Makers Around the World Are 3D Printing Face Shields to Combat COVID-19

Doctors, nurses, and caregivers are working to procure and ration personal protection equipment (PPE) for those providing medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic—but these essential items are in short supply.

In response, large companies, small businesses, community collectives, and individuals are using 3D printers to create plastic face shields that can be worn in combination with N95 masks. These splash guards are designed to protect against the spray of fluids, and when worn in combination with a N95 mask, they can help extend the life of the mask and provide the Center for Disease Control (CDC)-recommended level of protection during a pandemic. 

In New York, Maryland, and beyond, healthcare workers are rationing PPE supplies and layering face shields over N95 masks that are being worn for multiple days. "We’re being asked to ration our N95 masks," says an ER physician at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore (who asked to remain anonymous). "People are wearing them for three to five shifts in a row," she says. "If there’s anything I’m willing to wear that’s homemade, it’s a face shield—because it’s a simple plastic design that protects your mask. But our government needs to step it up and get us official PPE. Between 10 and 20 percent of the COVID-19-positive patients are healthcare workers, and that’s terrifying."

A physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York (who also asked to remain anonymous) reports a similar experience. "We’ve more beds than any other hospital in New York, and we are burning through PPE at such a high rate that we’re not confident we’ll have enough," he says. "While we’ve major shortages, the biggest issue is the N95 mask. The normal recommended usage is one time. It’s not ideal, but we’ve figured out ways to clean and reuse them. Right now, anything that can keep an N95 mask and your face clean is a good thing. So a face shield is a good thing."

Typically, face shields used for infection control in the U.S. are designed, tested, and manufactured in accordance with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA). According to the CDC, they should include a polycarbonate visor or shield that has chin and crown protection and curves around the face, reaching to the ear or beyond to prevent splashes from reaching the eyes, nose, or mouth.

In noting the face shield is a simple design that offers added protection, makers around the world have created open-source designs that anyone with a 3D printer can download and produce. Josef Prusa at Prusa Lab in Prague, Czech Republic, devised an open-source design that was approved by the Czech Republic’s Minister of Health and has been downloaded more than 40,000 times.

Erik Cederberg at 3DVerkstan, a 3D printing company in Sweden, created an open-source file that’s being used by architecture firms to print additional masks. The effort, which includes Howeler + Yoon, Handel Architects, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Grimshaw, Terreform One, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Weiss/Manfredi and Brooks + Scarpa, is being coordinated by the Architecture, Art and Planning faculty at New York’s Cornell University.