We delivered 1800 to a hospital and the feedback was that for some of the N95 masks (not the disposable surgical masks) that the fit was tight with the ear savers, even on the last notches.
i don’t have an over ear N95 to test with (and i suspect there’s variation out there anyway). My P95 is an over the head style.
So I wanted to see if anyone else had gotten similar feedback before I sit down and look at stretching that middle section out and extending it.
I suspect this^
I have had the comment that they were too tight.
I need to make them longer for myself. I just discovered that today wandering out for the first time.
i made a quick and dirty 4.4" long one instead of the 3.85" original. i’m going to do some adapting for rounded corners on the ends, too. will come back and share later after i’ve made my sheet files.
I made some leather ones 5 inches long, for personal use. My husband had picked up some cheapie surgical masks and the ear loops are pretty short on them. 5" was a good length…
I also got feedback after one donation that the Glowforge design earsavers were short for some of their masks. When I get my next order of acrylic, I’ll make them a bit longer too
I did. So I added 3 extra hooks on each end. I tried stretching the center part but then they don’t nest well and end up with waste in between. Note though that making them much longer requires some flexible material, not the 1/8" being used on the regular earsavers. I’m currently using 0.030" acrylic and they cut super easy and don’t break.
GlowforgeEarSaversXL_v1.zip (20.1 KB)
Thank you. I’ll give these a try tomorrow.
N95s have straps that go all the way around the head. That’s the only way you get the right fit. I hope they didn’t get counterfeits. 
I’m pretty sure this system knows what they’re getting. Huge hospital system. Somebody showed earlier in another thread that this is not necessarily true and that there are legit N95s that are over ear.
I’m thinking it would be a simple solution to add a small silicone rubber band to the elastic of a mask that doesn’t quite reach the ear saver. It wouldn’t take more than a few seconds to slip one on each elastic loop. Maybe we could add a few in each shipment along with instructions for adding them.
The silicone rubber bands made for the Rainbow Loom craft toy are abundant and cheap: for example 600 loops for $5 or over 12,000 for $18.
They are very small but could be easily looped together to make whatever length you need.
Example of how to add the rubber band (I know, it seems obvious but some might not know how): https://youtu.be/EbYuhdwknbs
I had similar requests from the local medical groups I’m in contact with.
I increased about 2" to 5-7/8" OA
I’ve switched to .10" acrylic and custom cut at 11-1/8 x 16-1/2 to nest 34 at a time.
I printed off 4 of them and gave them to my neighbor. I used acrylic from The Home Depot.
He reported ”They all broke!” According to him mine were not flexible and when he tried to tighten up his mask that is when they snapped.
Correct. Many N95’s are over-ear.
Yes, I cut 5", which I call “extended” and the standard 3". The 5" are very popular, but take (naturally) about 2x the material.
This topic was automatically closed 32 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
