APTOS—As businesses and services remain closed during the shelter-in-place order – and as Personal Protective Equipment becomes harder to find – a Cabrillo College instructor is staying on the job to make more.
Art Studio Instructor Payson McNett, who runs the college’s Digital Fabrication department – and who created the Makerspace studio there – is using 3-D printers to make masks and face shields. These will be used by medical personnel and by essential county and city workers who must keep working during the coronavirus pandemic.
McNett is giving them away free of charge.
“We’re just donating what we can when we can. There are so many people in need that we’re trying to focus on providing the County masks so they can equitably distribute them,” he said.
McNett’s job has also been deemed essential by Cabrillo President Matt Wetstein, as have those of two workers who are helping him with the production.
McNett said his inspiration came from a desire to help the community that supports the college, and from the knowledge that medical professionals are in desperate need of the equipment.
He said the labs, which feature laser cutters and 3-D printers, make the space the perfect fit to fill the desperate need for the equipment.
“I built both the Makerspace and the fab lab for the community,” he said. “I wanted to make sure that our community was protected, and that I could do whatever I could, when I could.”
McNett says he prepared for the project by doing extensive research, which led him to Billings Clinic Foundation in Montana. There, neurosurgeon Dusty Richardson and dentist Spencer Zaugg have created and posted designs for durable, reusable plastic masks that can be created using 3-D printer technology.
The 3-D printed mask has a snap-in section for medical-grade filtration materials that can be changed out as needed. The designs for these PPE masks are posted on the Billings Foundation website, for use by anyone able to produce them.
McNett got face shield designs from Joseph Prusa, a 3-D printer designer and manufacturer.
He says the design is favored by medical professionals because they can be sterilized and reused many times.
McNett has also used laser cutters to produce cloth pieces, which anyone can use to make their own masks.
Once he perfects the production process, McNett hopes to create rubber molds that will enable him to ramp up production from a current capacity of about 100 masks per day to potentially thousands of masks per day, so long as materials are still available.
McNett says he has already made about 600 of the face shields.
To do this, he has gone through all the materials he had on hand, and has ordered about $2,000 more. Cabrillo has tapped into its emergency funds to help. Private donations and funding from the Cabrillo Foundation have allowed him to plan for more.
“It feels kind of amazing,” McNett said of the project. “It’s exhausting but I feel good.”
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To make a donation of supplies or cash, visit the Cabrillo College Foundation at foundation.cabrillo.edu and indicate the donations are for the Digital Fabrication Program.
For prototypes or help with designs, contact McNett at [email protected].
The Cabrillo College Makerspace is equipped with technology intended to help students learn to use contemporary tools to create. It features 3-D printing and scanning, laser cutting and engraving, vinyl cutting and CNC router capabilities.
