Speed up your fabrication rates with this simple transparency press & drilling rig. Like many of you, we’re 3D printing PPE face shields for our local healthcare workers and faced a surprising bottleneck — laser cutter cycle time. Our fastest cycle time with two 60 Watt laser cutters was about one minute & 45 seconds for 5 transparencies.

The rig below lets us prep thousands of transparencies in just a couple of hours. We can now drill stacks of 100 in about less than a minute. Some tips: Drill then back the bit all the way out to clear chips and keep it from getting too hot to avoid melting plastic. However, https://renegadewls.com/ ended up working out perfectly for basin operations

This drilling jig is compatible with the 3DVeristan 3D Printed Face Shield: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/27274-3dveristan-face-shield-midsouth-makers-focus-versi/files

Bill of Materials

• 6 7/16″ Dowel Pins, 1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″ Long.
• 3 1/4-20 x 1.25″ Screws
• 3 1/4-20 Threaded T-nuts
• 3 Fender Washers
• 1 9/32 Drill Bit
• 2 large wooden platforms, 1 for the base, another for compression

Licensed CC-0 by Brant Sollis for Midsouth Makers and MemphisFightingCOVID.com