In a bid to support the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the Fabrication Lab – or Fab Lab - Team at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar) has combined efforts with a group of fabricators and universities in the US to produce protective face shields.

Over the last two months, after numerous prototypes were made and tested, the team is now producing its first shields, designed to protect those at the frontline of the ongoing global pandemic.

Digital Fabrication Lab and Woodshop Coordinator at VCUarts Qatar, Christopher Buchakjian, said, “We started gathering information and doing research early on, finding that there were many 3D-printable face masks available around the world, as well as other items such as parts for ventilators, so we began making, printing, and testing our own prototypes.

“At this point, we were testing the prototypes that other groups were designing. We needed to test the feasibility of our facility to produce these items. At moments like this, when lots of groups are working on designs, it was our strategy to get connected to as many groups as possible and work with pre-existing designs that have already proved to be successful.”

The Fab Lab team already had vital material, including an array of valves and splitters, to produce effective face shields.

“We decided not to use 3D printers, but instead use our laser cutters to produce the face shields,” Buchakjian added. “This is due to the type of material we have on-hand and the specific type of 3D printers we operate.”

The team communicated with Dr. Nandakumar Pillai, the manager of occupational safety and hygiene at the QF Primary Healthcare Center, to assess the value that the shields could bring and ensure that it met the criteria for use by healthcare professionals.

Assistant Coordinator in the VCUarts Qatar Fab Lab, Shankar Padmanabhan, explained, “We have been communicating with health workers to go over the details, and to adapt our designs to fit their needs - whether it is the shape of the shield, the way the headrests sits on the insert strap, and the way the head strap attaches in the back – and all these design details [have] taken a little time, so we have developed many prototypes.”

According to Buchakjian, “We made different versions and ultimately created one that we and our working group in the US were happy with, so now we are producing the first batch of shields.”

At the moment, the masks are being made specifically for doctors and other frontline healthcare workers who have direct interaction with patients.

“The next step will probably be to find out who else might need these masks, whether they are in or outside of Qatar, and see if we can produce face shields for them,” Padmanabhan said.

The Fab Lab team, which also includes technicians Dana Ladki, Eman Makki, and Saga Elkabash, all of whom are VCUarts Qatar alumni, can change the design and produce more masks.

VCUarts Qatar’s Deputy Safety Officer, Andrea Cecetka; and Jeff Solin, a computer science teacher at Lane Technical College Preparatory High School in Chicago, US, who designed the Solin Flatpack Face Shield and put the designs on the internet, together with an assembly video and illustrations, are also among the contributors to the project.

Meanwhile, health authorities in Qatar continue to implement the highest level of monitoring, detection, and management procedures to deal with the virus, the public has been advised to follow certain measures to safeguard their health.

For any queries, or concerns related to COVID-19 in Qatar, the public can contact a 24/7 hotline set up by the Ministry. The hotline number is 16000 and is toll-free.

Here's everything you need to know about the virus, including ways to protect yourself.

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