Solin Flatpack Face Shield

Choose Version 8 or 9 for assembly instructions

Design Advantages:

  • Real flatpack design

  • Laser cuts in under 2 minutes and stamps in 2 seconds

  • 2 or 3 pieces (V9)

    • 5 pieces for V8

  • Fully adjustable

  • Complete shield with one material (no elastic or 3D printed parts needed)

  • Easy to ship in quantity since it's flat

  • Can be sterilized (in quantity) for reuse

  • Quick and easy assembly

  • Use / remix / make. See licensing and link to files below

Press

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Licensing and Files

Manufacturing Details:

  • Material: 20 or 30 mil (0.02" or 0.03") PETG sheet

  • Laser cutter settings will vary by machine, material thickness, and environmental conditions. You'll want to test your material and see what works best for you.

    • 40 watt epilog mini 24

      • Vector Cutting: 65/100/2500 (speed / power/ freq) for 30 mil, 70/100/2500 for 20 mil.

      • Vector Engraving: 100/15/2500

      • Cut time: approx 1 min 45 seconds

    • Glowforge Plus

      • Vector Cutting: 370 speed, 100 power (FULL if slightly thicker sheet), 1 pass

      • Vector Engraving: 1000 speed (fastest), 25 power, 1 pass

    • Dremel Laser

      • Heat: 100, Speed: 80, Depth: 100, Passes: 1

    • Universal 60 watt laser cutter

      • Vector cutting: TBD

      • Vector engraving: TBD

  • Current Version 8

Shield in Action

200 Shields made for a hospital in Austria

Dr. Alban at UChicago Hospital testing out Version 1

Dr. Rojek at UChicago Hospital wearing Version 8

Brenda Darden-Wilkerson sporting V9

Version Tracking

Change Log

  • Version 9 2020-07-16 Complete Redesign

    • As with previous versions, this new design has been vetted and tested by collaborating doctors.

    • New shape for the shield providing more coverage, especially around medical headgear

    • 3 curvature settings allowing the user to choose how much the shield bows out or stays closer to their face

    • With a larger laser, the entire shield can be made with only 2 pieces. Smaller lasers can make the shield with 3 pieces

    • No "fall out" scraps. In other words, no small cuts that complete a scrap shape causing little pieces to either fall out or have to popped out and thrown in the trash.

    • When making with 2 pieces, the adapter that is used in the 3-piece design can be used as an ear saver.

    • The files contain sheets of ear savers which are duplicates of the adapter piece.

    • All published versions, configurations, sheets of ear savers, etc are in a single file. Published in AI and SVG. Please contact directly for DXF files.

  • Version 8 2020-04-07 BIG CHANGES

    • Doctors were concerned about the very small holes created by the forehead and bottom support bar if the shield is used during an intubation or swabbing. Due to that feedback, the forehead system has been redesigned to be similar to head straps, and the bottom bar has been removed.

    • The shape has changed to bow out at the bottom. This came from the doctors' input as well since they wanted more protection on the bottom sides when large respirators are used underneath.

    • True flatpack design! Additional quick cuts and small tabs were added to keep pieces together out of the laser bed and ready to ship. Flatpack with tabs and non-tabs versions both published.

    • Lots of geometries were cleaned up that were the result of my knowledge on Illustrator. Everything should be nice and even, straight and centered now.

    • Extra tabs and slots on head straps were removed to keep maximum options for adjustment while minimizing ones that would never be used.

    • Removed score lines for straps since doctors aren't removing the film from those.

    • Glowforge (laser bed 11"x19.5") and Dremel (laser bed 12"x18") versions added (with and without flatpack tabs). To keep from having to redesign for each bed size (out of my ability), I made proportional scales of each to publish. The upsides of this very much outweigh the downsides. Because of the different ratio of the Dremel, I elongated the bottom of the shield to match the heigh of the cut area.

  • Version 7 2020-04-03

    • Rounded bottom corners more based off of doctor feedback

    • New vector engraving (in 255,0,0 red) that can be used to identify material type and thickness, version number, and score one side of the film on corners of pieces to allow for easier peeling

    • New small bumps that keep the side straps from falling out after they are pulled through the slots based off doctor feedback. Implementation idea courtesy of my wife Sarah :)

    • Fixed small gap between semicircle tab holes and the semicircles

    • Added PDF as an additional published file type

    • New video demo.

  • Version 6 2020-04-02:

    • All requests from clinician feedback implemented.

    • Shield is now shorter and wider per the requests of doctors' feedback.

    • Removed 4 tabs and 4 slots from the head straps since they are out of the range of head sizes

    • Published AI, SVG, and DXF

    • To accommodate more hobby laser cutters, I was able to squeeze the design to fit 18" x 12" bed. The artboard on the design files is set to 17.75 x 11.75 to account for kerf in manufacturing pre-cuts.

    • Due to requests for non-shared vectors between parts (some people are working on tool and die for stamping), I'm going to stop including those in the releases, but if I use them for my own production, I'll keep that file in the directory as well. This will make it easier for people to move the pieces around as needed, for example they may want to make a sheet of straps and shields separately.

Upcoming Changes

  • Potentially adding vector engraving numbers and letters on tabs and slots so that clinicians can match up what setting is best for them. They could then attach multiple tabs and slots for a more secure / longer lasting attachment. For example: doctors knows they match tab 4 with slot A and can make a 4A setting without putting the shield on.

Completed Changes

✔️4/3 ICU Covid-19 ICU Doctor Feedback: Some big changes might be coming! After additional feedback from the doctors, especially ones that are intubating people, I'll be making modifications that might turn the forehead strap into the same mechanism as the head strap with the shield-side strap ends being located at the same or similar spots as the head straps. The idea is that this would eliminate aerosol entry points through the tab holes for the current forehead support bar. Might eliminate the lower support bar for similar reasons. Lastly, we might gradually widen the bottom to provide additional side coverage around larger respirators.

✔️60 mil is not happening. Too thick and too heavy. If anyone is in need of lots of 60 mil PETG, please let me know.

✔️4/1: Just received excellent feedback from a doctor at UChicago. Requests are to make it a couple of inches shorter and about 1.5" wider on each side. The design was very well received and the doctors that tried it felt like it was a great face shield design. Yay!

✔️Less strap tabs / holes since there are too many

✔️Shared vectors for parts in V5

✔️New video that represents the new design

✔️Locking tabs to keep the side straps from coming out