Using our Ultimaker S5 to print Prusa Face Shields for COVID-19

[DrCeeVee 19]

Hello to the Ultimaker community!

 

Just to tell you guys that we are making the most out of our brand-new Ultimaker S5, by printing Protective Face Shields designed by Prusa Research, to help our hospitals fight the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Our Ultimaker distributor in Greece, Thes3D, have kindly lent us an Ultimaker 2+ to add to our production capability, and have even given us some spools of filament for our prints. Many thanks to them!

 

The Ultimaker S5 has been a real workhorse, printing 24/7 for about a week now, and we have never had a failed print so far! Everything is running very smoothly and I'm extremely pleased with its quality and reliability, as well as its speed (printing on Draft Profile at 0.2 mm layer height, due to the urgency of the situation).

 

Just want to express my thanks to Ultimaker for creating such a wonderful machine. We had some issues earlier on, but they were all sorted out to our complete satisfaction by our reseller in Greece and Ultimaker HQ, whose response was immediate and effective. I'm very pleased to be a user of this machine. I've taken the S5 home to ensure 24/7 printing, and the devil in me wants COVID-19 to keep spreading, so that I can keep it at home printing away... I'm only joking of course!

 

One thing that came out of all of this, is the strong spirit of support, cooperation and contribution from the 3D printing community, always being on our side and offering a helping hand in these times of urgency. Thanks guys!

 

Stay safe, and happy 3D printing!

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @DrCeeVee, I'm very happy to hear you are both happy with your Ultimaker, but even more so that you're putting it to good use printing face shields. Have you also filled out the form yet so we could potentially connect you to a local hospital if they would be looking 3D printed aid? 

 

Alternatively, we've seen a couple of hubs and initiatives switching to this design after it was approved by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013306 
Maybe it helps. Whichever design works best for you and the institutions you are trying to help!

[gisley 2]

I am getting my S5 Friday.  How many frames can you get on a build plate.    I read somewhere where they mentioned stackable printing, or  do I have that wrong?

[gisley 2]

Also what are you using for the clear plastic part?  Thanks.

[DrCeeVee 19]

5 hours ago, gisley said:

I am getting my S5 Friday.  How many frames can you get on a build plate.    I read somewhere where they mentioned stackable printing, or  do I have that wrong?

 

Hi @gisley, congrats on getting the S5, you'll love it! About what you're asking, the S5 has a large build plate, so you can fit a lot of shields on it. I've made two types of arrangements. The first one has 3 shields on the plate, as shown below:

 

 

Using generic PLA on the Draft profile (0.2 mm layer thickness), with no Adhesion (i.e., just a skirt), it prints in 6 hours and 26 minutes (for 3 shields). That's 2 hours and 9 minutes per shield.

 

The other option is to use a x4 stacked version of the shield, available at Prusa Research. Using the stacked version, I was able to fit 12 shields on the plate, as shown below:

 

 

 

This arrangement, again using generic PLA on the Draft profile (0.2 mm layer thickness), with no Adhesion (i.e., just a skirt), prints in 1 day, 3 hours and 5 minutes (for 12 shields). That's 2 hours and 16 minutes per shield.

 

I'm using the 3-shield option for several reasons, the main one being that there is no need to separate the masks from each other, and also there's no need to print vertical supports for the little hooks that hold the visor, which sometimes detach from the bed and can ruin the print if left unattended. Also, the 12-shield option requires almost exactly 500 g of filament, meaning that, on a 750 g spool, the second print will pause half way, which defies the benefit of 24-hour non-stop printing. Overall, the 3-shield option is a cleaner arrangement in my opinion, and, as you can see, it's even slightly faster than the 12-shield option. The only disadvantage of the 3-shield option is that it requires your attention every 6.5 hours, to remove the print and start another. I've arranged my timing so that I start a print just before going to bed, and wake up when it has just finished printing.

 

Print times can be reduced further, by selecting a layer thickness of 0.25 mm. This will reduce the print times of both arrangements by 15%, at the expense of print quality. I've stayed with 0.2 mm, but you can experiment with 0.25 mm and see if the result is acceptable for you. It very much depends on the quality of the filament too. I'm using the cheapest filament I could find, so I don't want to risk pushing it too much. Experiment, and see what works best for you.

 

5 hours ago, gisley said:

Also what are you using for the clear plastic part?  Thanks.

 

I'm using a laser-cut transparent visor, which a local company makes for around 1 € per piece, at the exact specifications as published by Prusa Research. I get the visors and rubber bands from this local company, and manually assemble everything. This is the final product:

 

 

I hope this information helps you and others out there. Feel free to ask anything about the printing process, etc. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

[gisley 2]

Great information, thank you. I am totally unfamiliar with the FMD process.  I have been using my Formlabs Form 2 to print reusable face masks.  I  use the Montana Billings Clinic model.  At $160 a liter it gets expensive.  With Formlabs software all you have to set  is your resolution, 25, 50 or 100 microns.  I have no experience with Cura 4.5.  But since it is made by the makers of the printer I imagine it will work best with their product.  I will probably just stick to 3 prints per session until I start to learn the nuances of the technique.  Is there any trick getting the print off of the built plate, glue, raft..etc?  What inexpensive filament would you recommend?

[DrCeeVee 19]

4 hours ago, gisley said:

Great information, thank you. I am totally unfamiliar with the FMD process.  I have been using my Formlabs Form 2 to print reusable face masks.  I  use the Montana Billings Clinic model.  At $160 a liter it gets expensive.  With Formlabs software all you have to set  is your resolution, 25, 50 or 100 microns.  I have no experience with Cura 4.5.  But since it is made by the makers of the printer I imagine it will work best with their product.  I will probably just stick to 3 prints per session until I start to learn the nuances of the technique.  Is there any trick getting the print off of the built plate, glue, raft..etc?  What inexpensive filament would you recommend?

 

FDM/FFF printing is very cheap. I've calculated that the cost of filament for this project is 0.84 € / shield. The filament I use is the cheapest I could find. It costs us 21 € / kg. You can clearly see the reduced quality when compared to more expensive / Ultimaker filaments, but it's more than enough for the intended use. It would be a total waste of money to use Tough PLA or any other premium Ultimaker filament for this project, where the aim is speed and quantity, not quality.

 

About print bed handling and adhesion, what I do is spread some UHU Stic glue (like the one that came with the printer -- in fact, I still have the original), and then use some almost dripping-wet kitchen towel to spread the glue evenly on the bed surface. This works best when the bed is cold. When done right, this creates a thin and even film of glue over the glass (any excess water from the wet kitchen towel is quickly evaporated when the bed is heated up). The layer of glue ensures that the prints are firmly glued to the surface while printing.

 

After the printing is finished, I wait for the bed to cool down first. I look at the colours of the print head(s) as a virtual timer. When red turns to blue and the cooling fan stops, then it's time to remove the part from the bed. For difficult parts with large surfaces, I leave the bed to completely cool down first, and then the parts just pop off very easily. There is usually no need to reapply glue for subsequent prints. What I do is simply use the almost dripping-wet kitchen towel technique to spread the existing glue. This can last for days of printing, at least for the shields it does.

 

After completing a big printing session and there's nothing else planned for printing in the following days, I take out the glass and wash it completely clean and spotless in the bath/shower. The great thing about the UHU Stic glue is that it's water-soluble, so you just rinse the glass with warm water in the shower and it melts away. It's probably not really necessary to completely clean the bed, I guess it's just me wanting things to be nice and clean...

 

About the shields, don't use a brim or raft. Using a brim (or, even worse, a raft) will make your life difficult, as it can be very time-consuming to separate the brim/raft from the actual part. Just deselect Adhesion in Cura. This will disable brim/raft and will simply generate a small skirt around the print, whose only purpose is to prime the nozzle for starting the print. Let the glue do the work, and you'll end up with a ready-to-use part, with only very minimal, if any, post-processing required. The skirt can be seen in the attached image, showing a print of 3 shields that was completed earlier today.

 

Hope this helps you in your first steps with FDM/FFF and the S5. Once you get the hang of it, it's a guaranteed near-100% success setup.

 

[gisley 2]

Once again great information.  Do you glue stick the entire plate or just the area you will be printing?  Formlabs slicing software automatically fixes stl files with issues.  Does Cura do that or do I need to run it through Meshmixer or Netfabb?

 

Thanks again.

[gisley 2]

Is there any chance you could send me your stl Cura setup file for 3 masks.  The navigation aspect will be like me learning greek.  As a totally unrelated aside I spent 6 years off and on trying to learn Homeric greek. 

[DrCeeVee 19]

6 hours ago, gisley said:

Once again great information.  Do you glue stick the entire plate or just the area you will be printing?  Formlabs slicing software automatically fixes stl files with issues.  Does Cura do that or do I need to run it through Meshmixer or Netfabb?

 

Thanks again.

 

Hi again @gisley. I apply glue stick over just the area I'll be printing on. In the case of the protective face shields, I'm using the 3-shield arrangement, which pretty much covers the entire build plate.

 

 

6 hours ago, gisley said:

Is there any chance you could send me your stl Cura setup file for 3 masks.  The navigation aspect will be like me learning greek.  As a totally unrelated aside I spent 6 years off and on trying to learn Homeric greek. 

 

No need to learn Greek! I'm attaching the entire folder of everything related to the project, including the original STL files, as well as my own Cura project files for the face shield part arrangements (x1, x2, x3, x12).

 

Prusa Research Protective Face Shield (RC3).zip

 

Anyone reading this, feel free to download, use and share.

[geert_2 558]

A few questions:

 

Are there any soft leather, rubber or cloth straps as interface between the 3D-printed parts and skin, to increase comfort? So that the hard plastic does not continuously rub the skin, causing damage?

 

I have worn safety helmets in the past, and they all had a hard outer shell for protection (obviously), a soft inner plastic frame for good fitting around the head and for shock-absorption, and then a thick, soft leather strap between that soft plastic frame and the skin. Otherwise it was not possible to wear the helmet for a prolonged amount of time, without getting wounded.

 

How is that handled with these visors?

 

(I have also wondered about this for the 3D-printed respirators, by the way: for a good fit without leaks, and for comfort and not getting wounded, they also need a soft liner. But I have never seen it mentioned?)

 

Related: is the inside sanded or chemically smoothed to get rid of the most layer lines, for improved hygiene and comfort?

 

Out of curiosity: what is the purpose of the lower strap? We usually don't see that on commercials masks?

 

The design could also work as well for hobby use like gardening, working with a chain saw, or similar. It does not protect from dust or fumes, but it does protect against direct liquid spats and bits and pieces flying around.

 

[DrCeeVee 19]

Hi @geert_2. About your first question, no, there's nothing between the 3D-printed part and skin, so there may be some irritation after prolonged use. The interest here is speed and quantity, not so much comfort and quality. It was impossible to solve this issue in time to have the shields ready for the ICU staff and other health workers in our hospitals. I've tried wearing the shield a couple of times just to test fitness, but not for very long. It felt very nice and smooth on the forehead, but this may not be the case after many hours of wearing it. I guess time will tell how serious this issue is...

 

The inside of the shield (the part that touches the forehead) is inspected, and lightly scrubbed if necessary, in order to remove print imperfections, such as filament strings, small bumps, and loose filament particles. There is no chemical smoothing involved, and the layer lines are present.

 

The lower strap serves two purposes: firstly, to help the visor maintain its curved, symmetrical shape, and secondly, to aid in visually locating the lower edge of the visor. Ideally, everything should be printed in bright orange colour, but this is often sold out and we end up just using what's available to us.

 

Indeed, the shield could also be used for general protection from fluid splashes, as well as from bits and pieces flying around. In my field of work (I'm an electronics engineer) we intend to use this type of shield for protection when testing electronic devices, where components can become projectiles and cause serious injury.

 

I must admit I was very reluctant to the idea of printing face shields. I thought it couldn't be done. But I was proven wrong by my very own Ultimaker S5, with its amazing quality, reliability and speed. Overall, my impression of this project is very positive. The printer has certainly proved its worth, printing non-stop since Wednesday 1 April 2020 -- I can hear it next to me right now, tirelessly printing away...

[gisley 2]

Well..I stopped my first print because it looked pretty ragged .  Why all the stingy filament all around?

[DrCeeVee 19]

@gisley: I've never seen anything like this on my Ultimaker S5... This looks horrible! You must be doing something seriously wrong...

 

One thing I can see is that you are NOT using the project files I uploaded above, or you're not using them correctly. If you did, your print would not have "Adhesion" enabled (it is disabled in all my project files posted above, but it is enabled in your print).

 

Load one of my project files (make sure you use "Open as Project" in the dialogue box), and try again. Also, before you start the print, make sure the material you're using (generic/Ultimaker PLA, possibly Tough PLA) is correctly configured in Cura. My project files use generic PLA, which should work OK even with Ultimaker PLA/Tough PLA. If you're using non-PLA-based material, that's a whole new game and you need to experiment.

 

Follow the above advice as closely as you can, and try again.

[SandervG 1,521]

That doesn't look good indeed @gisley. Can you give us some more information like which model you are trying to load, which material you are using? Perhaps a screenshot from Cura could also help. 

 

It looks like the first layer seems to be alright, but half a cm up something intervened with your extrusion or some layers went missing. 

[Borriz 0]

On 4/10/2020 at 8:37 AM, DrCeeVee said:

 

Hi again @gisley. I apply glue stick over just the area I'll be printing on. In the case of the protective face shields, I'm using the 3-shield arrangement, which pretty much covers the entire build plate.

 

 

 

No need to learn Greek! I'm attaching the entire folder of everything related to the project, including the original STL files, as well as my own Cura project files for the face shield part arrangements (x1, x2, x3, x12).

 

Prusa Research Protective Face Shield (RC3).zip 9.52 MB · 10 downloads

 

Anyone reading this, feel free to download, use and share.

Hi. I unfortunately only have access to ABS filament. Would I be able to print your files with any issue? Or will change from PLA to  ABS have significant effect?

Going to try one of your files once I've finished my existing print.

I'm on an Ultimaker 2+

Edited April 14, 2020 by Borriz

[gisley 2]

I think I found the problem.  I am using petg but using generic pla settings.  The temperature on the build plate and print head are too low.  I'll see if that makes a difference.

[gisley 2]

I am up and running. Prints are turning out great.  I bought my printer from a person in Israel.  It was sent in two boxes.  I got the printer in the first box, but no spool holder, Bowden tubes,  pva...etc.  I found a spool holder on Thingaverse and printed it on my Formlabs printer.  I tried to use ice maker tubing for the Bowden tubing but that failed.  Had to wait until fbrc8.com sent the tubing.  I could not get wifi to work just ethernet port.  I eventually found out via Ultimaker support that Israel has some sort of restrictions on wifi devices.  The machine I bought did not have wifi.  I added an Apple AirPort Express to the ethernet port .  Now I have wifi.  So my Rube Goldberg device seems to be working well, all is good

[SandervG 1,521]

16 hours ago, Borriz said:

Hi. I unfortunately only have access to ABS filament. Would I be able to print your files with any issue? Or will change from PLA to  ABS have significant effect?

Going to try one of your files once I've finished my existing print.

I'm on an Ultimaker 2+

 

Hi, the best route would be to get in touch with the medical facility you are printing your model for and ask which material properties are important or if there are any objections with ABS. 

[SandervG 1,521]

7 hours ago, gisley said:

 The machine I bought did not have wifi.

That is right! Long time since this was brought up. Very happy to hear you figured out why your prints didn't come out right, and it is a good idea to swap to original bowden tubes. The length, the internal diameter and the material they're made off are important factors. Enjoy 3D printing. 

[Diego_Medics3D 0]

Hello! does someone had issues printing the 12 piecies version? the parts are quite good but when a "layer" of visors is done and the printer moves to the next layer of visors i get some stringing and it seems like the material of the following visor is not sticking to the lower one.

 

Could be a cooling problem? do you have any hints?

 

thanks guys and carry on!

 

[geert_2 558]

For those who print in PLA: do not leave these masks in your car in the sun, or behind any window. Even not on mild spring days. Because it *will* deform due to the warmth, especially when under mechanical load: PLA starts getting soft from ca. 50...55°C, and that is reached in a car as soon as the sun comes out.

 

Don't ask how I know.   :-)

 

For the same reason: Do not clean the masks with hot water or steam jets, and do not dry in hot air. Comfortable handwarm water is the maximum.

 

Also explain this to the people who are going to use those masks, and leave a written note in the package. Most likely those people are not aware of this, and they are going to expect the plastic to be similar to Lego bricks (ABS) or or plastic bottles (PET), the plastics they are used to. Which it is not.

 

Also make them aware that these masks do not protect against any bacteria or viruses. They only protect from direct spats (blood, spit, pus, acids,...) or from objects flying directly towards you (when drilling, sawing,...).

 

Even though this seems totally obvious for us technicians and engineers, it doesn't occur to a lot of non-technical people. Every day I see people wearing mouth masks that are no better in filtering viruses than chicken wire or mosquito nets. Or sometimes they have a suitable mask (FFP2 or FFP3 without exhaust valve in Europe, which I think is similar to N95 or N100 in the USA?) but wear it only covering their mouth, and then they breath through their nose of course...

 

While endlessly queueing to enter a shop yesterday, like in the heydays of communist DDR during the Cold War, I saw tens of people wearing masks, but not one wearing a correct mask in a correct way. Not even one. Seems like the virus and hysteria in the first place destroys their brains and common sense... However, for me, it seems it infected my tolerance for stupidity.   :-)

 

[samoel_666 0]

Excellent, I hope that this product of yours will be delivered to nurses and doctors sooner to fight this virus

[DrCeeVee 19]

Hi @Diego_Medics3D. Saw your Wednesday post, but forgot to reply...

 

Don't worry too much about the stringing between parts in the stacked version. It can happen, because the STL is designed to allow some space between stacked parts, so that they are easily separated after the print completes. This small gap between stacked parts can cause a few layers to stay loose and not get attached to the part they belong to... Just pull them off the part during cleaning/inspection.

 

This issue is one of the reasons why I'm mostly using the 3-shield-per-print, non-stacked version. Production speed is almost the same, but attention is needed every 6.5 hours, while the 12-shield stacked version has the advantage of allowing you to just leave it printing unattended for a full 24+ hours.

 

Great work guys, keep printing those shields!

[CapableQuad 10]

Anyone manage to print these on a UM3, seems they are too big, even though they are under the dimensions UM advertises as fitting on a UM3.

I have been asked by some hospital staff for help printing these  as the hospital cannot supply PPE to all staff.

I gratefully appreciate any help.