3D printing supplies for medical masks - Billings Clinic request

[barn34]

I know a lot of people and teams have been looking for ways they can help out with the COVID-19 situation.

The Billings Clinic has made a request for help in 3D printing mask supplies out of PLA. The link below contains all the details and has links to the .stl files and the assembly process.

https://www.billingsclinic.com/foundation/

This is a great opportunity for FIRST teams to help out that doesn’t involve attempts at building and/or automating critical emergency care devices.

The files and assembly process are all easily handled by anyone that can print the parts with PLA. Putting 3D printers available throughout the FIRST community to work collectively on requests like this could really make a difference.

[Ben_the_Builder]

There has already been a similar thread on this topic, which you can read here. Additionally, I suggest you should read the replies further down in the thread, which discuss reasons why FRC teams aren’t equipped to manufacture masks or any other type of medical equipment (namely safety).

[Autom8it]

I was looking at those masks yesterday. They appear to be intended for multiple uses, but I don’t see how that’s feasible. To sterilize it between uses you’d need to be able to put it in an autoclave, which gets up to 121 degrees C. Certainly PLA won’t handle that without warping, and even ABS won’t work. You need either polypropylene (PP) or POM (Delrin) from what I read. Not sure if most printers can get to that temperature (254C I think, for PP). Certainly we don’t have that on-hand. Are they intending for these masks to be one-time use?

[barn34]

Admin - feel free to lock, merge, delete, etc. the thread as you see fit.