Help NESIT Produce Ear Savers for Covid-19 Staff

The mission of NESIT is to provide a workshop facility for people in the Connecticut area to learn, make, and share knowledge.

We were contacted last week by a Yale nurse to 3D print Ear Savers, devices designed to eliminate ear strain in those who must wear masks daily by holding the mask using the back of the wearer's head rather than the back of their ears. 


We received feedback that our 3D printed straps were too short, could tangle in the wearer's hair, and were just too brittle. We also found that 3D printing was simply not fast enough to keep up with demand from local hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare facilities.


We reworked the design based on feedback to improve the experience of wearing the strap, then began mass-producing straps using our 2 laser cutters. Since, our 2 laser cutters have been running almost nonstop, with several NESIT members taking shifts to keep the lasers running.


Currently, NESIT can produce around 250 straps per hour between our 2 laser cutters. To date, NESIT has donated over 3000 ear saver straps to 13 local healthcare facilities, however, we are still unable to keep up with demand.

That's where you come in! We know that if we had a 3rd laser making straps full time, we could increase our production to over 450-500 straps per hour that would go directly to healthcare workers. With your help, we can set up a new machine to produce more straps in just a few days. 

Stewart EFI, a local manufacturing company, has graciously promised to donate all the material required to fill our donation requests, so the only limiting factor is how fast we are able to produce straps. 

We will use the money donated to purchase and set up a laser engraving system to greatly increase our ear saver production and continue to provide local hospitals and nursing homes with these much-needed ear saving straps. 

NESIT hopes everyone is staying safe in these uncertain times and would like to extend a huge thank you to our healthcare workers for their efforts.