Laser Cut COVID-19 PPE

This page summarises the effort by members to produce and supply laser cut personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff in response to the current COVID-19 situation.

This page is a NO BIKESHEDDING ZONE and should only be used for co-ordination of the manufacturing and distribution effort.

Safety & Hygiene

Please do not compromise your own safety, or that of others, in order to obtain materials or access printers / laser cutters. Follow government guidelines and stay at home.

We must ensure that no risks at all are taken with regards to production of visors.

We must ensure that all visors come from COVID-19 free areas, handled as little as possible and, if needed, are handled in a hygienic way. If that is not the case then anything produced is not any use.

Before and after handling materials ensure you wash your hands following WHO guidance. Use sterile gloves, if at all possible.

Collaboration & Points of Contact

DrGandalf on Slack is our NHS contact.

Geoff Hampson, one of the directors at Kitronik, is also on the Slack channel. He may be able to help with manufacturing and material supply.

Laser Cut Face Shields with Acetate Sheet Front

Here will be information.

3D Print Face Shields with Acetate Sheet Front

For information about the 3D printed face shields go here.

Laser Cut Face Shield FAQ

Please read this FAQ

Q. Is this design suitable/safe/certified/clinically acceptable?
A. Medical Practitioners have told us "the visor acts to protect the wearer from droplets/aerosols and splashes emanating from a patient's airways. The wearer therefore will already be utilising precaution (hand washing/gloves/correct procedures etc) so risk is very low and becomes theoretical rather than real when one judges risk/benefit to the wearer, the patient and subsequent patients." and "My recommendation to workforce will be this is equipment for additional protection that is not certified. So far not had anyone said no given our current supplies."

Q. What anti-contamination process should we follow?
A. Wash your hands, wipe down the material before cutting. where a mask if you have one, or one of the shields. One of our RAMC/NHS contacts said "Regarding Anti contamination: The theoretical risk is that one of you doing this work has viral particles/droplets on your hands as you handle the product as it's being manufactured. Or indeed it has been supplied to you already in this state. We have some evidence of persistence of infectious particles remaining on surfaces for prolonged times. (I'm sure that is exactly why you are asking the question by the way). So what? In reality, the visor acts to protect the wearer from droplets/aerosols and splashes emanating from a patient's airways. the wearer therefore will already be utilising precaution (hand washing/gloves/correct procedures etc so my opinion is that risk is very low and becomes theoretical rather than real when one judges risk/benefit to the wearer, the patient and subsequent patients."

Q. Why you just make the design out of one piece of materials?
A. We have been unable to source suitable material in bulk.

Q. I've made a better design, use it instead.
A. Thank you, you might want to take some photos and let us know about it, but part of the challenge here is allowing health care official the time to consider iterations. They're busy with other things and seem to respond best to existing items (not theoretical ones) and consistency of offer. "This one is good... we'd like more of this."

Q. I know such and such a place or person with a laser cutter, you should contact them for me please?
A. No, please reach out to them yourself. We're busy making shields and fielding questions and organising what we can. If you don't personally have access to a laser cutter, you may not be the decision maker needed to help with this task. Thank you but sorry. We are not able to arrange access to a laser cutter for you, no matter how keen you are.

Q. I have a laser cutter of about A5 or A4 size.. can I help?
A. We're not sure. This task is probably better suited to cutters at least A3 and up in bed size thats greater that 300mm x 400mm, Polypropylene can also be tricky to cut if you've not cut it before.

Q. Where can I find the cut file/latest cut file?
A. Currently we have it on this forum post at Smoke & Mirrors Community