We have teamed up to fill a local need related to Covid and have pooled our 3DP capabilities and in cooperation with some in employ at Picatinny arsenal we started to 3D Print the brackets for the Prusa Face Shields. The first ones are coming off of our printers today, I bought another one to up production and so did one of the teachers (both Anycubic predators I think we got the last off of Ebay they were out of Chirons) We also have some students involved who own a printer. We were asked to donate them so we are also fundraising to pay for the parts and contacting all of our sponsors and also put out the “word” in local FB groups and other social media. The first batch we were asked to provide is 900 which is about 40-45 kg of filament which we already ordered. Well we already had a litttle over 20kg so we placed orders for the rest. We were told that there will be more batches needed in about 1000 ea lots. As soon as the new printers come in and the 2 that are being rebuilt right now are done our goal is to do at least 100 a day (some maintainance is necessary after running 70kg of filament through them about each over the past 18 monts. Well with that Covid situation I figured I had time to tear down, inspect, replace, upgrade before having them run 24/7 again). Guess 3dp never rests
Very nice. Former mentors of 11 are currently printing ~100 per day using their Makerbot print farm. Hopefully your users have established methods of decontamination that you can share.
The lab is highlighted here https://all3dp.com/mount-olive-high-school-opens-first-makerbot-innovation-center/
we are experimenting with that. The ones of the makerbot that we have is pla and there is probably not much you can do beyond using alcohol to wipe it down the ones of our anycubic chirons and predators are hips which have a glass point at 110 so I will try boilling one
I just finished a test and had the Hips one in boiling water for 15 minutes. you can also put it into a convection oven at 250 for as long as you want - I have not tested higher temps on hips yet. Now with PLA you would have to anneal it first - that means put it at 60c in a convection oven for 2 hours and then let it cool down slowly and then its good for up to 150C but I will see if there is a quicker way to do that
I’m told the hospital 11 is working with is using a bleach solution and bleach wipes.
I know bleach is fine on HIPS and ABS and think PLA and PETG too but have not tried that. The only thing that harms HIPS is limonene Acetone will slightly soften it after about 12 hours in it and leach out the die (turning it white) and Bleach will sometimes hurt the colors on anything but that should not be an issue with us as we use pure unadulterated HIPS (no dies and additives) as we can get that from the manufacturer cheap. Now according to some of our teachers 2 minutes in boiling water will sanitize a mouth piece for a trumpet or such. So if you don’t want to deal with bleach fumes then boiling it might be a good option. The PLA test print will be done in another 3 hours or so I will try boiling them too then. BTW the chiron with a .8 takes about 1 hour to do one and I can fit 6 on the build plate at a time. Here is the first piece on the printer
And after removing some brim and boiling it for 15 minutes
I recommend this design instead.
https://botcamp.org/2020/03/22/3d-printable-healthcare-visors/ from Shawn Lim
I also recommend you ask the hospital you’re working with about their decontamination suggestions before donating.
Looks nice - I will ask the ones in charge regarding decon. We were asking around and so was 3142 and we asked our contact persons at Picatinny arsenal who are sponsoring both of us and they are collecting everything and put it together. That is why we use that mask there are other masks that print faster but they said do this one and our job so to speak is to provide the brackets 3DP and they have someone or themselves to put it together and deliver it to wherever. And my job like always is to run the printers and advise others with printers how to do this or that. I am just an old retired dude answering questions and keeping the filament flowing. Printing those face shields is great cause everyone involved perked up and is feeling good and at times like these that is important too. When we are done printing those I probably do a hypocycloidal gearbox and do some more experiments in 3DP/fiberglas combos.
I’m looking at a non-printed version right now, which is an interesting prospect:
The advantage is once you have supplies, you could make 5-10/hr/person.
But I’m still keeping filament flowing (but I’ve only have 4kg to print on a single printer). The prusa rc3 stacked (4 at once) model is what I’m doing now, and it is a 10 hr print for 4.
edit: Link to above instructable which just posted: https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-PPE-Face-Shield-3D-Printer-Not-Needed/
Also, I wanted to say the above design doesn’t have the backing of any medical certification, so check locally.
Interesting and you probably can do 4 faster than 10 hours with a .4. Cant do it on a makerbot as there are too many slicer settings fixed but with another printer set the layer width to .8 and turn off infill and it should flow much quicker . You can reliably print up to 200-225 % nozzle width with a good slicer like prusa slicer
Also let us know if that is a viable alternative
And sorry - correction on above its not Picatinny Arsenal its Thor Labs who also sponsors both of us they are working with another company IDK who ATM to suply those to all kinds of places I was told
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