Thread by @edgeangeles, [THREAD]The face shield initiatives from the Philippine Science High School Main Campus. [...]

[THREAD]
The face shield initiatives from the Philippine Science High School Main Campus.

Mr Andrew Tuazon was one of the first members of the nationwide volunteer group 3D Printing for a Cause PH. On 24 March 2020, a group of teachers joined this national movement of volunteers and coordinated with the school to contribute to 3D Printing for a Cause PH.

This was the initial meeting between design and make, engineering, computer science, and adtech teachers.

With resourcefulness, the team was able to quickly acquire PVC and acetate sheets to aid in the production of face shields for health workers and frontliners.

At the start, there were just a few face shield frames and a lot of acetate.

More teachers and staff got involved in the production. Physics, Research, Math, and ValEd teachers became assemblers for the face shields

Printing one frame took considerable time, so alternative methods were also considered. This here is an early prototype of a frame made out of acrylic.

There were four locks to secure four tabs. However, it still takes considerable material and time to assemble.

During this time, the team was still worried about the supply of 3D printing filament running out.

Thankfully, 30 spools of filament were donated to the project through the resources of a teacher's network.

Later on, through another personnel, 20 more spools were given to the school. Each spool can make up to 40 face shield frames.

All this while, some teachers can't physically come to school to help with the production. So they stayed BTS: behind the scenes.

They helped out mostly with logistics and finding out which hospitals are in most need of personal protective equipment (PPE) based on an algorithm of determining priority.

Even on weekends, production continued. Sir Kenneth Colipapa took turns with two other teachers in operating the machines.

The first deliveries were made on a Sunday.

The representatives of the requesting hospitals replied to the delivery person assigned to get in touch with them.

First delivery was to the Delos Santos Medical Center. The shields were meant for the PUI/PUM ward.

Next, a delivery was made to the Philippine Orthopedic Center. The delivery person assigned overheard how "cute" the face shield frames were because of the colors.

Through this, the production of the shields were taking time, because it involved attaching acetate sheets to the frames by melting a hole in the sheet using a soldering iron.

The design teachers figured they can use the CNC machine to precisely bore holes through a bunch of acetate sheets.

The holes were successful and it reduced the time of attaching the acetate sheets to the face shield frames.

The following day, a Tuesday, two more deliveries were scheduled after the representatives from the hospitals responded.

A box of face shields went to the East Avenue Medical Center's Rehabilitation Medicine unit, but they shared the overflow to other departments.

It was not easy for the delivery person assigned to reach the hospital because it was in a designated hot zone. Thankfully, he was also using a face shield as he drove to the checkpoint and explained that he was delivering equipment similar to what he was using.

Despite checkpoints and detours, it took the delivery person assigned only about 20 minutes to go from East Avenue Medical Center to his next drop-off at FEU-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation.

In fact, he arrived earlier than the hospital representative. This allowed the delivery person assigned to hand off the equipment without approaching the hospital area itself.

Through all this, the puppetmasters behind the scenes were also cooking up new ways to create more shields in less time.

Moving on from additive production, they considered mass subtractive production using the CNC machine they had in the laboratory.

They were able to very quickly secure, with aid from the Procurement Office, Versa boards for the CNC machine, a new material the team has not yet used before.

A design was laid out to maximize the material and create as many shield frames in the least space.

But something unexpected happened.

A piece of one of the head bands broke off during the drilling process. A new layout had to be done.

Despite the setback, the production from the 3D printers actually stepped up. It was a much faster printing farm after modifying settings and playing around with configurations.

So far, the team has been able to provide
40 shields to Delos Santos Medical Center
15 shields to Philippine Orthopedic
30 shields to East Avenue Medical Center
30 shields to FEU-NRMF

Oh yeah. For accountability purposes, one shield is being used by the delivery person assigned.

As of 01 April, there has been a new design and process with the CNC, but it still takes time to secure the Versa board to the CNC bed. So far, however, there have been 10 frames printed using the machine.

Furthermore, there have also been students who are printing and assembling in their own capacities in their homes or neighborhoods.

Here's one of our students. (With permission to share the image.)

Heartwarming feedback from the heroes we honor give the team more fuel to keep doing what they're doing.

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