Respirator Gasket Mold (Skin Safe)

thingiverse

These files are designed to create a rubber gasket for the many 3D printed respirators out there. A gasket is required to form a better seal for these types of homemade respirators. The first image displays the gasket installed on one of the many designs you can download and print. It's worth noting that the gasket should work with just about all the different style masks currently available. I've uploaded a full version of a single mold with insert, a full version of a 5 gasket gang mold with inserts, and a single half mold and half gang mold to make these easier to print on smaller machines. Any file that has an X2 at the end needs to be printed twice then glued together. Once the molds are printed, they can be glued together using Super Glue. The connector files are optional and are used to help align the parts when gluing. To make a gasket, I recommend using EcoFlex 0035 from Smooth-On for the castings. It is a skin-safe platinum cure silicone that has a pot life of 2.5 minutes and a 10-minute cure time. It is extremely fast and will allow you to make many gaskets quickly. After casting your gasket(s), they need to be attached to your mask. They can be slid onto the edge of the mask and have enough depth that they should stay in place, but I highly recommend gluing them to your mask using Sil-Poxy, which is a skin-safe silicone adhesive also available from Smooth-On. Be sure to take extra care when gluing the two ends of the gasket together, ensuring it's secure and has no leaks. You can use Sil-poxy to make many headbands for face masks that are skin-safe as well. Simply spread a thin layer of it onto the band where it will touch your forehead and allow it to dry. Wear gloves when applying it; it's only skin-safe once fully dry, so you should not touch it in its liquid form. Please share this file with anyone who may need it and be smart about being safe!