3D printable med supplies

I disagree.

The disclaimer says it all:

---------------------(quote)------------------------------

March 25, 2020: This collection of designs was created to support the manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE) or other necessary medical devices that are in short supply due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While many can be printed with a 3D printer at home or your local Maker space, the NIH, FDA, VA, America Makes, and the contributing creators cannot ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of these designs when manufactured without proper quality controls and processes.

This collection represents a coordinated effort among the FDA, VA, and America Makes to connect healthcare providers and 3D printing organizations. More information about this collaboration can be found in the FDA announcement from March 27, 2020.

------------------(end quote)--------------------------------

It seems to me that it is a good starting point. These are for PERSONAL devices. I am sure the 3D producers are gearing up to make industrial levels of these.

I have an injection mold machine (Rabit 2/3) that is capable of making up to 10,000 (2 grams or less) items a day, but it requires an aluminum mold first, and it is restricted to plastic items weighing no more than

2 grams. So, my problem is, I have no idea what I can do to help. I also don't have the tooling needed to make the mold (metal lath/milling machine), but this machine is sitting idle - as far as I know it just needs to be warmed up and some tests run...

What would you suggest that tech people with free time do to help with this situation?

Are there other country's government sites aiming at the 3D printing crowd for potentially useful applications of that technology?

John

...

Further to my post here is at least one site in Canada trying to get business with skills involved:

I am going to hunt for a similar site for my home province - British Columbia. Perhaps my shop that repairs equipment (mind you commercial entertainment games - pinball games and jukeboxes - a lot of mechanical, EM, and solid state skill required) may have some additional use!

John

I don't know what "personal" means in this context, what do individuals outside a healthcare setting need with laminate face shields?

What "3D producers" are going to produce them gratis as of right now other than the people reading the site who have the skills and cash to throw at the situation?

"This design has undergone review in a clinical setting and is recommended when fabricated as instructed."

Can't do, don't have their particular toolchain, they don't offer instructions or files for anything but the one tool they used as far as I can tell. Can't check the second link for "DtM-v3.0" it seems to be broken, great.

Send money to an organization that's currently doing something real until such time it becomes clear that any of these homebrew designs are actually good for anything, when made by anyone but the people who already seem to be doing it and been put on the approved-list (for whatever reason.)

I could have a number of less-expensive 3D printers running nonstop tomorrow if I were convinced that it would be a worthwhile investment vs. just donating the cash. And if it seemed like the creators of the one "approved" design I can actually look at seemed to care about its applicability to equipment other than their own.

There was one face-shield project that was very well-documented that the author had tested on a number of different machines and put the requirements right there so anyone can see at a glance what equipment they'd need to get started. The ones with good documentation are the one's, y'know, if I were running the approval process would get short-listed for testing.

The thought is good, but like a lot of stuff the US is doing the implementation looks haphazard there isn't time for haphazard.

It's nice to feel needed, and many engineers seem to have a need to feel needed. But so far I'm unconvinced any of the skills I have, even electronics design or 3D printing, will be of much relevance within the time frame of probable most serious need, a couple months or so, compared with just donating cash from my bank account to organizations currently on the front-line that need it. time is short.

Powerlessness is an unpleasant feeling and who doesn't want to feel they're personally doing something important? but the real "heroes" would seem to be in other industries at the moment.

All available N95 masks are reserved for hospital use in my town. This Tuesday one of my colleagues (a practicing physician) fashioned his own personal N95 mask from a face mask and a piece of filter attached with superglue temporarily held in place with staples until it cured. Telemedicine also recently blossomed. doxy.me is in the process of revolutionizing medicine and such systems will probably remain in use even after COVID19 subsides.

Thank you,

--
Don Kuenz KB7RPU 
There was a young lady named Bright Whose speed was far faster than light; 
She set out one day In a relative way And returned on the previous night.

Some hospitals in my area are accepting hand-built masks built to a good quality from a design that has been distributed in the community.

A disabled woman I know who is very experienced in handicrafts is doing that. For my part I never did learn to use a sewing machine.

My sister-in-law is making cloth masks at the request of her local hospital, she is a master seamstress though.

John

"But she's nobody's hero...saves a drowning child. cures a wasting disease. A hero...lands a crippled airplane, solves great mysteries..."

Just another Canadian band...

John ;-#)#

John :-#)#

Sewing machines are becoming a rarity in households.

I've got one, and use it fairly regularly to replace zippers, canvas and denim wearout. The skills required to do a typical double layer surgical mask are not advanced, in any way.

If you've got a demand (ie hospital or nursing home request), you'd go by their preferences, or duplicate their sample.

Both University of Edinburgh and Cambridge University have run tests on different mask types. The 'Smart Air' company flogs smog masks to urban exercisers, but has a useful blog conveying these results.

Construction examples, with links to a video for one basic type:

These things have to be used knowledgably, with minimal face touching and sensible handwashing - they don't protect your eyes from projectiles or fingers.

RL

My mother wore out seven commercial grade sewing machines during her life.

In the UK they are asking for engineers to volunteer for jobs maintaining and repairing medical equipment:

Mine taught sewing at the high school. Was nearly retired before she allowed herself a machine she felt was a good one, and a dedicated serger.

How do you wear out a commercial machine? I've seen units in daily use for a half century - you just swap out the parts as they go.

RL

ronavirus/

virus/

rgical-mask/

ree-pattern/

life.

They would reach a point that the repairman would refuse to work on them . She oiled them daily, but two of them wore out the camshaft. I replaced d ozens of motors and speed controllers for her, as well. These were commerci al, not industrial rated. She didn't buy any that did fancy stitches, like many of her customers did. I heard her tell one customer, "If that fancy ma chine is so great, why are you asking me to do this job?" "It's being repai red, again." My mom did a lot of weddings, and sewed a lot of heavy fabrics which put a heavy load on her machines. She wasn't far from needing anothe r new machine when she died, in her early 50s.

_Do you have any interest in selling the irjectior molding machine?

And if you do, where are you located?

_I am in Delaware and have an acquaintance with a machine shop who should be interested.

Dan

Hi Dan,

I have no plans to sell the machine at this time, plus I am on the west coast of Canada so shipping would be painful. I would imagine there are much closer Rabit 2/3s to you. eBay has many injection mold machines that would be cheaper than my Rabit.

My intent was to use it for manufacturing parts for arcade games, and I thought perhaps it could be useful now. The problem is the size and weight restriction, nothing over 2 grams, and it pretty much has to be under 6cc in volume. Currently it is set up to make tiny nylon balls, much the size of airsoft balls. It was last running three or four years ago when I bought it.

I bought a second Rabit 2/3 off eBay but it needs restoration...

John :-#)#

Well it was a thought. The shop owner is running the shop without any employees and needs to have something that will run with out needing an operator full time. Too much of his time is spent on all the book keeping, estimating etc.

Dan