Face Shields for Medical Staff

[AGinVT]

Hello everyone. I am back looking for some expert advice. This one is a little different though.

I'm sure everyone here has seen or at least heard about other industries jumping into the fight against Covid-19. Here at our little shop, we are hoping to jump in and help out if we can. I have come across some articles and videos online about producing your own protective face shields. We want to produce and distribute some of these at no charge for our local hospital and health clinics.

The materials look pretty basic, but I was hoping for some recommendations on the shield material itself. We don't often deal with lean or polycarbonate thin enough for these shields. I assume anything thin enough to serve this purpose would come on a roll, but not sure the best place to source these rolls.

Cutting is the other question. We recently purchased a Summa S Class Series S2T160. We bought it for die-cutting labels and vehicle graphics, but wondering if anyone has had success on any polycarbonate-like materials.

I'm including an example of what I am talking about. Please send along any input you have and please remember that this is not at all what we are set up to do, so bear with me on my lack of experience.

 

[AGinVT]

Our local Makers Space has actually developed this one. But they need to get their hands on PET 0.020”. Any ideas?

 

[James Burke]

But they need to get their hands on PET 0.020”. Any ideas?

Seriously? Our country is literally over run with PET....a 2 liter soda bottle would be just about perfect.


JB

 

[AGinVT]

Seriously? Our country is literally over run with PET....a 2 liter soda bottle would be just about perfect.


JB

I'm pretty sure our doctors and nurses want something other than soda bottles. Our Makers Space has vectors for their CNC, but needs sheeting. Looking for helpful responses to a serious issue. Seriously.

 

[StarSign]

I would check with your local hospital and make sure they will accept items like this. I am seeing a lot of stay at home moms sewing masks but then hearing from hospitals that they aren't accepting them.

 

[AGinVT]

Excellent point. We have checked with them and the second set of designs are approved for use.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

Overhead projector transparency sheets are usually PET. If you can find them large enough you might be able to use those.

 

[zspace]

I called my plastics supplier yesterday. They have a backorder of about 4000 48x96 sheets of PETG and growing

 

[AGinVT]

I called my plastics supplier yesterday. They have a backorder of about 4000 48x96 sheets of PETG and growing

Thank you for checking. My main vendor is telling me 12-14 weeks!

 

[APCInk]

Take a look here for a proven list of materials, and template for Laser and CNC:

https://vinylbomb.com/

This comes courtesy of one of our awesome customers, Chris of VinylBomb in Hamilton, NJ. He has been making and selling face-shields. It's apparently been keeping his shop open and keeping his guys paid, but he's fully aware that he can't keep up with the tremendous demand on his own, so has made the plans available to anyone who wants them.

 

[Kenny Terhune Jr]

here is one I came up with pretty simple 3 pieces of material , .020 clear lexan, 1 1/4 elastic, 1inch upholstery foam, 3m77 spray glue I did a few prototypes and this is what I came up with, it takes my router about 30sec to cut one, 1min to install the elastic and 1min to glue the foam

 

[AGinVT]

here is one I came up with pretty simple 3 pieces of material , .020 clear lexan, 1 1/4 elastic, 1inch upholstery foam, 3m77 spray glue I did a few prototypes and this is what I came up with, it takes my router about 30sec to cut one, 1min to install the elastic and 1min to glue the foam

We are ready to pump out 1000s of these, but can't track down 0.020" clear plastics. Anyone with any viable sources, please let me know. We want to give these away to medical and public safety workers, but can't make them without the plastic.

 

[neutrinocv]

Hello everyone. I am back looking for some expert advice. This one is a little different though.

I'm sure everyone here has seen or at least heard about other industries jumping into the fight against Covid-19. Here at our little shop, we are hoping to jump in and help out if we can. I have come across some articles and videos online about producing your own protective face shields. We want to produce and distribute some of these at no charge for our local hospital and health clinics.

The materials look pretty basic, but I was hoping for some recommendations on the shield material itself. We don't often deal with lean or polycarbonate thin enough for these shields. I assume anything thin enough to serve this purpose would come on a roll, but not sure the best place to source these rolls.

Cutting is the other question. We recently purchased a Summa S Class Series S2T160. We bought it for die-cutting labels and vehicle graphics, but wondering if anyone has had success on any polycarbonate-like materials.

I'm including an example of what I am talking about. Please send along any input you have and please remember that this is not at all what we are set up to do, so bear with me on my lack of experience.

View attachment 146307

CCM-Bauer here in Blainville QC has stopped it's hockey equipment production to manufacture such shields that have been approved by the Safety and Health department in Canada. They already have 1 million of these in order and are basically selling them at near cost price. They have made their design free of use. They can be contacted to obtain the electronic files.

 

[unclebun]

Just got this ad in an email from our supplier

 

[Joel golden]

Well, crafters use some .020 stuff. Maybe buy some and find the manufacturer. https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-Clear-Plastic-Thickness-12-Inch/dp/B001C26RFM?th=1

 

[Joel golden]

I am looking into a large supplier right now for you...I’ll let you know this afternoon.

 

[thomlov]

We cut them on the Zund with a knife (not routing). Can do about 300 masks cut per hour with on and offloading.

But its polycarbonate, not the thin PET stuff. We cloud probably produce alot faster with PET, but its a much more robust and better product with the polycarbonate.

 

[Joel golden]

So, from my supplier: “ the entire industry is out of 20mil and 10mil material right now because of the face shield production and you can’t compete with ford and GM getting that, even as a distributor. We do have 5mil stuff that is being used but it is thin. We have 31” wide material and 72,000 feet of it if you want”

 

[rjssigns]

I'd think 5 mil would be plenty stiff. Not like your working in a machine shop and it has to stop chips and other shrapnel.

 

[Joel golden]

Here is Adam’s email address. adamv@americalcorp.com

they don’t supply the sign industry, mostly adhesive films but i believe this is what they use as a carrier. Tell him Joel sent ya