3D printers have been deployed to combat the coronavirus in the Czech republic, with the potential for use around the world.
They turned out to be perfect for creating face shields. The main advantage of these shields is that they create a physical barrier between the infected people and health professionals and even enhance the endurance of respirators and masks.
In Prague, the world known 3D printer company Prusa Research came up with easy but very efficient face shields. Here’s the founder of company, Josef Průša.
“We were looking for a way to help out, because we have one of the largest 3D printer farms in the world. We knew we could react quickly, so we were immediately looking for the design. I realised that the face shields are actually quite simple to design and can be manufactured quickly. In just three short days I went to the czech minister of health, we consulted on the design, and we agreed that it could function as proper gear for health professionals. And three days after that we started producing. We have already made and donated 53 000 face shields. We gave them away to over 900 establishments, for example to hospitals, dentists, retirement homes, and other organisations around the Czech republic. Once we published the design for the face shield, lots of people and companies from all around the globe picked it up. There are now firms printing our 3D face shields in the US, UK, Germany, Latvia and even in Australia.”
The printing and assembly instructions are now available worldwide and the 3D printing community across Europe and beyond is using it to print out face shields in large quantities.