TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker Air Force Base’s 552nd Maintenance Group recently prototyped approximately 40 face masks and face shields through additive manufacturing, supporting efforts to produce face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 552nd MXG’s Continuous Improvement Office successfully managed to prototype a face shield design and designs for face masks that would allow cloth to be inserted into the manufactured frame.
The efforts came in response to a request from the 72nd Mission Support Group to come up with a design that could support Tinker’s Security Forces, according to Master Sgt. Shawn Cleophas, 552nd MXG.
“We were looking for something that was not cost effective per say, but easiest to manufacture as quickly as we could,” Cleophas said.
In developing the prototypes, Cleophas said that the process is relatively simple as long as one is familiar with additive manufacturing. Utilizing software such as AutoCAD or Solidworks, he said it is possible to design whatever product one has in mind and have a 3D printer create the design using basic plastics.
“3D printing has been a recent wave in both military and civilian sectors as kind of a new method to at least create something from nothing,” Cleophas said. “It’s the new wave of innovation where you can literally use pennies on the dollar to create something out of plastic and prototype it.”
While face mask designs are not the office’s usual focus, Cleophas said the work fell in line with their mission of providing the 552nd MXG with innovations and methods to improve procedures.
Operational for the last six years, the face mask effort is one of the largest project the office has engaged in since its inception. Cleophas said that COVID-19 has produced a need that has allowed the office to demonstrate the kind of innovation 3D printing can provide.
“One of the ways to facilitate that is 3D printing, so we do actually have a 3D printer specifically for prototyping things of this nature,” Cleophas said. “While we are a relatively small office, we still represent the 552nd MXG and the 552nd Air Control Wing to do what we can do to push additive manufacturing to the forefront.”
Once approved, Cleophas said the next step for the prototypes would be to focus on procurement management and where to begin production of the masks and shields at a level that would allow for the shields to make a practical difference in the needs of the installation.
He added while the current system isn’t geared toward mass production yet, projects such as this can facilitate discussions that could lead to greater support of such capabilities and increase more opportunities for additive manufacturing in the future.