Many 3D printing labs and private owners of 3D printers in Bloomington are trying to help fill shortages of medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fibers and Additive Manufacturing Enable Systems Laboratory– known as the FAMES Lab in Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics and Computing, is among those trying to help meet needs for medical equipment.
Alexander Gumennik is an assistant professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering who heads the FAMES lab.
Gumennik says he and his students have produced a working prototype of protective face shields, which they are sending to doctors and nurses at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis.
“We are producing medium sized batches, we are capable with our printers to make about 20 a day,” Gumennik says.
He says other printing labs, like Ivy Tech Bloomington's are capable of printing higher volumes of materials.
April Bledsoe is program the chair of Design Technology at Ivy Tech Bloomington. She says their lab has been working to produce the visors used for protective face shields.
She says orders for the visors haven't been placed yet, but anticipates high demand in the weeks to come.
Gumennik says usually his lab’s work is much more research-based, but the skills he and his students have to use for this project make for good real-world application of their studies.
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