"Faceshield"Mass production within 24 hours
Social Distancing - what currently divides us socially brings us closer together emotionally than ever before. Everywhere, offers of help sprout from the ground and ideas are developed. This is also the case at the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt, where 22 students founded the company Protection Impuls within only 5 days.
Their goal: to produce aids as quickly and on a large scale as possible to protect those who are currently working on the front line and do their best every day to maintain the supply of the population.
The fact that many private individuals are currently using their 3D printers to provide hospital staff in particular with hangers for face masks gave the young company headed by Managing Director Klaus Novak the idea for its "Faceshield" product.
Why not produce protective masks industrially in the shortest possible time and in large quantities? But how, when most of the toolmakers and injection moulders contacted by Protection Impuls need weeks for delivery?
Start of production within 24 h
This brought the young company to us on 30.03. The goal was clear: mass production within a handful of days. So our already very fast production had to step up a gear. We took up the challenge immediately. Our employee Mr. Ziegler immediately contacted the CAD to design and build the injection moulding tool from high-strength aluminium, and in this way we achieved what at first seemed impossible: on Tuesday, 31.03.2020, at 14:46 hrs, the first component fell out of the injection moulding machine. Less than 24 hours after the inquiry, we were already in mass production.
The ingenious thing about Faceshield: The simple hanger is either pushed on the head or additionally fixed with an elastic band at the back. On the front side there is a cleverly attached row of studs onto which a perforated DIN-A4 clear film (e.g. overhead film) can be clipped. The component itself is made of polypropylene and is therefore extremely flexible and break-resistant. It can be disinfected with 70% isopropanol solution and cleaned in the dishwasher at 70 °C.
Thanks to our Rapid Tooling process we are happy to be part of the implementation of an idea that actively helps to protect our heroes of everyday life.
This journey is not over yet, but the project shows what Rapid Tooling makes possible. Especially when people stand behind an idea together and with passion. Solidtec
- difficult times require quick action!
More information about the product: www.protection-impuls.de
Interview with Philip KolbAccount Manager Solidtec
Interview with Klaus NovakManaging Director Protection Impuls
