VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) — The 3D printing community is coming together to print personal protective equipment for hospitals in desperate need.
Professionals and hobbyists are also sharing ideas and resources, and one local college student is helping to organize the response.
Connor Weller, an engineering student at Washington State University – Vancouver, created a Facebook page to bring together 3D printing experts.
Weller says he hopes to streamline efforts to make large quantities of the most effective designs of PPE.
Weller told FOX 12 he started 3D printing in high school and then built a cookie cutter business.
Now, he has several 3D printers and is using them to make masks and face shields for health care workers.
“Humans as a species, what makes us so adaptive and so great is that we’re innovative. If we have an issue, we’ll find solutions to it through whatever means possible. That’s exactly what we’re doing now. A lot of us have this equipment, we used them as a hobby or a toy, but now we’ve found a use for them that’s actually saving lives,” Weller said.
Weller says they were able to drop off 150 units of PPE to a local hospital and will have more supplies ready soon.