Home-made face shield to protect from SARS-COV-2 infection

Disclaimer: I am not a professional manufacturer of face shields to protect from virus infections. No warranties! Use at your own risk!


In the following blog, I describe how to make a face shield (visor) to protect from droplet infections from COVID-19/SARS-COV-2 using house-hold materials. Although building a face shield comes pretty close to making your own tin foil hat, and wearing it, you may look reaaaally stupid, I personally assume that it adds protection against a potentially harmful, life-threatening or even deadly infectious disease and, therefore, is worth the embarrassment, if professional equipment is not available. The face shield can be used on its own or in combination with a face mask for additional protection. Personally, I think the face shield makes most sense for people who cannot, should not or will not wear a face mask.

Examples:

Small children should not wear a face mask because it may obstruct their breathing and they will not tolerate it anyway.

Nursery/School teachers who have to communicate with (young) children using mostly facial expression (eg smiles) will find face masks difficult or strange to work with. Transparent face shields allow them still to communicate by voice and facial expression, while reducing their risk for infecting the kids or being infected by them or their parents.

Materials

  1. transparency (or any rigid, transparent plastic sheet)
  2. Household sponge
  3. (broad) elastic strap
  4. (sharp) knife (to cut sponge)
  5. scissors (to cut transparency)
  6. plastic melting gun or other type of glue  (alternative puncher)
  7. Gaffer tape (for decoration)

Work steps:

  1. Cut the sponge in 3 pieces of same rectangular shape
  2. Glue sponge pieces on top edge of transparency (in landscape orientation)
  3. Cut lower edge with perpendicular cuts
  4. Overlap and glue pieces together, let them cool harden (to get a curved lower end for better stability and better fit)
  5. Glue elastic strap on top edge of sponge on the left end and let it cool/harden
  6. Test length of elastic strap by fitting it around your head
  7. Cut elastic strap
  8. Glue elastic strap on the right end of the sponge pieces and let it cool/harden
  9. Stick the gaffer tape in front of the sponges (for decoration purposes)

Note 1: If you don’t have a plastic melting gun or glue, punching a hole through the transparency to fix the gum strap may also work (not tested).

Note 2: The further the face shield is from your face, the easier one will find it to breath. Therefore, use thick pieces of foam. You can also adjust the space between face and shield by pushing the mask backwards or forwards on your (fore)head.

Work time: 5-10 minutes

This is not rocket science, adapt this simple tutorial as needed!

Figure 1: Face shield on person (from front view)

Figure 2: Face Shield (from bottom view)

 

 

 

http://wilmarigl.de

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