Neighbor News
School's 3-D Printers Make Face Shields
Loma Linda Academy has repurposed their classroom 3-D printers to print masks and other supplies for medical workers.
Three Loma Linda Academy 3-D printers operated by current and former staff and students have joined the fight against Covid 19 by producing 130 face shields for those who need them. The printers, normally used in LLA's STEM and Maker Space classrooms, are working around the clock building essential supplies for front-line medical workers and others.
Loma Linda Academy is a Seventh-day Adventist K-12 college preparatory coeducational school in Loma Linda, California. It is the largest Seventh-day Adventist K-12 school in the United States, with 1,247 students.
Supplies have been shared with doctors and nurses at area hospitals, oral surgery offices, and patients with fragile immune systems undergoing cancer treatments. Caleb VinCross, former computer teacher at Loma Linda Academy, has committed his time to keeping these printers running alongside his own machine. Gene Oswald, the high school's Technology Innovation Engineering (TIE) teacher, shared filament from his department.
Two smaller machines, while not able to efficiently produce shield frames due to size constraints, have been working to produce other support materials like "facesaver" clips to make N95 masks more comfortable for long term wear.
VinCross’ family has been helping since the beginning, making runs to purchase sheets of clear plastic from a local distributor and then laboriously cutting it into squares for assembling into shields. Tara VinCross, Caleb's wife and senior pastor at Azure Hills Seventh-day Adventist church, has used her social network to get the word out and triage incoming requests.
“I’m guessing the shortage of shields will be a short-term problem,” said Caleb VinCross. “I’m just trying to buy time for the manufacturers to scale up.” VinCross enlisted the help of Loma Linda Academy student Erik Weniger who is a part of Loma Linda Academy's TIE program which offers supplemental classes designed to prepare students for technology professions.
Since April 2nd, VinCross has produced approximately 16-20 shields a day. He would like to step up the pace if more volunteers and printers become available. However, he is running out of raw materials for shields, he says, “The entire region is completely out of clear plastic for the face plates until mid-June, though If I find a way to get more plastic or find an alternative material, I will continue printing.”