Hello again,
I’m looking to start making earsavers and have read through the threads. However, I didn’t see anything regarding if anyone has had feedback on making the earsavers various sizes?
Also, is there one type of acrylic (or other material) that works better than the proofgrade? I read somewhere that the acrylic can break.
Thanks again,
EB
There are patterns on here for larger ones, or ones with a break in the middle for those with larger heads - I haven’t seen one for tiny heads, but I imagine they’re out there too.
Acrylic is pretty standard across the industry - PG comes pre-masked, but if you don’t care about the masking any 1/8"/3mm cast acrylic will do. If you put them in the oven at 180°F (80°C) for a couple hours it’ll “anneal” them and make them less likely to break. If you bring the temp up to 300°F(150°C) you can bend them (with leather gloves or equivalent) to match the curve of a head.
Folks have made them out of thick leather, and the flexible cutting board material too…
One thing you might want to keep in mind is that they are designed to make oversized masks fit more comfortable on smaller heads, not vice versa, e.g. a medium or large procedure mask on a small head.
In all cases, the earsavers make the mask tighter, not looser. I’ve donated thousands of these in the past year and I’m always amazed when recipients complain that they didn’t make their masks looser. 
I’ve made larger versions but found that scaling up should be done asymmetrically. I found that about 125% increase in height was about as large as was aesthetically and wearably useful. I scaled the length by up to 200% but found that a “long” version of 150% (length) x 125% (height) provided a good longer version.
I was making and shipping thousands at a time so did not want to go through the annealing process needed to shape them better and went with 1/16" acrylic instead to provide flex.
Thank you for this insight! I would have never realized that.
Thank you, James! I’m making them for the first time and am worried that I will screw something up.
I haven’t had the Glowforge long so I’m still learning!
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