Building on the great work underway in the 3D printing community and at a significant tangent to our normal work, #OrthotropicEngineering has adapted a #facevisor design to enable cost-effective manufacture using water-jet and laser cutting techniques. The visor may be manufactured immediately and rapidly in large quantities without the need for any bespoke tooling. It's delivered to where it's needed in flat-pack form for easy shipping and storage and can easily be assembled for use in less than a minute.
Although we managed to build the prototype in under a week, we've also taken care to make sure that the design is right: For example our initial choice of acetal plastic for the headband has been superseded by HDPE as the former was susceptible to cracking during the cutting process. We've also mechanically tested three headbands to ensure their safety and durability: The frame members stand up to many bending cycles without showing any signs of distress and can be bent double without fracturing.
