Introduction

This is yet another strain relief / ear-saver for prolonged use of face masks.

I was tired of sore ears, and didn’t like the design of most strain reliefs, which end up falling to the neck, and thus too low to be comfortable and making a bad seal/fit. I came to thingiverse and downloaded a few models, which didn’t quite satisfy me either, so I ended up designing my own. I now see there are other models that also pull in the direction of the crown of the head, and are fully printed (mine uses a ribbon). They might work well, I have not tried them.

I find it very comfortable, and wear it even if I’m going out for a couple of minutes. I have printed many of them for family and friends, it takes just a couple of minutes for the pair. Actually, since they are so small, I carry 4 pairs of printed parts (without the ribbon) in my wallet to give away to people that notice it and inquire.

Description, assembly, fitting

My design uses a couple of 3D-printed parts and a piece of ribbon that goes around the head to pull towards the crown of the head, and prevent the mask’s elastic bands from touching the ears.

For printing, I sliced 3 layers, 0.2 mm each, with the top and bottom one’s pattern concentric, and the middle one’s pattern of lines, so that they were transversal to the model instead of longitudinal (as is the result of the concentric pattern).

Once printed, cut a length of ribbon and thread it through the holes of the printed parts as shown in the picture. For a kids head you’’ll need about 50 cm, and about 60 cm for an adult. Tie a knot, not too tight, as you’ll very likely need to untie it to fine tune it to your head’s size. Put it around your head, move the printed pieces up or down so that they align with your ears, and then pull the masks elastic bands until they get hooked to the printed pieces as shown in the picture.

The ribbon must not be elastic. If you use an elastic one, the exact position of the printed pieces will depend on the relative strength of the ear-saver and the mask bands, and you may end up pushing a rigid plastic piece against your ears, which will be still worse than having the elastic bands themselves. Match your hair color if you want it discreet, or go colourful and add a nice bow if you prefer.