Tailor Made 3D Printed Corona Mask With Eye Protection

Corona Virus enter the body through epithelial cells found in the nose, mouth and eyes.

Ordinary mask protects the nose and mouth. This mask attempts to protect the eyes too.

In order to have an air tight fit, the 3D model of the person's face is required. In the absence of a 3D scanner, I have attempted to obtain the contour of the person from orthogonal photos. This photo varies from person to person and hence is the "tailor made" adjective. I have used Fusion 360 to do the modelling. 2mm Acrylic sheet laser cut to the profile is used for the front shield. I added a filter and the stay ribbon to complete the mask.

Supplies

3D Printing, Acrylic Laser Cutting, N95 filter, scissors, ribbon ties, silicone glue, 2 parts epoxy and hardner (Araldite), Cynoacrylate Glue (Fevibond)

Step 1: Orthogonal Photos With a Marker Scale

Take two photos as shown above.

The scale should have its markings clear. This marking will be used for the calibration step in Fusion 360

Step 2: Modelling in Fusion 360

This video captures the entire session on how to create the model using the photos.

Step 3: 3D Printing

For the past 2 days I am trying to get my part printed on my Pursa I3 2015 model.

Faced various problems.

1. Printed in PLA. Filament jammed in nozzle after 4 hrs. Had to remove and clean nozzle. Loaded ABS spool as PLA is exhausted.

2. Unable to set printer bed above 74C. Big learning curve with ABS as extrude refuses to stick to bed.

3. Printer mother board is MKS Gen2Z V1.1. Hunted for the latest firmware, recompiled and flashed the Atmel uC from Arduino. Printer bed now rises to 89C max.

4. With a slow feed rate bed adhesion problem is solved.

5. Printing fails after 1 to 2 hrs. Causes included part shrinkage, filament stuck in nozzle due to low nozzle fan speed, thermal tripping of extruder stepper, filament jam in nozzle due to low nozzle temperature or high feed rate. The learning cycle was long and tedious. But when the going gets tough the tough keep printing ...

6. Finally these settings worked. Nozzle 260C, Bed 89C, Nozzle - Fan 30%, Feed Rate 24mm/s, Enclosure with open top to prevent electronics from getting heated.

7. And this is the part I got after 7 hours of printing.

Step 4: Acrylic Sheet

I intend to get a 2 mm Acrylic Sheet laser cut from a local vendor. However as a quick fix (due to the lockdown) I rigged in a transparent sheet.

Step 5: Silicone Padding, Ribbon Tie, Filter

To make an air tight seal, that is at the same time soft on the skin, I used food grade RTV silicone rubber. I applied a thick layer and allowed it to cure for 2 hours. It stuck well to the ABS plastic.

For the ties I had cut some ribbon cloth.

The filter parts are glued to the acrylic sheet with Araldite.

N95 filter cloth from a mask is cut to shape and fixed inside the filter part.

Step 6: 3-D Print of the Mask With Brackets and Filter

Finally, after 7 hours of 3-D Printing, we have the printed parts of the Face Mask, Brackets for support,

and the Filter Cover where we insert the N95 Filter Cloth.

Step 7: Final Result

There are a few modifications I'd like to do.

1) Attaching Silicon Rubber to the Contour of the Maks for Comfort and Air-Tightness.

2) Providing a good Velcro material to hold the Mask.

There a few more tests to check the performance of the mask.