Illinois MakerLab Makes Protective Mask Buckles for Army Covid Response

The Illinois MakerLab has recently completed an order to create buckles for face masks as a part of its COVID-19 response. An army personnel from the Champaign-Urbana area stationed in Philadelphia at the Liacouras Center COVID surge facility noticed a lot of issues with the mask strings rubbing on peoples ears and a Command Center specialist found mask buckles for them which were sold out but could be 3D printed. The lab took on the challenge of printing 100 buckles for the task force and shipped them out to Philadelphia.

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William Casey Jones, Yuxuan Tang and Karan Ruparel were some of the MakerLab student staff who worked on this project and faced minor challenges when it came to replicating a smooth and accurate buckle design. Slowing down the 3D printers served as the best method to ensuring that the hooks printed smoothly and that the buckle maximized comfort.

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