Custom Face Shields: Polycarbonate, PET, PETG, Acrylic, Mylar

With the run of face shields around the world, I figured it was time I not only cut my own but also designed one that was better, fitting various head sizes with a lot more adjustments being possible.

Custom face shields made by CNCROi.com can be optimized and designed however you like, given any application you may have this for, whether you want them custom branded (name and/or logo), ventilation holes or any mix of features you want.

As with everything else CNCROi.com produces, these custom face shields can all be made the same or customized to be completely different, in any volume you wish, as long as our material suppliers don’t run out of the raw material we use to make these face shields with.

Through the years at CNCROi.com, I’ve demonstrated a number of projects we make using plastics of all types, but something most apt to watch is the video below comparing polycarbonate, which is what I decided to make my custom face shield with, and PETG.

There are a ton of other alternatives though, from acrylic and mylar to Kapton and PET… it really never ends, it all depends, currently, on what is most available given your design and volume requirements.

At the end of the day, a custom face shield is better than no custom face shield, so that’s the thinking behind being flexible with the material that I end up using at CNCROi.com making these custom face shields.

Why do I like polycarbonate? It’s incredibly durable, light weight, can be easily branded using our fiber laser and best of all, it’s INCREDIBLY STRONG.

From very thin polycarbonate to very thick polycarbonate, CNCROi.com has the machines needed to make just about anything using this material and branding it accordingly for personalization through anti-theft requirements.

What does CNCROi.com use polycarbonate mostly for? Stencils, it’s easily rolled-up when not in use (the thin stuff) and easily cleaned, though we can also use other plastics to do the same, from mylar to acrylic, I’ve found that polycarbonate has the best of all worlds for this application and, in my opinion, for custom face shields too.

When it comes to making custom face shields, there are a number of design parameters I looked at, most important was comfort, if something isn’t comfortable, it doesn’t matter how well it’s designed, it simply won’t be used or worn.

As a result, I went with an interlocking headband design method for my custom face shields that also uses two rubber bands to provide a comfortable pressure against your head to keep the custom face shield firmly in place.

Here’s a good comparison of various stencils made using both polycarbonate and metal to show you the costs and benefits of each, and polycarbonate is really the closest plastic that comes to metal as far as durability.

Of course, CNCROi.com can make custom face shields out of metal as well, but then we go back to the major caveat of comfort, if you have limited eyesight and a lot of weight, it won’t be worn unless you are the middle of jousting.

I actually did quite a bit of prototyping before I came-up to my custom face shields design, trying the various designs on my head, getting ideas for improvements and features that weren’t needed.

I spent years designing custom kids toys, so for me, designing a custom face shield is a relatively easy process though many of the lessons learned in my past life actually do help me when it comes to designing something totally unrelated.

For instance, the power of my kids designs was interlocking instead of using hardware, it needed to be flat packed as well, both things that are actually quite vital for the application of custom face shields as well.

At CNCROi.com, we generally use thicker polycarbonate for strength purposes, it’s basically undestructible, even if you put a flame to it, it’s an incredibly strong material.

This makes it a great pick for small parts that our customer needs to be light weight, TRANSPARENT and easily machined further if needed at their end using just sand paper.

Another material that would also work well for this application is acrylic, it has many of the same characteristics as polycarbonate (my go-to favorite) but it is a little more brittle though it’s also cheaper.

Again, if you wanted a custom face shield or a hygiaphone for your business, we’d use thicker polycarbonate if available but if not, acrylic or PET would be a very close second.

Another use for clear acrylic that CNCROi.com produces a lot of stuff for are industrial templates of various types.

If you need something that’s repeatable, our CNC machines are second to none but more importantly, it means that the custom face shields we produce in our shop are all the same as well, there isn’t any variance to a specific spec you may have or need.

So what else does CNCROi.com make using plastics? Well, another product is key chains, lots and lots of key chains.

We don’t use polycarbonate for this application generally because it becomes too expensive and there is no flame polishing along the edges.

The added bonus of plastics are that they are recyclable, just throw it in the recycle box after you are done.

It doesn’t matter what it was used for, the recycling process will transform acrylic into something else that’s useful.

Of course, CNCROi.com ships these custom face shields flat anywhere in North America within days of getting the order.

Here’s me wearing my custom designed face shield, it’s hard to see because the material is so clear, you have no visual distortions and I had to angle the light so that it was even visible.

Here’s me holding my custom face shield up, as you can see, the construction is pretty simple, just two rubber bands and three pieces of plastic that interlock, no extra hardware or software required!

You can see the back o the design, how the elastic bands fit comfortably into tabs all the way across, and you can just cut off the extra taps you don’t need if you wish.

Need custom face shields? Contact CNCROi.com right now!