This tutorial is for making a simple face shield for eye/face protection against COVID-19.

It is very quick and easy to make, light, and comfortable to wear.

You will only need ordinary office supplies, no need for laser machine, sewing machine, or 3d printer, and it they can be easily flat-packed.

The design is inspired by the very clever "Open Source Face Shield" by New York University, but made to take advantage of the more easily obtainable A4 sized clear plastic sheet.

Note: because this is an "Open-top" design, it may not be suitable in some clinical and hospital settings, but possibly well suited as a single-use, disposable PPE item for frontline healthcare workers, caregivers, cleaners, lab technicians, or any essential workers who are facing the public.

Supplies

-A4 transparent PVC sheets (very common in office supplies - look for "clear binding covers" or "binding presentation covers" I used 200 micron). OHP or Acetate sheets might be fine also.

-elastic band (I used 12mm KORBOND Polyester Elastic, but any elastic 10-13mm would work)

-scissors (or guillotine is ideal)

-hole punch/paper punch (should make about a 7mm hole with the hole centre 12mm from the edge)

-medical paper tape 1" wide (optional but adds comfort - I used 2.5 cm "Band-Aid Non Irritating Paper Tape")

Step 1: Make or Print the Cutting Templates.

These templates must be printed to an A4 sized paper (297x210) with the scale set to "Actual Size" (or you may need to set the scale to 100%). To check the scale after printing, use a ruler to confirm that the printed 150mm dimension on the paper is actually 150mm.

If you don't have a printer just refer to the dimension sheet and use a ruler to make your own template from a piece of A4 paper.

If anybody needs US Letter sized templates? then please leave a message at the bottom and I'll make some extra files.

Step 2: Using the Cut Templates

You can hold the paper cutting template behind the clear sheet and cut with scissors, then use a standard hole punch which you can position with help of the guidelines.

There are optional crease-lines which can help if the wearer has other eyewear, and also reduces glare.

Step 3: Using the Cut Templates With a Guillotine

Alternatively - If you have a guillotine you can tape the paper to the guillotine and use the guide lines, the easiest way to cut the bottom corners is to opt for the Straight Cut - and use the same guide.

Step 4: Using the Cut Templates With the Hole Punch

If you want to be a little more accurate with the hole punch you can use another copy of the Cut_Template_Shield as a holepunch guide.

Cut the 10deg angle off the top left corner and turn paper so that the 10deg cut is now parallel/flat/0deg against the natural back of hole punch and set it to be also lined up at the second hole. Use masking tape to fix the paper in place to the hole punch - this will now help you to know where to position the clear sheet for punching the holes.

Just take care to keep the top of the clear lined with the top of the paper where the 10deg cut was made.

Step 5: Lace/Thread in the Elastic

Cut the elastic at a minimum of 400mm (it helps to cut the ends on a 45deg angle) and this can be threaded per the image - (in through the second hole on the outside seems to help keep the shape of the mask correct) you should not need to tie any knots.

Note - the closeup image also shows paper tape which can be optionally applied to the inside for comfort, and if necessary easily discarded and new tape applied after cleaning.

For flatpack, let the elastic sit at the front of the mask and just leave out the final hole for the end user to lace. For local deliveries we fully thread and put two faceshields into a 26cm/38cm sealed "SnapLock" bag, and then 15 of those bags into a box.

The end user can tighten the elastic by simply pulling the short ends.

Thats it! Please make, and I would love to know how you get on, and share this easy design with others.