“IC3D Budmen Face Shield - Livingston Mod (also known as the "Livingston Shield") is a remix of the IC3D Budmen Face Shield (IC3D Budmen) that has been reviewed and recommended for clinical use. This is a minor update to the IC3D Budmen Face Shield - Livingston Mod (v2.0) to make the corners more rounded for smoother printing.  

There has been a surge in the usage of 3D printing to produce protective equipment against COVID-19. The high demand of 3D printed face shields created a difficulty in finding clear plastic that matched the original specification. Our goal is to adapt the original design to the current supply situation and to reduce the printing time and filament as much as possible while maintaining the comfort for the users, especially for those who wear it for a long time. 

Key modifications to the original design:

• Preservation of overall dimension, and headband height. High headband allows the shield to fit better and for the users to be able to wear it longer. This is in contrast to many minimalist or skeletal face shield designs that cause pain to the forehead of the users due to the pressure point of the edge without a headband.

• We took inspiration from another design that has been reviewed and recommended for clinical use called Design that Matters Face Shield (DtM-v3.1). As the clear plastic sheets become increasingly harder to find, we will need to use standard US letter-sized transparency sheets or report covers instead. We fit the US letter-sized sheet to the original IC3D Budmen hook positions as they provide more superior formation of the curvature of the shield than changing to the US letter-sized three-hole standard. 

• We also cut out the sheet-edge holders because the US letter-sized sheet will not need to be held at the edge. 

• We replaced the solid visor, which requires more plastic to print, with skeletal structure. 

• With a change to an open top design, we addressed the concern of droplets from the top by having the slanted top section in a partial cone shape similar to DtM-v3.1 to limit aerosol and splatter exposure from the top, but with a non-printing material instead. 

• We developed and introduced the Livingston Seamless Top Shield by using another transparency sheet that was cut into a certain shape so that when put onto the hooks, the top shield forms a partial cone shape that provides such protection. The top shield is slanted down from the top of the head toward the edge of the visor and ends behind the front shield. It has some space toward the back for top ventilation, and this is similar in concept to the DtM-v3.1. Cutting a sheet into a specific shape and punching 4 holes uses much less time than printing that shape, allowing us to create more shields. 

• We also changed the end-loops to have a slit in them. This allows them to accept elastic of different kinds to tie to the face shield. With the slit, we needed to make the loop thicker, which is counter to our goal of saving time and plastic. With this design tradeoff, we open up more options for makeshift tie to be used to match the current supply situation. We also eliminated the need for the strap locks.

With all the above modifications, in a single shield printing on a small bed printer, we cut down about 20% of printing time and about 19% of filament compared to the original IC3D Budmen Face Shield. This allows more smaller printers to add help to many efforts to address the face shield shortage.

NOTE: The technique used in Livingston Seamless Top Shield in this design that uses a transparency sheet to form a partial cone shape can be modified and adapted to other open top face shield designs, which include many skeletal / minimalist designs, to address their drawback of the exposure from the top. The seamless design of the top shield provides a contiguous barrier unlike other top shield designs that use multiple overlapping sheets or a single sheet with cuts. Those may have gaps between the seams which may require medical grade tape to be applied.”

Visit the Livingston Shields page at https://www.livingstonrobotics.org/livingston-shields/ for the most up-to-date information. Please see terms and conditions: https://www.livingstonrobotics.org/covid-19/agreement/