Medical Protective Visors (COVID-19 response)
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As you may be aware, hospitals & critical care units across the globe are facing a severe shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at the time of this pandemic. Without enough face shields, N95 masks, surgical gowns, etc., healthcare workers on the front line are being put at risk of infection.
Relevant WHO news piece from March 3, 2020: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/03-03-2020-shortage-of-personal-protective-equipment-endangering-health-workers-worldwide
To meet the increased demand, not only are large corporations ramping up PPE production at factories but there is also an appeal to individual 3D printer owners to help out.
Image credit: Victoria Meighan https://twitter.com/vickymeighan
Some parts like the visor frame below can be made of PLA/PET-based plastics and stacked to optimize the printer output from each run.
In this article, I have attached the RSDOC (editable with DesignSpark Mechanical), STL and 3MF files (for direct import to slicer) for a ISO 838 2-hole visor attachment. This version is widely used by healthcare facilities across Europe and was first created by engineers at TU Dublin (https://tudublin.ie/explore/whats-happening/news/2020/tu-dublin-engineers-join-national-effort-against-covid-19.html). The frame can be printed with PLA or PETG filament and visor can be of optical grade polycarbonate.
Print suggestions:
- Try without applying glue to the printer bed
- The walls of the frame must be at least 2mm thick and you can then print on draft with 20% or less infill, because the walls will be thick enough to hold the strength of the part.
There are other versions of the visor frame to match individual country requirements and for better comfort/durability. Notable ones are:
Prusa printers: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25857-prusa-face-shield/files
3DVerkstan: https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/protective-visor-versions/
Check online whether any national society or government authority can coordinate the distribution of your 3D prints to clinics and hospitals.
In the UK, the 'National 3D Printing Society' is driving such an effort. Read more here: https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/do-you-have-a-3d-printer-you-can-help-to-fight-covid-19