May 4, 2020 — Before the pandemic, some things were just fun or educational, and that was enough. Now, some creative people are re-purposing their pre-pandemic interests to be useful in the moment we’re in. That’s what’s happening with the 3-D printers at Mendocino College, which a couple of professors recently used to print 300 facial shields for healthcare workers at Adventist Health. Getting the seven printers, back in 2018, was David Pai’s idea. He teaches computer science and is the mentor for the on-campus engineering club. “I’ll be honest, it started as one of those, hey, this is a cool thing we should look at doing...I wanted to help support the students who are in that vein of, hey, I like building stuff,” he said. “3D printing was a nice way to be able to develop something to teach them how to design parts and also let them build things.”
Those things have ranged from simple boxes to an elaborate coin separator to theatrical props, according to Steve Decker, a technical theater teacher and the instructor for the 3-D printing program. “When we are actually able to do Midsummer Night’s Dream,” he said, the horns on Puck’s head and much of the scenery will be 3D printed using a variety of techniques. And the siren from “War of the Worlds,” a production that took place in the midst of October’s PSPS, was also 3D printed.
When the pandemic hit and everyone started to shelter in place, a confluence of career technical education and maker space groups started floating some ideas about how to help medical workers with their equipment needs. By running most of the machines at the same time, they can make 20-25 facial shields a day. They track down the resins and filaments they need to make the objects over the internet. Nobody they know of is producing filament in the area, but, “If somebody is listening to this, and they are producing filament locally, please reach out to us,” said Decker, before taking KZYX on a zoom tour of the lab.
Take a listen to come along on the tour and hear more details about the project and the machines.
