Accessibility links

Breaking News

Mask Maker


((PKG)) 3D FACE SHIELDS
((Banner: A More Traditional Approach))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Video Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Video from/Camera: Eric Bubar, Mary Mount University))
((Map: Fairfax, Virginia))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
My name is Eric Bubar. I’m the associate professor of
physics at Mary Mount University in Arlington, Virginia.
What I’ve been doing to help out with the Covid-19 response
is creating 3-D printed PPE. So, the design I’m using is
something called the face shield. I have two designs, this
one and this one. These are actually not my designs. They
are open sourced. They’re created by other individuals.
So, this was created by a company named Prusa Research.
They’re very well known in the 3D printing industry for having
very reliable 3D printers. And then this is the Verkstan
design made from a Swedish design firm.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
These are what I am creating, not what I came up with, just
using the open sourced designs that were made available for
anybody that has a 3-D Printer to download and create.
((Courtesy: Eric Bubar))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
What is 3-D printing? It’s a way to do manufacturing. It’s
called additive manufacturing in some circles. And what you
do is you take some plastic in the form of a filament and you
extrude it through a very, very hot nozzle. That nozzle melts
the plastic and it lays down a little bit of plastic in whatever
shape you want. As soon as the plastic hits the, what we
call the built plate, it kind of cools off and solidifies. Then the
little nozzle will go up just a little bit and draw another layer
on top of that and build up whatever 3-D shape you can
imagine.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
So, if you look very closely at this 3-D print, you can see that
there are different layers. So, a 3-D printer builds up
whatever shape you want, layer by layer by layer.
((Courtesy: Eric Bubar))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
So altogether, this one takes probably about four hours to
fabricate one, whereas this one, the 3D Verkstan, this 3D
print takes about 40 minutes to print one of these little
headbands. And then, the shield itself is a very thick
overhead transparency that takes about, maybe, five
minutes to hole punch, three hole punch to get it to pop onto
these little pegs. So, this one takes, maybe, 45 minutes to
create one.
((Courtesy: Eric Bubar))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
So, currently the shields are being used by a variety of
different healthcare professionals, in hospitals, in community
health centers, in elder care facilities. People like that these
3D printed shields are sanitizable so they can reuse them.
They can clean them very easily.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
And regarding changes that we might make to these face
shields, we’re always open to more feedback.
((Courtesy: Eric Bubar))
((Eric Bubar, Physics Associate Professor, Mary Mount
University))
And we’ve gotten some feedback that some providers would
like a little bit more length on the bottom of it, so that it kind
of interfaces with their sternum a little bit better, so that it
kind of blocks off any transition into the bottom. And some
providers want a visor over the top. So, on this Prusa
design, you can see that this is open. This is meant to
ventilate air so that it doesn’t fog up, but it does allow some
particulates can get down in there, so, maybe, some visor to
cover that portion up. Those are the two big pieces of
feedback that we’ve gotten that we’re trying to come up with
adaptations for and adjustments. But currently what we’re
trying to do is stick with designs that are recommended by
NIH print exchange. These are the ones that have been
approved for clinical use.
((NATS/MUSIC))


XS
SM
MD
LG