We’re all stuck inside, so might as well be productive!
If you have a 3D printer, pause those benchy’s, vases and E-11 blasters and start printing some face shields to help those on the front lines of this pandemic!
Yes, personal protective equipment (PPE) is running out as fast as toilet paper and our healthcare heroes need our help!
HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to the folks over at 3D Verkstan for designing a simple and easily printable solution.
Download their files today at: https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/
There are several other solutions out there but I found this to be the simplest one for those of us who want to drive scale with a single printer.
Other solutions include:
Printing the Visors
For the 3D Verkstan version, I was able to set up my plate to support two visors at a time.
Tinkering with my slicer settings I was able to get print times down to 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Here are my settings:
Plater:
- Profile: Prusament PETG (you don’t need this brand PET to use this profile).
- Infill: 0%
Print Settings:
- Layers and perimeters:
- Layer height: 0.25mm
- First layer height: 0.25mm
- Perimeters: 5
- Speed:
- Perimeters: 60mm/s
- External perimeters: 50mm/s
The more advanced users could probably tweak these even more, this is what my intermediate brain could handle though.
Making the shields:
I used Apollo Transparency sheets, you can buy them here: https://amzn.to/2R65gTZ. I went down this route thanks to Joel Telling’s suggestion over at the 3D Printing Nerd.
Any transparency sheets should work though as long as they have some thickness to them.
Making the holes was probably the most laborious task as I just had a cheapo 3 hole punch and it kept on jamming up.
There is a template in the 3D Verkstan file package for 8.5 x 11 paper. Just print that out, and then set your three hold punch bores to line up with the holes on the paper.
Mine wasn’t a very deep punch, so my holes are closer to the edge of the shield than the template says to have them, however this doesn’t seem to be an issue, and it actually helps cover the face more!
Then just round the bottom corners with a pair of scissors.
Assembly Instructions
- Wipe down the visors with isopropyl alcohol or another disinfectant like Clorox or Lysol.
- Take one of the transparency sheets and a disinfected visors.
- Starting with the middle two posts, attach the transparency sheet.
- Continue around the sides of the visor, the last “nub” on either side has a hook. Gently stretch the hole over this.
After Use
The transparency sheet can be discarded in a waste receptacle. There’s nothing on the package that indicates these can be recycled.
Sanitize the visor with whatever disinfecting process you have. Clorox, Lysol, Isopropyl Alcohol, etc.
Replenishment
The visor can be reused as many times as you feel comfortable using them! Just make sure you disinfect them after each use.
Okay, now get printing!
