Face Shield Improved by ICU nurse (safer, sturdier)

This is a heavily modified face shield design by an ICU nurse who takes care of Covid 19 patients (myself lol). Focus was on improved comfort and safety while still allowing fast print time. It is similar to the Prusa shield so credit to them if that is needed; but they have been forthcoming in saying it’s free to improve on their design. Plus I’m not making them to sell, nor do I condone the use of my design to create shields for sale. Print and give them away free. (Disclaimer: print and use at own risk. This design is not approved by any Bureaucratic BS organization who’s never personally set foot in an ICU.)

I put the Minnesota Nurses Association union on it to discourage people selling them. If you’re in a nurses union, congrats. We enjoy safer working conditions, job security, pensions, better benefits, safe staffing, on and on. (yes I’ve worked non-union)

All the 3D printed and home made face shield designs out there currently both look and function okay in theory…. at most for a few hours and only directly facing the patient lol… That’s okay for Docs and staff who barely wear PPE long enough to break a sweat. But for the front line nurses who wear PPE for 12 to 16 hours straight “good enough” isn’t preferred.

The biggest problem with the other shields out there is they’re either a head band or glasses type. That’s not ideal for comfort or functionally staying in place. No matter how light weight the shield. So I fixed that problem by allowing two straps to offload the need for tight head bands just to stay in place. Also extended the arms further back to also relieve the need for tight straps.

Second, the others are WAY TO THIN. I beefed up this design.

Three, the head bands can’t be sterilized when they’re cloth or Velcro, or elastic. This design allows you to use any disposable rubber tourniquets as straps. The holes are 1 inch wide. Every hospital has them in bulk and they’re just a couple cents worth each instead of using elastic or Velcro that is nearly impossible to buy at the moment or can’t be sterilized between use.

Lastly, the other shields out there offer no side protection and thus make using the shield only useful when directly facing the infected patient. This is not realistic when you have a highly contagious patient constantly coughing droplets in the air and landing all over the side of your exposed N95 mask, your face, and eyes. My design fixes this massive problem with extended face shield wings to protect the eyes and the N95 mask better.

You need plastic that is 12 inches wide to reach all the way across and it should be at least 9.5 inches down to fully protect the N95 mask on most people. Most people are using 4mm thick plastic sheet and cutting to fit…. I didn’t have that on hand for the pictures above so please disregard the non see through shield.

If you’re new to 3D printing here are the settings I use. It takes about 4 hours to print one. But I’d rather have a QUALITY shield than a piece of crap that breaks, doesn’t cover me, and can’t be sterilized.

Thanks for checking it out.

-Matt Behning

Hatchbox PLA 1.75mm filament on Anet A8 with .4 hot end nozzle

Layer Height: 0.3mm (.4 takes 30 minutes off but looks worse)

Initial layer height: 0.4mm (I like thicker layer for improved adhesion)

Line width: .4

Top/bottom width: .2

Infill lIne Width .4 (but there’s no infill)

Brim line Width: .4

Intial layer line width: 105%

Wall thickness: 3mm

Top/bottom thickness: 1.6mm

Optimize wall printing order: yes

Outer before inner walls: No

Alternate extra wall: yes

Compensate Wall overlaps: yes

Minimum wall flow: 0%

Fill gaps between walls: Everywhere

Filter out tiny gaps: yes

Print thin walls: no

Expansion: all 0mm

Z seam alignment: shortest

Seam Corner preference: Hide seam

No skin in z gaps: no

Extra skill wall count: 1

Enable Ironing: no

Skin overlap Percentage: 30%

Skin overlap: 0.09mm

Infill density: 100% (since it is a solid thin part)

But say there was infill…..

Infill overlap percentage: 30%

Infill overlap: .4mm

Infill wipe distance: 0mm

Infill layer thickness: .3mm (same as print thickness)

Gradual infill steps: no

Infill before walls: no

Infill support: yes

Infill overhang angle: 40 degrees

Skin removal width 2mm

Skin expand distance: 1.5

Maximum skin Angle for expansion: 90

Minimum: 0

Skin edge support thickness: 0

Skin edge support layers: 0

Print temperature: 203 celcius

Build plate: 70 degrees

All the flow settings: 104%

Print Speed: 80 mm/s

Infill speed: 110

Top and bottom and brim speed: 50

Travel speed: 120

Number of slow layers: 2

Equalize filament flow: no

Enable Acceleration Control: yes

Print acceleration… all the accelerations actually: 1000 mm/s

Enable Jerk Control: Yes

Print Jerk for all settings: 20mm/s

Enable Retraction: yes

Retract at layer change: yes

Retraction distance: 5mm

Retraction speed: 25mm/s

Extra prime amount: 0mm

Minimum travel: 0.8mm

Maximum retraction count: 90

Minimum extrusion Distance window:5mm

Combing mode: off

Retract before outer wall: yes

Layer start X: 0mm

Y: 0mm

Z hop when retracted: no

Enable print cooling: yes

Fan speed: 50%

Regular/maximum fan speed Threshold: 10s

Initial fan speed: 0%

Regular fan speed at height of: 1.2mm

Regular fan speed at layer: 4

Minimum layer time: 3 seconds

Minimum speed: 10mm/s

Lift head: yes

Support: no (not needed for printing face shield)

Build plate adhesion: Brim

Minimum length: 250mm

Brim width: 3.5mm

Line count: 9

Distance: 0

Brim only on outside: no

Union overlapping volumes: yes

Remove all holes: no

Extensive stitching: no

Keep disconnected faces: no

Merged meshes overlap: .15mm

Remove mesh intersections: no

Remove empty first layers: yes

Maximum resolution: .05mm

Travel resolution max: .05mm

Maximum deviation: 0.025mm

Print sequence: all at once

Mold: no

Surface mode: Normal

Spiralize outer countour: no

Tree support: no

Slicing tolerance: middle

Top surface skin line width: .2mm

Top Surface skin pattern: lines

Directions: []

Minimum polygon circumference: 1mm

Draft shield: no

Make overhang printable: no

Enable coasting: no

Spaghetti infill: no

Fuzzy skin: no

Flow rate compensate…. : 0mm

Flow rate compensation factor: 100%

Wire printing: no

Adaptive layers: no

Overhang wall angle: 90 degrees

overhang wall speed: 100%

Enable Bridge settings: no

Wipe nozzle between layers: no

Small hole max size: 0mm

Small feature max length: 0mm

Small feature speed: 50%