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3D printers used to produce medical supplies amid coronavirus outbreak
With the critical shortage of medical supplies due to coronavirus, people are using 3D printers to create protective gear for medical staff and first responders.
POTOMAC, Md. - With the critical shortage of medical supplies due to coronavirus, people are using 3D printers to create protective gear for medical staff and first responders.
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Among them, students at Bullis School, a private school in Potomac, Maryland.
Ethan Till and Tyler Kuehl, both juniors, heard what we've all been hearing about hospital staff and first responders running out of protective gear they need to keep themselves safe as they save lives.
The students asked their school if they could use the 3D printers to create N-95 masks. They've been working for several days now, making plastic masks that are reusable once the filter is changed out.
"I think this is a very cool opportunity to help out the community and just raise awareness," said Kuehl. "We have our own abilities to do things to help more people than we think we can."
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As the students use two of the school's printers, Matt Zigler, the lab coordinator at Bullis, is using two others to make face shields.
He's partnering with makerspace Open Works in Baltimore which is coordinating a mass production of shields, calling on anyone with a 3D printer who can help. Learn more about the project HERE.
Dr. Gerald Boarman, head of Bullis School, says he hopes the efforts will inspire others with 3D printers in the region to follow suit. If you have a printer already, it's easy to find the program for masks and inexpensive to craft them.
"People are doing it," said Boarman. "I think the word needs to be that we need a lot more people doing it."