"I AM" Ear Savers for Covid-19 Medical Masks

$10,000 will make the first batch of 20,000 ear savers! Order Ear Savers here: www.jaz3Dprinting.com Thank you for taking a moment to read my story! The purpose of the ear savers are to help prevent irritation behind the ears from wearing the medical masks for a long period of time. I shared a post on April 7th with pictures of my "I AM" ear savers and the response has been insane. I had no idea there was such a need for them! For the last 4 days, I have been non-stop running 22 3D Printers in my basement in Minneapolis, MN making “I AM” ear savers! “I AM” is a product line that I started about 2 years ago spreading positive thinking through daily affirmations. I have made t-shirts, hats, canvases, coffee mugs, keychains, etc. Once I heard about the pain essential workers and front liners were having due to the elastic from medical masks, I knew I needed to help! After a few iterations of design, I added the “I AM” messages on the ear savers to add a little light in this time of darkness. I have completely converted my basement over to what we call "The Lab". I posted the ear savers on Facebook on Tuesday, April 7th, and my page EXPLODED! Overnight, I had over 100 shares, and too many comments to count. I have been printing about 300 – 400 a day, going through messages, packaging and shipping orders out. I am trying my best to keep up with the ear saver orders but, the fact of the matter is, I can't! I had no idea what kind of demand there was out there and oh boy, it is high! I have sent them across the country from paramedic firefighters in Texas, to a few hospitals in California, a children's hospital in Wisconsin, Mayo Clinic here in Rochester, MN and many smaller places helping out people as well. Good news is, I have a plan to move forward with mass production. I contacted a few injection molding companies to see if they could help me out. A company gave me a great deal and said they could create the mold for $4,500 and then a low charge per part that comes off of the mold. They said they could pump out about 10,000 a day at 29 cents for each one. That beats my 300-400 3D printed ones that I can make a day by a long shot! So, I am going to move forward with that plan but I need quite a bit more in donations to get there. Once I have the mold made, I will be able to send out the mass quantities needed by the front liners and essential workers. The material that the injection molded parts will be in will be softer and a little more durable than the 3D Printed parts I am able to make. I am looking at a few different options but will most likely use Polypropylene because it is flexible, durable and can be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol. The new design has 2 tabs on each side and is a little longer than the original design to accommodate different head shapes and different masks.  Because they will be injection molded, the part will be all one color but that does not mean the message less important! The company I plan to work with is called Taurus Engineering in St. Paul, MN. They gave me the quote below. They can produce 10,000 parts a day and with the messages I have received, I know I can order them by the 10,000s! ·        5 x 8 MUD base = $900 ·        Mold design work = $600         Mold build = $3000                  o   Machine cavities & logo, drill ejector pins ·        Part price = 10k order $0.29/each  $4500 will go towards making the mold. $5500 makes the first 20,000 ear savers. I still want to continue sending them out donation based. Some places REALLY need them but do not have any funding. So far, I have been sending them out to them at just the cost of shipping and anything donated on top of that goes towards purchasing more material and supplies. I also have had several people just donate to the cause to help offset the cost for others. It brings me to tears to see the generosity of people during these crazy times. The 3D Printing community, sewers and crafters have really stepped up to the plate to help out. People have been doing everything they can to donate whatever they can make. I know the next step for the “I AM” ear savers is to move forward with mass production using injection molding! Anything you guys can do, helps! Let's surpass that $10,000 goal and help out so many more workers and continue to spread the positive message of I AM! Again, thank you so much for your support, this week has been absolutely amazing and I am so glad I can help!