Children's pollution mask
Bartlomiej Gaczorek's 3D printed protective mask, being modelled by a child after finishing and colouring.
A designer in 3D technology has combined Sinterit’s 3D printing technology and Autodesk Netfabb software to develop protective facial masks for children.
Bartlomiej Gaczorek was motivated to design the masks by increasingly contaminated cities, and the lack of available guises made specifically for youngsters. He designed a low-weight mask from scratch called the ‘brifo’. A colourful finish, and resembling the type of mask a superhero character might don, Gaczorek ensured it would appeal to children to wear.
Brifo is for use in creative activities, like painting, and for everyday wear in areas with high air pollution. Gaczorek harnessed the Sinterit Lisa selective laser sintering (SLS) platform to print the masks, citing its support for durable materials, like PA12 nylon, and flexible ones, like TPU. It would enable him to bring his design, which boasted rigid sections and areas which needed to be anatomically adjustable, to life. Autodesk Netfabb was leaned on because of its ability to streamline the workflow and manipulate printed solids to make them lighter but stronger. Another pull was the software’s capability to automatically create support structures where necessary.
Autodesk Netfabb childrens polution mask
CAD file of Gaczorek's mask design being modified in Autodesk Netfabb.
Gaczorek created internal lattice structures, slimming down the design, and allowing for a lightweight model without losing functionality or durability. Attempting to create this structure manually would likely mean faults in the design which would render it unprintable. Netfabb not only made easier the creation of lattices, but its analysis features ensured problems were detected early, meshes were repaired, and the printing time was reduced.
“My common workflow, from idea to prototype, comes through CAD design, exporting, hollowing, infilling, and nesting inside the printer’s build volume,” said Gaczorek. “Until now I had to use different software for almost every operation. Repeated imports and exports are not only frustrating, but could corrupt the final output file.
“Thanks to the [Netfabb] software, I export only from CAD software and do all the preparation there. And this is a true industry 3D printing tool with many automated scripts and a huge number of state-of-the-art machines. One of them in Sinterit Lisa, a desktop SLS printer. SLS is a technology of 3D printing with almost no restrictions in the shaping of parts, perfect for organic and complex geometries and even interlocking elements.”
children's pollution mask
Since the Sinterit Lisa is an Autodesk Netfabb-supported machine, Gaczorek was able to select the printer from a drop-down list within the software, and see the available workspace from the start of the process, and benefit from live collision detection. Automatic packing made maximum use of the printing bed, while the file being created at the end of processing and saved in a printer-supported extension, made it possible to print the mask immediately, without the need for additional software.
All told, Gaczorek was delighted with the Sinterit Lisa and Autodesk Netfabb combo, describing the repairing, hollowing, and lattice infilling algorithms as ‘simply amazing’ and the software as a whole ‘a good match for an SLS printer like Sinterit Lisa.’
