Modular Face Mask

Last crawled date: 1 year, 10 months ago

Note for users (Show more for Details and print instructions )

In these days we can find many 3d printable face mask designs on the internet because of COVID-19 pandemics but we must say that we are quite unsure about their effectiveness. This design can be of course 3d printed and be enough protective after placing an home-made filter in the slot of the main frame but it’s highly recommended to use safer and certified masks if they are available.

Details

This idea comes from these difficult days but maybe would possibly be more useful in the future when the pandemics will end but at the same time we would have to still be careful especially in crowded areas for a long time. Because of that I wanted to turn a surgical protective mask into something more, something that we would not “have to” wear but will “want to” wear and we would be proud to show others and that reflects our feelings, our personality . Something protective but at the same time that we’ll wear every day as any other piece of cloth and here comes why it’s modular: anyone would be able to change the outer part of the mask, that would came in different shapes , colors and textures, according to his daily mood, needs or simply matching them with his clothes, allowing it to best suite kids and adults, men and women.

Why don’t we try to combine a pleasure and a need? We all know that wearing a mask prevents the spread of viruses but we know as well that no one likes to go out with an ugly mask on his face. Let’s try to turn this statement into something like “everyone when goes out is not afraid to wear a mask because is proud of it and finds it beautiful”.

Another strength of a plastic mask is that it can be used multiple times sanitizing it instead of throwing it away and this helps the environment and reduces litter.

Print Instructions

I’ve made a model in PLA scaling up the outer part a bit (101%) considering the possible issues sloting in the outer part if the printer isn’t very accurate, especially fdm printers. The design requires less support possible during printing and it is easy to assemble once printed.
To have a reliable result in terms of protection and comfort is better to print it with a resin printer in order to have less risk to have holes in between layers and have a result more “flexible”. Is possible to try printing the main frame it in TPU or similar materials to ensure the best comfort or simply to glue something softer on the profile touching the face of the user.

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This 3d printable mask is not able to reach top levels of protection from viruses and micro-particles for now but can be easily adapted in future placing a certified filter inside it.