There will be a board meeting tonight at 7pm via Zoom. Anyone who is willing to help produce PPE, please join to discuss what we can do at 7:30pm.
Thanks!
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Here’s the link I mentioned on the call from Make:
Sorry guys I would have joined but I’m in class tonight.
I found the hair ties. Fully stretched they go to about 10 inches, which might work.
And of course they can be knotted together.
Here’s the article that explains which household materials can be used to make an effective DIY mask. TLDR: 100% cotton t-shirts and pillow cases. Double-layered slightly improves filtration at the expense of breathability.
Hi this is Ray Storm a new member, I also bring my fiancee Julie Spencer to the shop. We were unfortunately only to have been involved with Lansing Makers for 1 week before shutdown. We were mainly using the vinyl cutter when we were there. We would Love to donate our time in ANY way to help out our community and surrounding communities during this pandemic. We would be able to learn the 3-D printer to help make masks even if it was on a third shift basis to keep producing as many as possible. Julie knows how to sew and I can quickly learn. Please contact us for ANYTHING we can help be a part of. My number is 517 885 8222. Thank you
I loaded up the Prusa face shield .dxf file into the laser cutter, and cut one from acrylic.
The slots are the trouble. There’s one round hole, 5.5mm, at the bottom center. That’s very close to 7/32", and we have a pin punch that size. All the rest are slots. But since the vinyl is a bit stretchy, maybe we can get away with just a round hole, possibly a bit larger than 7/32". Or a hole in the center followed by a slit down the length of the slot from a chisel-like punch. I think just a hole would work in vinyl.
We could make a die by drilling 7/32" or 1/4" holes in a piece of 1/4" thick metal plate (wouldn’t even need CNC for that). Then a vinyl blank goes over the die, the acrylic guide goes on top, add a clamp, then punch punch punch. And trim around the edge with a razor blade or fabric cutter (like a pizza cutter but sharp as all hell). The outside edge isn’t critical; a little slop there won’t hurt.
We could turn them out dozens per hour.
I also hand cut one from what I think is dura-lar. The good news on that is it is laser cuttable , you can even cut stacks of it at once. Brian is trying to locate some locally. I initially thought I had .002 i based on my Amazon order history but a caliper says it’s much thinner. .002 is on the low end of what prusa recommends.
The one I cut is a bit weak and the bottom reinforcement piece doesn’t stay attached.
The one Jody dropped off is pretty good, maybe heavier than someone would like up wear for many hours of a day. Also the vinyl one from Jody does have a bit of memory to it from the roll initially and now from how it was sitting on my counter over night.
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Jody also mentioned something about people laser cutting the head band part too and I think that would be a great idea if someone can work out a design.
I realized I have 150+ sheets of 8.5" x 11" overhead transparencies. I measured them at 0.09mm = 0.0035in thick. The Prusa design is 240mm x 240mm, and these are 215mm x 279mm. But this could be close enough. A short shield is better than none.
This is laser cuttable, so this could work.
If we find that anything made isn’t usable by healthcare workers, I think we could make our donations to homeless shelters and food banks. The recent videos from these nonprofits show folks working together without masks and I think they could benefit greatly from them.
I talked with Brian Smith up at MSU EHS. He sounded slightly overwhelmed but got me in touch with Nathan Tykocki. Here’s the response I got about 3d printing the Prusa shields:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Nathan Tykocki nathantykocki@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: 3D printed shields
Jody, I’d be excited if you had 2. (c:
Ive been using the Prusa shield design (RC2 and RC3) to print stacks in my home, too. So far Ive made 27 in 3 days. I’ll keep at it until I run out of PETG. We’ve a lot more plastic shielding than frames right now, believe it or not. We’re using the resources of MSU to get them made. So if you can make the frames, we can fill them with the actual shield part. We were using the shield design that went with Prusa’s shield too. I have sheeting cut for at least 100 or more shields, with more on the way.
The frames should be wiped with a Clorox wipe or something similar, bagged, and dated. Handling with gloves and dating the bass is awesome.
People have been dropping off frames in a disinfected bin on my porch, where I’ve cleaned them again, assembled them, and gotten them ready to be donated. I will wipe them down again before taking them to the donation site. If you or your people would like to add to this, we’d be ever so grateful. I could also get you some pre-cut plastic sheets if you want to give some out to assemble on your own. What do you think?
Thanks!
Nathan
Nathan R. Tykocki, Ph.D.
He/Him/His
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Michigan State University
Phone: (517) 432-8227
Email: nathantykocki@gmail.com
Google Scholar Citation Profile
Here’s an article from Forbes.
I contacted Nathan directly I’m going to drop off 35 of these headband parts to his porch right now.
Awesome. Thanks James! Haven’t got an email back with his address.
As for PETG filament, @jmccurry is right. It’s the flexibility that SLA doesn’t have. He says TinkerLabs might have some in stock. You’d have to call them directly. Otherwise it’s mail order all the way.
We have two spools of TPU filament that were donated to LMN. Is that suitable for printing the headband part? If so I can use our printer to get some going.
I’m actually at the space now (alone, socially distant), using the laser cutter to cut overhead transparencies. It’s working, but they need some cleaning when they come out of the machine. It’s about two minutes per.
But if MSU is mass producing something better, and cleaner, that’s the way to go.
I should add that TPU is another flexible filament.
