by Maddie Jacks
We have had several productive meetings in the last couple of days, both with our collective of Boston area makerspaces and with the Mass General Brigham COVID Center for Innovation. As a part of the MGBCCI’s Face Shield working group, we are working to zero in on the best face shield designs that our group has submitted in a thorough design review today, 3/27. By Monday, we hope to have selected the top few designs, manufacture prototypes, and send them to the Validation team for medical approval.
While we are waiting for the approved designs to come through, the Boston Makers group is collaborating to streamline and standardize our production procedures to make sure that we are all working as safely and efficiently as possible in preparation for production to begin. Artisan’s Asylum has been a fantastic ally in this effort, and they have offered to share the assembly line procedures that they have already implemented in their space with the rest of the makerspaces in our group.
We are also itching to get moving on production, and have had quite a bit of interest in the community in regards to surgical/procedural masks for people who may be in non-hospital or non-critical scenarios. We are hoping to get started on the production of these cloth masks while we are waiting for the approved face shield to come in, using a design that is very well-reviewed in the maker and nursing community.
This is where we could use your help. Our plan is to laser cut cloth pieces for these masks, and then distribute them to sewing machines to be put together. We have four sewing machines, with which we will be doing a portion of the sewing, but we are looking for volunteers from the community who are willing to sew masks. If you are interested in participating in this, please contact us at team@brooklinemakery.com with the subject “Sew masks.”
As always, if you have any materials (specifically thin plastic sheets, elastic strap material, PLA filament, high thread-count cotton fabric, or HEPA filters) or you would like to volunteer your 3D printer or print time, please contact us at team@brooklinemakery.com with the subject “Donation.”
We are so impressed with our community. We have had so many people reach out to offer donations, services, and love, so thank you all very much for your continued support. If you are interested in a monetary donation, please visit our Donation Page. Anything makes a difference.
Keep smiling.
Maddie
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