Today, the Hamilton Video Feature spotlights the work of teachers and volunteers making protective face shields for local healthcare workers. The 3-D printers from across the districts were brought together at STEM School Chattanooga to have a 3-D printer farm working to produce protective devices for local doctors and nurses. The farm includes 73 printers from school VW eLabs, STEM labs, Fab labs, and makerspaces in Hamilton County Schools.
Hamilton County Schools has the world’s largest collection of educational digital Fab labs, and district personnel wanted to put the 3-D printers in the labs to work in the battle against the COVID-19 virus.
“We have the largest collection of digital labs anywhere in the world, so we are like, let’s do this,” said Jim David, assistant principal at STEM School Chattanooga. “A lot of our initial prototypes used materials we had available in the school eLabs, and not many school districts have this type of technology available to make a safe shield.”
The group plans to produce 500 in the next week with the 3-D printer farm and to provide as many as 15,000 during the health crisis. Watch the video to see the 3-D farm at work!
YouTube Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6tmxohHzYo
Photo: (L to R) David Vanzant, a teacher at STEM School Chattanooga, models a face shield produced by a 3-D printer