Thursday, June 25, 2020
Ugh....
Too many people are asking us about my efforts fighting COVID. I'm going to put all my content relating to that here:
New super shiny cool stuff:
https://3dprint.nih.gov/builds/saintmeh/nestable-mold-unaltered-montana-mask-exponential-home-manufacturing
https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013921
blarg.... see two blog posts from now. Copy/paste was giving me grief and I want to spend more time actually researching and developing cool shit instead of communicating to others why our work is important. Really, why do people even have to be convinced that we're awesome at this point?
https://3dprint.nih.gov/builds/saintmeh/richardson-mask-mold
https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013379
Too many people are asking us about my efforts fighting COVID. I'm going to put all my content relating to that here:
MASK MAKER(EXPONENTIAL)
Fancy tech that makes masks exponentially(up to around 200 masks per worker per hour). Costs about $1 per mask.
Reference Model
The printer doesn't matter
as long as you can fit the massive 6 1/4" x 8 1/14" (70cm x 210cm)
object. You can print with rigid ABS, PLA, a flexible Nylon, or
anything that will easily hold its shape. Use a 100% infil as you will
be clamping this part. The finished print needs to have at least a
shore A hardness of 60 or more. I produce each mask at $0.98 and the
rubber for the mold is $12.64
You're not making a mask with the printer. You're making a two-part
container to cast molds(from ecoflex or moldstar) to make masks. Then
pour masks out of Smooth-on's 61D or Task 8(if you need the mask to
survive an autoclave). This sounds like a lot of work, but there are
cumulative returns on your effort! That means you'll produce masks
exponentially.
Create N-1 masks per hour where N= the molds you've casted. On Apr 20th, I created 50 masks. On April 21st, I was able to increase production to over 100/day while still working and only using my 15 min breaks, lunch hour and some time outside of work.
For example, if you poured 15 molds, you can create 14 masks an hour or 168 masks per day without a 3D printer. If you 3D print five mold masters, you can cast five molds at a time! This will scale more exponetially than the virus is infecting people! Go team Humans!
Note that 61D can't go through an autoclave, but in talking to hospitals, they're just using bleach water here in Montana. Smooth-On recommends using Task 8 if you want your mask to survive the autoclave. Bleach water has been proven effective on a ABS FDM version of this mask via a culture test. Culture tests are a good start... but they don't indicate the irradication of a virus. Having said that... bleach kills over 99.99% of viruses and Covid19 is proven to be one of them. 61D has much lower porocity than ABS FDM. It should perform far better when washed with bleach water or even wiped with a Saniwipe. If you pour your masks with Task 8, it will be able to withstand an autoclave.
I recommend using long clamps to hold the molds together. I stop at sections of 15 molds because my clamps aren't long enough. 15 molds per clamping might be a good number to stop at anyway.
Create N-1 masks per hour where N= the molds you've casted. On Apr 20th, I created 50 masks. On April 21st, I was able to increase production to over 100/day while still working and only using my 15 min breaks, lunch hour and some time outside of work.
For example, if you poured 15 molds, you can create 14 masks an hour or 168 masks per day without a 3D printer. If you 3D print five mold masters, you can cast five molds at a time! This will scale more exponetially than the virus is infecting people! Go team Humans!
Note that 61D can't go through an autoclave, but in talking to hospitals, they're just using bleach water here in Montana. Smooth-On recommends using Task 8 if you want your mask to survive the autoclave. Bleach water has been proven effective on a ABS FDM version of this mask via a culture test. Culture tests are a good start... but they don't indicate the irradication of a virus. Having said that... bleach kills over 99.99% of viruses and Covid19 is proven to be one of them. 61D has much lower porocity than ABS FDM. It should perform far better when washed with bleach water or even wiped with a Saniwipe. If you pour your masks with Task 8, it will be able to withstand an autoclave.
I recommend using long clamps to hold the molds together. I stop at sections of 15 molds because my clamps aren't long enough. 15 molds per clamping might be a good number to stop at anyway.
Printer Technology/Material
Printer Make/Model
Keyword(s)
Click to Enlarge - 8 image(s)
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New super shiny cool stuff:
https://3dprint.nih.gov/builds/saintmeh/nestable-mold-unaltered-montana-mask-exponential-home-manufacturing
https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013921
NIOSH PRETESTING RIG (N99 MASK)
blarg.... see two blog posts from now. Copy/paste was giving me grief and I want to spend more time actually researching and developing cool shit instead of communicating to others why our work is important. Really, why do people even have to be convinced that we're awesome at this point?
Deprecated crap(archives):
https://3dprint.nih.gov/builds/saintmeh/richardson-mask-mold
https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013379
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