MaskMakerAider

3D model
MMA in situation
pre-fold
post-fold
Works great with the sewing machine !
Easy-to-build kit !

Inspiration

Wearing a face mask protects yourself, but more importantly, protects your loved ones. That’s why everyone should have access to masks. Since the medical workers on the front line are a priority for industrial mask-makers, a solution to the shortage of masks is to empower people to make their own. For instance, the French Standardization Association (AFNOR) recognizes that while not as efficient as surgical masks, hand-made masks are effective. Having made many masks ourselves, we found that making the 3 folds required for the mask was difficult and time-consuming. We were inspired by the community of makers who are making masks to give to hospitals and to protect their communities. We want to empower anyone with a sewing machine to make their own masks easily and quickly.

What it does

This 3d-printable tool helps to rapidly triple fold the fabric to reduce the time to fabricate masks at home. Our tool reduces production time by 50% and enables making a chain of masks back-to-back. It also empowers young and old people to make masks even if they lack dexterity. Also, for volunteer mask-makers, this inexpensive tool can double their production rate.

How I built it

We started by analyzing the time to produce home-made face masks by breaking down the creation process into steps and timing each step. Then we picked one of the longest steps and brainstormed possible solutions to reduce its completion time. After deciding on a model to try, we designed it with Fusion360 and 3D printed it. With three iterations, we decided on an effective model with a sliding latch.

Challenges I ran into

When we first tackled the design of the tool, we made a clamping-model version out of too much material and thus the print time was very long and the efficiency of the model was low. With a bit of redesign, we were able to greatly reduce the print time to test the next design iterations quickly. Another design we tested was a cog-based rotation solution, which was very efficient but did not allow for chaining of mask-making. Our final solution - a sliding latch which neatly creates the three folds - lets the user pull the fabric through to chain the production and can slide easily under the sewing machine needle to facilitate pulling the fabric.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We are proud of how many designs we were able to come up with and test in such a short time period. This tool chops production time for an individual mask by 50%, that’s pretty great ! The tool is also very inexpensive to produce - it costs less than 1 euro per unit with a 3D printer.

What I learned

We learned that it’s always best to test the physics of moving parts in the modeling software before 3D printing the parts. We also discovered that a theoretical design cannot be confirmed without real-life testing.

What's next for MaskMakerAider

Industrializing the production of the mask-making kit and distribution across Europe to eager citizens ready to make masks to protect themselves and their loved ones. The kit could be improved, include different mask sizing markers (ie. kid-size), and motivate people to make their own masks. It can inspire people to make and wear masks.

On the other hand, this tool could be perfected to assist companies that are temporarily concentrating on fabric mask production to improve their yield.

The MMA will take on the Coronavirus ! ;)