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04/17/2020 | Campus-Meldung

Students printing face shield for medical facilities

In the crisis, people creatively support each other. Students at the Kassel University of the Arts are also helping out: They are using 3D printing to make makeshift face shields to protect against the Corona virus.

Image: Lisa Heinze.
Dr. Markus Schein, head of the Digital Design and Manufacturing Methods Study Workshop at KHK, and Lisa Heinze stand next to finished plastic parts for the makeshift face shield.

"The impetus for this came from our tutor Lisa Heinze. In the meantime, there are five of us from the Kunsthochschule participating in the project. And as far as I know, about 6,500 people are taking part throughout Germany," says Max Eschenbach from the FabLab at the Kunsthochschule (KHK). The project he's talking about is called "Maker vs. Virus." It was initiated by the do-it-yourself workshop "Hammertime" from Kassel. Volunteers provide their 3D printers, materials and labor to print plastic parts for the "Prusa RC3 Headband."

This is also the case for the students and teachers of the KHK. The plastic part is a component for a makeshift face shield, the blueprint for which a Czech 3D printing company has posted on its website. The makeshift face shield is designed in such a way that it can be manufactured with simple means and, most importantly, in a decentralized manner. For example, the shield consists of two 3D-printed plastic parts, a laser-cut or cut PET film and a rubber band. The sign or parts of it can thus be produced cheaply and easily.

The movement's regional organizing team (in Kassel, it is Hammertime) coordinates the distribution and delivery of the shields to clinics, dental practices, ENT practices, hospitals and other medical facilities.

The face shield has not yet been classified by authorities as official viral protection, but it can help contain the Corona virus as a makeshift device similar to homemade masks.

 

More information:

For more info on the movement: https://www.makervsvirus.org/de/

The nationwide movement organizes through a slack channel: https://makervsvirus.slack.com

DIY workshop Hammertime: https://www.hammertimekassel.de/

Lisa Heinze reports on the action on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisahighnze/

 

Contact:

Max Eschenbach
Kunsthochschule Kassel
Digital 3D Technology - FabLab
Tel: 0561 804-5325
Email: eschenbach[at]uni-kassel[dot]de