficient supply of face shields is not caused by manufacturing bottleneck, but by logistics and distribution problems. Here I can buy one for equivalent of 8USD including shipping…
Used face shields can be just washed in a ultrasound cleaning tub filled with isopropyl alcohol or any other antiseptic liquid. Using heat like in conventional hospital sterilizers will destroy them…
while i agree on the 3d printing part in general, i must say that the shortage of medical equipment is not just a logistics problem. the factories are scaled to build a certain amount of product in a certain amount of time. that scale is oriented on the casual every day amount of product that is needed + maybe a buffer for let’s say 10% – 20%. everything else is just not economical. so if the need for said product raises up to 1000% beacuse…well corona, then all they can do is produce their 120% and also deliver all their stocks. in italy that moment was about 2(?) weeks ago and now the doctors don’t care if you give them a shield or a ventilator valve from effective and economical mass production or a bunch of 3d printed stuff from the local maker community. if a local maker community prints and assembles let’s say 20 shield a night on 10 printers, then they can deliver 140 shields per week. that can make a huge difference and that is all that these current actions aim for. nobody wants to replace mass production by 3d printing and the “hype” is long gone. this is about doing what you can to help.
on the other side i can imagine that this situation may change the way we see 3d printing an prototyping in a (maybe not only) medical context. a little printer or cnc shop (or farm) in the basement could provide important parts on demand for a hospital over night. cheaper and faster than finding a rare part and have it delivered even with express transport or a courier.
of course that does not work for every part and there sure is a lot of practical stuff (qa, testing..) and legal stuff like patents and licensing to be thought about, but if there is a need, the market will deliver and find a business modell to make this happen.
if corona shows one thing, it is that “we” can do so much more if we just do it all together and forget about personal and corporate greed for a moment.
Well put!
Tell that to the nurses and doctors intubating patients without a shield and using week old n95 masks. Three people with 3D printers can supply them with close to 50 shields a day while the local manufacturer is evaluating designs, having the SS injection molding tooling made, shield cutting tool made and waiting on suppliers. So tell the doctors and nurses about your theory of 3D-printed hype while they are protected by locally manufactured 3D printed shields and the production supply is still a month off.
I’m making 100 shields a day on two printers. I should have a third up and running in a couple days that I’ve specifically tooled up to push a lot of plastic. They won’t be pretty, but they’ll be fast to make. I’m reaching out to other area makers too. This is something I was able to decide to do last Wednesday and I had usable shields on Thursday. The funny thing is I’m an industrial automation engineer by trade. I could make a machine that could make 10x that much in an hour, but it would take at least 6 weeks to build if I rushed and expedited everything and had a normal supply chain. The 3D printing network is attempting to fill a gap right now between supply and demand that won’t ease up for weeks. Nobody is deluding themselves into thinking we solved a problem that can be crossed off a list.
“Tell that to the nurses and doctors intubating patients without a shield and using week old n95 masks.” Can you tell me who you’ve been talking to and where they work? I don’t mean to be a pest, I’ve just been going trough the comments on this article trying to hunt down specific information.
The reality is that this is not replacing the supply chain. This is filling a shortfall that the supply chain would have **ALWAYS** had in a bad spot like this with solid field expedient solutions.
This is one of those things that 3D printing actually helps with.
If you’re being dismissive, you’re just kidding yourself.
So says the guy who’s company makes the $1200 plastic valve which was in sort supply and was 3D printed and replaced for pennies. Not pennies on the dollar but literally a fraction of a dollar. Just kidding but it sounds like something THAT person would be saying.
we arent saying 3D printing is the best, what we are saying is that its simply a stopgap until those injection moulding places can ramp up.
Machining a mould takes a lot more time than simply loading an stl onto the printer. These things are happening together. Injection moulding will be the relief that takes the load off of the 3d printers
we have injection mold machine–need a mold to make face shields ,
3D Print one
complete nonsense – there is an army of hobbyist 3d printer enthusiasts able to make 1 mask in 20 mins. These guys are printing night and day to donate much needed masks to their local hospitals.
Yes it might be slow but if everyone teams up. As we are doing, a large amount can be printed. There is a shortage so anything helps.
Exactly … even a basic injection molding setup would *vastly* out perform even a 3d printing farm…
And a laser cutter isn’t even required… when you can just stamp 50 of them from a sheet a once at even a small scale… it is probably going to make sense to buy a die for that.
I’ve come up with a design for a face shield that uses perforated pallet strapping for the headband and overhead transparencies for the visor. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4246513 Per unit cost is less than $2.00 (perhaps even lower than $1.00) and takes less than 10 min to make. Not only that, the headbands are reusable. It’s not as pretty as many others, but outperforms in the low cost and easy to make categories. It’s also light and comfortable and can be bent to adjust to different head shapes.
The NIH says not to use overhead transparencies. They’re not stiff enough and they are distort the person’s vision.
If HAD is going to publish something like this, the least they can do is publish something informed.
We are building masks using transparencies and the places we are donating them to are glad to get them. We have given out over 1500 in one week. The NIH may say not to use them, but the hard truth is that there is no real easy alternative to get hundreds of shields to healthcare providers quickly.
Qty of 1 later today if you have one printer. If you have 300 (or more) distributed all over the place just churning these out they could be a viable last resort. I would however not discount the options of actual businesses shifting to producing gear in far greater quantities. (like the Bauer story linked by Tekkieneet). Same goes for all the heath-robinson ventilator devices people are coming up with. I know at least 2 companies (one of whom actually makes “real” ventilators” and the other with extensive knowledge in the design of medical devices cooperating with a different manufacturer) working on simplifying existing designs as much as they dare and optimise it for fast mass production. Production of “official” devices is ramping up already and more capacity is being created.
That’s exactly what we’re doing at Maker Nexus – we have over 300 people volunteering to print for us while traditional manufacturing gets their act together.
Instead of telling people how they could do better on random forums, it’d be great if you could turn your ideas into better iterative solutions on the things people have already done.
Check out the prusa research design. Already approved and the headbands print 4 or 8 up.
Face shield can be as simple as printer transparency material
Sadly, all the NIH states is “This design has undergone review in a clinical setting and is recommended when fabricated as instructed.” No further information on trails, results, reasoning. We don’t even know under what guidelines it has been approved.
Even if this is not important information for use of this specific (very slow to produce) design, it’s extremely important to know if you want to make any changes or want to use anywhere except in the US.
As an academic in Amsterdam, I’ve helped design a face shield that can be cut using a laser cutter in less than a minute using readily available materials. We’ve decided not to publish the design yet until it has been verified. (Which is much harder to do than design the damn thing). But you can be sure we’ll publish our design decisions, feedback etc once it is. Knowing why we chose not to do X is as essential as knowing we did Y.
Hurry up on publishing your “super efficient design”, you are going to need it to protect you from the tears of the all the old people that the Netherlands goverment will refuse to treat in hospitals.
My old 4 year old 3d printer from back when good 3d printers started being manufactured can make this mask in about an hour an a half, 3 in about 2 and a half. I can produce just under 10 masks in a day. Show me where you can order 10 face shields and have them delivered in 24 hours or less in the current crisis.
This was under options – “Clinicians and caregivers who have worn the device on service recommend the following additions to the headband to improve comfort: add a wrap of foam tape or “chest tube foam tape”, tape layers of gauze or a folded paper towel on the headband; dispose as necessary “
If you have verification / approval, PLEASE publish it a.s.a.p.
Have laser (BRM90120), ready to work seriously.
As soon as your design is verified / approved PLEASE share it a.s.a.p.
Have laser (decent BRM 90120), will work.
It is a face shield. What is there more to research?
right, because they are all the same. Foam headbands can’t be disinfected, nor can rubber straps. 10-20 minutes of assembling is not what you want when you’re already turning patients away. Shields which fall off the face are fine too because you can just pick them up and find another to put on right? Because they are all the same, all have the same fit, form and function. NOT.
Lotta rage on ya there boy. Simmer down son and listen….
NIH apprived shields are not perfect as is… the 3d printed material itself is going to be the most difficult to disinfect due to the ridges and layers, most of what I have heard of is commercial SLA printers being used since those don’t have that problem. By comparison rubber or elastic is trivial… since you can just treat it with alcohol and or UVC light or better yet both don’t over think things.
There is a link on the page to the FDA approving these items
A similar but much simpler approach has been taken by Delve, Midwest Prototyping and University of Wisconsin-Madison Makerspace: https://www.delve.com/insights/face-shield-designs-to-fill-the-gap
They avoid any 3D-printed parts which seems to scale much better.
The one you posted is basically what we get at my hospital. A simple plastic cover, foam to the forehead, and an elastic. We only need protection from vomit/coughing, etc, so it doesn’t have to be penetration or acid/corrosive proof. I don’t understand how manufacturers can’t churn out a million of these overnight.
prints in 35 minutes on an ender3( $200 )
https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/ using 3-hole punch version and rubber band
prints in 50 minutes on an ender3( $200 )
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4247532 requires no holes standard 8.5×11 clear sheet and a rubber band
I don’t think it’s a case of either/or, folks, but “as friggin’ many as possible”.
The Delve/U-Wisconsin shields are a fantastic quick-and-dirty solution, but the foam and elastic are going to make them 1-use only, right? Plus they have to be assembled.
The 3D frames for shields are awesome too, and given many more people have 3D printers than laser cutters, they can still help produce a substantial amount and if some minor part of laser production is set aside to cut specific faceshield to go with the frames, it would seem like the net outcome would still be positive.
When we finally get a laser-cut only solution, or die-cut, or injection molding, those are a going to be absolutely magnificent given the vast quantity manufacturers can potentially spit out. But I suspect smaller hospitals and non-hospital facilities – nursing homes, urgent care centers, etc., are going to continue to be desperate for any PPE for a while until the supply builds up and will welcome any option that can potentially protect their people.
Closed cell foam and elastic is no worse than 3d printed plastic itself… alcohol and UVC treatment may be good enough.
geez, you’re better off wearing a Jason Friday The 13th mask.. just put clear tape over the eye holes..lol.. how is this contraption supposed to filter out airborne particles ? All it’ll do is maybe shield your face from droplets..but not your cheeks, hair, etc, etc, etc.
It’s not meant to do all the things you say it can’t do and only to do the thing you say it can do. Almost like that’s what it was designed for and you should get a clue before insulting people.
It’s to prevent soiling of masks to lengthen mask lifespan. The mask you wear underneath is there to prevent inhalation of virus.
They’re to keep blood and other fluids from getting into eyes, noses and mouths.
BTW in case people haven’t read this already (Mar 27)
https://www.nj.com/devils/2020/03/coronavirus-update-nhl-equipment-maker-bauer-shifts-on-the-fly-produces-face-shields-for-first-responders.html
>As of Thursday morning, Bauer will begin mass-producing face shields using materials originally slated to make helmets and protective gear. The company, based in Exeter, N.H., will make them at two locations: Blainville, Quebec, and Liverpool, N.Y.
>Bauer CEO Ed Kinnaly told the Globe over the phone Wednesday that the company has orders from across the US and Canada, including New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and was sending prototypes to Massachusetts General Hospital.
The keyword here is mass production from a company that makes sports helmet. So expect that they know what they are doing and can move volumes.
Except Bauer is charging $3-4 each and a minimum order of 250.
They sell to hospitals and other facilities, so meeting minimum order and cost as long as it is within the norm will not be an issue.
$3-4 each is going to be pretty close to cost plus they are keeping there workforce employed and getting a paycheck at the same time minimum order of 250 is also no big deal for a Hospital.
Things cost money in the real world. They are likely making no profit at that level.
No, the key sentence here is “across the US and Canada”.
US is #1 on the virus cases, so looking after it and the manufacturer’s own back yard is very reasonable. Also they don’t have to deal with export and certification red tapes as that would take time. The other localized manufacturers should look after their own backyards too.
Where i live deliverys to hospitals have no need yet but nursing homes and companies that help elderly in their homes have been cut out of the supply lines. These masks have their uses for many that work outside of the hospitqls and are not first in line on the prioeites list
We have a small collective in Los Angeles printing the Prusa design for local hospitals and medical offices. When we inform them that they are not sanitized (by us), approved, or certified… they say “How many can you make”. Many places are well past the “official government approval” because their only other option is to use nothing. One office said they were prepared to tape transparency sheets to their faces without any other option.
That said, one big criticism of the Prusa design was the lack of over-forehead protection, which this provides. We’re discussing a pivot to this design.
+1
I am baffled by the open top on the Prusa design. Why did they think that would fly?
I read NIH as “not invented here” at first.
I read the Monty Python NI -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIV4poUZAQo
The NIH page says “This design has undergone review in a clinical setting and is recommended when fabricated as instructed.” That’s good enough for me. I’m not in a position to second-guess the NIH.
I hear that InstaCart workers are going to strike tomorrow (Monday) over lack of protective gear. Maybe I’ll print a bunch and give them to InstaCart workers at my local Acme. I should be able to churn out 8 (2 batches of 4) per day on my E3P.
That should be “E5P”.
InstaCart can and will be replaced. Someone should tell them to get over themselves. Strike on, baby!
I like that design. I’ve been cranking out Budmen masks as fast as I can. https://budmen.com/
They block top ingress, but all that surface infill takes ages to print…
I have just finished designing a version of a frame and sheild that can be made in bulk. It taks 23 seconds to make one frame, 10 seconds to make one sheild and about a minute to form and prepare for shipping.
The issue we have however is the supply of sheild material :(
Clear report covers made for use with binding machines. 100 pack at Staples for $49.32 or $31.19 at Office Depot or OfficeMax (same company).
That’s similar to what they do with plastic folders in the video. While the article is mostly about mask materials and testing, they covered the DIY shied in the video.
https://www.consumer.org.hk/ws_en/news/specials/2020/mask-diy-tips.html
>In a bid to help the public fighting the virus and alleviating anxiety in searching for surgical masks, a taskforce led by the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKUSZH), Consumer Council, Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP), and the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering in the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is formed. In the past weeks, lab tests were conducted on the efficacy of surgical mask after washing and sterilizing. Scientific analysis of safety and effectiveness was also conducted on do-it-yourself (DIY) face masks which could provide an alternative for the public to alleviate the acute shortage of face masks.
google for “How to make your own mask: Hong Kong scientists reveal” and follow link to SCMP for a step by step guide in text form as well as the same video.
In Denmark 3D printer enthusiasts have organized to print visirs for the hospitals. We are on day 4 now and getting close to about 2000 items per day. At the same time companies like LEGO, the injection molding masters of the universe, are working on shifting some of their production lines til visir production but have not started production yet. Now, should we then stop our 3D prints because the brick makers are on it? Hell no! When the organizers of the 3D printing group contacted the hospitals to see if they wanted our help, the answer was “Hell yes, and you can’t produce too many! Give us everything you can print, and as soon as possible”. So yeah, maybe the industry here can produce 400.000 items per day. But if the demand is 500.000 per day, it still makes all the sense in the world to also 3D print additional visirs. It’s simple math, people. We will not see supply outperform demand any time soon.
And even if the Danish plastics industry somehow managed to cover the demand in the Danish hospitals (plus nursing homes, the police and other first responders, the military, dentists, etc.), there are plenty of other countries in Europe and beyond that would love to get what we are producing. We… cannot… produce… enough. Simple as that.
The NIH DtM-v3.0 face shield PPE design is based on several rounds of prototyping and clinical feedback, with a huge team of volunteers from MGH/Harvard and the University of Washington and from companies like Microsoft and Boeing. It’s a remix of the popular Prusa RC2 face shield, with a focus on improving protection from aerosol and splatter from above, and re-usability.
This is just one of many solutions to the problem of PPE for frontline healthcare workers, and for all the people who don’t get to stay home like delivery drivers and grocery store workers. We’ve released the design to the public domain to encourage remixing and revision. Here’s a link to our extensive background research with links to citations and guidelines:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15k20PMe14_XQa-8kTA2G7nSIrF1bGSpc90_GM9H8yNI/edit
Lots of reference photos from the design process here:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNqzH_PNDcE8m2xsQLBfHIA31jVX9LyL8PKJtzTSdsLLD0w2HpOqelaDgfMkZ6IYg?key=TUpkSEFXei1WeGo0NDh0V2tvbnNON3BScVNGNDJn
Call to action here:
https://www.designthatmatters.org/blog/2020/3/28/face-shield-ppe-for-covid-19-get-involved
Another version, quite simpler too ! https://www.faubourg132.fr/ecran-facial-open-source/
Wow I see more negative discussion here, EXACTLY like the developing a vent. More wasted time on discussion than actually rolling up your sleeves and doing something. How many 3D printers are out there? If each did but one of these it could help one hospital employee/one 1st responder/or even a personal shield for yourself. Personal 3D printers are not meant for mass production, but I for one think it may be a better use for my printer than printing more Da Vinci model stuff from Thingiverse.
Just saying…
We in Spain are having exponential growth with the whole theme of the 3D printer maker community.
Masks are missing in hospitals, there is not enough stock.
A coronavirusmakers.org organization has been set up where they are trying to keep a little control.
350,000 masks have already been manufactured using more than 9 tons of material. This really helps and makes a difference.
We know that 3D printing is slow in manufacturing speed, but if you put together all the makers of the country … you have a large decentralized factory that can help a lot in this coronavirus crisis.
We (coronavirus3dprint.com) are also trying to help visually display information. At the moment a large part of the community does not use us yet but we are growing, and we are translating the website platform so that it can be used by any maker who does not know Spanish.
https://coronavirus3dprint.com/prints
Here in Spain, everything is managed from telegram groups. How do you manage this in the rest of the countries?
In France they are using Facebook : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fDG5AhttT0WtGMOJVnBNw0BtAQ1UwlWPuaNp8uDTwtE/edit?fbclid=IwAR2haVLhrTt2unlVmo0UvlXLkPc119uuxO28V3UZc3Mf_xcYJhGNMOpUlzw#gid=0
In my departement (66) 1560 face shields have been ordered and 383 delivered, using the local group of pharmacists who handles the logistics.
Oooo thanx for information, we’d love to be able to show those groups on our coronavirus3dprint.com map
Do you know who we can contact to request permission to take the data from that excel?
You can contact us from https://coronavirus3dprint.com/contact
Thanx
The problem with traditional manufacturing is that it takes time to switch production to something else. You have to think about tooling, molds, etc. With 3D printing, in the space of a few hours I was able to choose a design and start production, filling the gap in supply while the traditional manufacturers switch gears. Being able to pivot like that is what makes 3D printing such a valuable technology, especially during a rapidly changing crisis.
It takes forever on my Ender 3 (like 7 hours each) but it came out pretty good. My town has food distribution for the needy today and any layer of protection for those handing out food will be better than what they have now. I might have some painting masks in the basement…
My Ender 3 is printing at 100mm/s perimeters and 150mm/s travels… so the 3DVerkstan design prints in 35 minutes and the other, a Visera_Plana_con_cierre_y_ventilacion_0.6-REMIX, prints in 35 minutes. Tune, tune, tune.
Great
Thank you Doug, what slicer are you using? I get fast prints with MaterControl but many fail. I currently use Cura 4.5 with good results. altough the DtM-v3.0_0 took a tad over 7 hours. but looking great! Also using an Ender 3, Direct drive extruder, with MKS Gen L controller. Will print the next using your settings.. Also I level the bed 1st a 4 point (corners) then a 9 point manual.
Thanks again
Prusa Slic3r v1.42(Slic3rPE-beta) from before they forked to v2 and became Prusa Slicer.
100mm/s perimeters, 150mm/s travel, .4mm nozzle, .32mm(at 220C) layer height, .2mm first layer(at 230C) and 15% infill. I level it like you would on glass, ie using just a paper thickness off the beg with a little drag felt and the hotend needs to be 185C. When the bed warms up(50C / 40C) it should close that gap some and make a nice first layer.
Too big to fit on a lot of older printers (Solidoodle, Replicator, etc)
Try this instead: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4240063
I was asked today by a couple local doctors to make some of these, so I printed two in PETG. I like the springiness vs PLA. They’ll get tested out tomorrow. I’ll post back.
My advice for fellow printers: use a brim — the long tips (behind the ears) want to pull up off the print bed. 5 mm brims were enough to make them rock-solid, but your print surface, calibration, and print material may vary.
It took ~3 hours, like it said, and I’m wondering if it couldn’t be sped up significantly by using a bigger nozzle. Nothing in the mask seems to depend on particularly high resolution. In particular, you could save a lot of time by having the forehead-visor-like bit printed in two passes instead of four.
FWIW: this is a small GP practice here in Munich. They have set up tents outside their normal flow especially for corona triage, which keeps those patients away from the ostensibly non-corona ones, preventing spread, and keeping the tests running. They _aren’t_ a big hospital, and only have three “real” facemasks between five GPs.
I could easily churn out ten a day without any further optimization, so this is about the right scale to help. Contrary to what folks in the comments are suggesting, I think that this _does_ make sense, even though I’m all for mass production when it’s the right thing.
The thing I’m concerned about — chime in fellow EU folks — is the US letter-paper hole punches. How easy is that going to be for the docs to precisely punch out on 108 mm centers? We’ll see.
level your bed and for the first layer boost the heat and extrusion a bit. And for a quicker design with less assembly and fewer parts to clean – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4247532
it doesn’t fit on a Replicator but it does fit on most i3 designs and even the $200 Ender3. Prints in 50 miinutes with stock .4 nozzle, .32 layer height and 100mm/s perimeters with 150mm/s travel and 15% infill.
Just out of curiosity, what hospital or testing center? Most hospitals have strict guidelines on what can and can’t be used. Are there hospitals that are getting more flexible?
For French-speaking readers, there is a project to connect makers and people who need such equipment :
https://www.covid3d.fr/
More info here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAcXuqAD4Tk
Oooo I would like to contact them to see how we can collaborate at https://coronavirus3dprint.com/
Do you know where I can find someone responsible for the project? I don’t see any contact form on your website.
You can contact us from https://coronavirus3dprint.com/contact
Thanx
I was just about to hit send on a reply to your other post to send it to you. I’m not at all connected to this project but according to her About page on Youtube, you can contact the project manager at this address : heliox.contact@gmail.com
At our hackerspace we stopped 3D printing and went through laser cutting to stencil cutting out of PET and PETG, which cut down the pieces making time from hours to minutes to seconds.
https://wiki.hackerspace.pl/projects:covid-19:english
We’re still improving and iterating on the process, but we’ve created over 2k face shields by now, and should be close to hitting production speed of 1k per day soon. We’re using rubber bands, but we’re in contact with other makers from Poland that make rubberband-less builds, trying to figure out the optimal construction speed while listening to feedback from the hospitals.
Model files are available at the website if you guys want to try it out.
Which specific hospitals are you waiting on feedback from?
We’re asking for feedback from any hospital that gets the face shield, so far we’ve done some improvements (v24 and v28 are most up to date), and if there will be any more feedback, we’ll try to implement it.
Awesome, I’m definitely interested in feedback from medical professionals or other end users. Its been tough getting that information. Which hospitals are you currently distributing shields to? How did you initiate the relationship and what sort of person ended up being your primary contact at the facility(s)?
We are a rather large group in Denmark churning out masks. Currently about 2000 a day. The hospitals are very keen on getting them!
Every mask made is potentially multiple lives saved.
Why there isn’t an overflow of small/medium sized companies that are making them surprises me! For now, it still makes sense for us common folk to print.
Do you know which specific hospitals/facilities are using them?
From coronavirus3dprint.com we would love to contact your community.
If you think that you may be interested in showing your impressions and makers on a map … contact us.
https://coronavirus3dprint.com/contact
Or answer this comment :)
Thank you
These do NOT work as instructed !
They say that they use standard US transparencies, that would be 8.5″ x 11″
but the instructions say that the outer holes are 108mm from the center hole,
do the math 108mm * 2 = 216mm apart, or 216mm / 25.4 = 8.5″
so you have 1/2 hole on each end ? nope, they are using some kind of “cover page” that is 9″ wide
(or laser cutter the shield)
I know, I have printed the NIH version, and the pegs are too wide for 8.5″ x 11″ film
I have also reduced the stl by 10% (OpenSCAD scale) , and reprinted, and now the pegs
fit Standard US film, and I see no reduction in functionality (sent to MD for testing)
Ok, my mistake, I had assumed that the sheet was used in portrait mode, but if you use it in landscape mode, it works well. So just the instruction should be clear on which edge to punch the holes
Does anyone know which, if any, hospitals in the USA are using these sorts of makeshift masks/shields? Names? My wife is a physician at Northwell LIJ (Long Island Jewish) hospital. She is currently treating COVID-19 patients (all non-essential OBGYN procedures/visits canceled to increase capacity, same with a lot of other specialties). They are running short on N95 masks. She does rotations other Queens/Long Island Northwell hospitals + went to medical school in Brooklyn (SUNY Down State), speaks with tons of people, no one she knows in NYC has seen any of these things. She doesn’t think any of this would even be allowed in a NYC hospital + real need is for disposable masks. This is just people she and I know though, and Northwell is super corporate about everything. Is this DIY mask/shield business for real or is it basically people like me stuck in there houses building studd to pass the time?
I think the key words are “NIH approved”. And the design is hosted on the NIH’s own website. Of course that doesn’t make everyone an approved manufacturer, but these aren’t equipment that life directly depends upon. And people are making do, I think in the climate a hospital is more likely to be praised than punished for using these. It’s just a mask after all, and a hospital’s files will surely prove they don’t have enough in stock otherwise. So it’s that or nothing. If a medic can’t make choices like that, they presumably aren’t going to last long in the field.
I bet there’s more demand than supply for these, doubt many people are going to end up with stockpiles. But that said, I’d start from the NIH link. Lots of laws and regulations have been suspended recently. Hospitals have lawyers, right? Deciding yes or no is still deciding. Perhaps make sure the legal drone realises that. Which side is the cautious one to err on?
Thanks Greenaum. I’m trying to gather information on actual interactions between makers and healthcare professionals who would be using these devices. I think sharing this information would be really helpful for everyone. I’m sure building trust with cautious hospital admins can be tricky, and we have a lot to learn from each either’s experiences. I have yet to find a specific case in the US where any of the masks were actually delivered to and used by healthcare professionals.
Hi,
Curt do you watch the news? Other than the (B)ox network? Try CBS/NBC/ABC/CNN news all will tell you pretty much what is going on in the US hospitals. As a retired RT too old and crippled to do more than support my fellow health care workers. I can tell you there IS a shortage of PPE, there IS a need for one off equipment. I am donating my one offs to the local law enforcement personnel.
Note: Replace the (B) above with an F
I contacted the local sheriff’s office today and asked what PPE they had for their small force. Seems nothing. I am donating the shields I made to them.
Jesus. So many people shit-talking this idea. Anything is better than nothing in a time of crisis, people
My Point, exactly the vent project went exactly no place. So many saying waaa waaa waaa you can’t do that. The regulations will shut you down in a heart beat. That may well be but doing nothing results in nothing. Way back when the 1st IBM PC came out with it’s massive color card of exactly 2 colors and the Mac was showing pictures with the same limitations, my little company started READMAC for the PC. It was said it could not be done graphics on a PC was impossible. We also made PixiScanner a knock off for the PC based on Apple’s print head scanner.
The point is… until you try, it really is a case of it can’t be done.
Print the face shields, pass them out to your neighbors, drop some off at the local nursing home, GET off your butts and do something.
In a pinch, it seems to me we could easily vacuform these masks. It is basically a curved plate with some large groove on top that touches the forehead. There are companies producing blister packaging for pills, they just need a mold for the mask. add a rubber band and presto.
I think the problem there would be the degraded optical clarity, with color fringing and susceptibility to scuff-marks and scratches from the process, due to the type of feedstock used. Everyone would be getting migraines halfway through the day. I think those pop bottle ones will have the same problem. I know it’s a better than nothing situation but IDK if we’re accomplishing anything if med staff with headaches decide that nothing seems real attractive part way through the day.
I hope I’m not beating a dead horse, but does anyone know of a specific case in which a 3D printed or maker built mask/guard was distributed to and used by healthcare providers combating COVID-19 in the US? Is this really a thing? I’m starting to think its all hot air, but I would love to be proven wrong.
I handed over a box of 3d printed face shields to my local hospital two days ago and they appreciated it. My next door neighbor is a RN at a different hospital and she said that they’re a few days from running out. I have a picture if you care.
https://www.robots-everywhere.com/blog/covid19-face-shields-marin-hospital/
It does seem hard to believe if you’re not involved in it, but it’s very real.
I don’t know about the USA but in Ireland, organisations, projects and hobbyist communities are delivering several thousand shields a day to healthcare centres. In a growing number of cases there is centralised assembly, quality control sanitisation and distribution sanctioned by health authorities.
If any of you take this on us healthcare workers would truly appreciate it. I am the one doing the intubations with very little coverage. I spend more time in the danger zone then most. Our supplies are handed by management and hard to come by. I hear this is the same across the nation.
Tell people where you are. Theres a FB group for distributing supplies made by makers. https://www.facebook.com/groups/670932227050506/?fref=nf
The design pictured takes over 2 hours to print one. There is another design on the NIH approved list that takes 20min to print. We are using that one and cant print them fast enough or give them away fast enough,
https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013306
There is a NA version that uses a three hole punch pattern,
Get this one, it has the cover of the NiH approved Prusa, it doesn’t require any holes punched in the film and you just need rubber band or hair scrunchy in the back so it’s easy to disinfect. Prints in less than 40 minutes and there’s a thin band version which prints in 34 minutes. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4247532
There’s a good video about tuning your printer for maximum output speed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bt1UZAnxnA
it’s geared towards Slic3r and prusa but he uses other printers as well.
I managed to get the NIH shield frame with visor printed in about 1:20.
-D