Call for Teachers and Engineers to help Greater Manchester NHS – 3D printed Face shields

Please note – To request face visors please go to https://www.3dcrowd.uk/ and complete a request form.

We have matched up countless GPs in Greater Manchester and beyond and have arranged the making of thousands of visors. Right now most schools are involved in making visors for their local medical professionals and there has been a nationwide response to the current situation doctors and nurses find themselves in. We recommend requests go direct to 3dcrowduk who have organized a national campaign. Our campaign was focused on a local level in Greater Manchester and has achieved its aims.

Below is the guidance for anyone looking to 3D print face shields.

By Phil Cotton, learnbylayers founder.

Guidance for teachers/businesses. You will need to have the hardware to make the face shield e.g. 3D printers, a laser cutter or plastic laminator and an elastic 1-inch band for the strap. Also, Petg filament for the 3D printed parts. PLA is not recommended. Also, make a prototype first before committing to ensure you can fully make the design.

Background information to the project.

With Covid 19 rampaging through the UK there is an urgent call for PPE from doctors in the region in particular face shields. Just last night a local surgery from Sale, Greater Manchester put out a request on a Facebook group for anyone who could make face shields based upon the Prusa concept.

After speaking to Dr. Paul Jackson, from the Boundary House Medical Centre, we discussed the open-source design from Prusa and have started the manufacture of face shields for their surgery. I have used a variant of the Prusa concept and I am 3D printing it from PETg filament alongside using a laser cut the see-through shield from Acetate plastic.

We discussed how the concept has not been medically approved (worth noting it has not undergone any medical testing and is to be used at your own risk), however, it was discussed it does provide a barrier and the opinion was it better than having nothing at all. Also, it is a great way to connect schools to the medical profession.

I know that there are 3D printers and laser cutters sitting idle in schools around the country and if possible I am asking for teachers or companies in the Greater Manchester area to help support with 3D printing and laser cutting some face shields.

The process is relatively quick and the files are below. This was printed on a Creality Ender 3 using Petg 1.75mm filament using a 0.8mm MK8 nozzle. I have used a larger nozzle to speed up the print time. The main file for the headband can be printed in under an hour, with the bottom smaller file being printed in under 30 minutes. After printing, it needs a little filing down with a needle file to clean any excess filament.

Printer Settings

Extruder temp – 220

Heated bed temp – 80

Speed – 60mm/s

Nozzle size – 0.8mm

Layer height 0.4mm

Infill Denisty – 25%

No support is needed.

Equipment and Materials

• Petg filament – Petg has more flex than PLA and is also used for waterproof parts. These files below are optimized for Petg printing.
• Acetate sheet – This design for the shield is laser cut, but you can do it with a plastic laminate A4 sheet and hole puncher. (I haven’t trialed the laminate way but many others have succeeded.)
• 1 inch elastic strips

Some tips to help with making.

Cut a small hole in the elastic to push over the ‘hooks’ of the headband. When removing from the print bed, use a needle file to smooth off any excess filament. Wear gloves and wipe down with anti-bacterial. The face shield is a tight push onto the 3D printed headband.

Download files below

Click the butting below to download the files. In the zip file there is the STL files, DXF files for the transparent shield and the dtd files if using 2D design. The headband was taken from this design here and the DXF file was edited from here, These are shared under the creative commons license.