A group of 3D printing enthusiasts have brought a slice of Kiwi ingenuity to the problem of the short supply of protective equipment for our medical professionals.

The volunteer group have begun home-manufacture of face shields, essential for medical workers to prevent potential splash infections from coronavirus patients. Like most protective equipment, the shields are in short supply worldwide.

A group of 3D printer owners - ranging from enthusiasts with a small printer at home, to large specialist firms - have designed and begun printing their own low-cost shields.

Supplied Associate Professor James Ussher of Otago University said there was a worldwide shortage of PPE supplies.

The leader of Project Face Shield, Auckland engineer Liam Venter, says he's got the cost of each shield down to just $5 with the printers all working as volunteers and materials supplied at cost. He's seen masks priced online at up to $90 apiece.

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Venter adapted an open-source pattern produced by a Czech firm to make it simple and easy for 3D printing hobbyists to use.

A motorbike enthusiast, he owns his own 3D printer to produce prototype bike parts for his business - but has turned his machine to producing shields full-time.

"There are so many negative stories out there, this gives people something positive to keep focused on," Venter said.

So far, he has 120 machines nationwide committed to the effort, and is planning to produce 1000 masks per week - but is confident he can ramp supply up as more join the effort.

"I'd like to get every 3D printer in the country printing them," he said.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF Liam Venter is leading a group of enthusiastic 3D printers.

He will centralise the supply, sterilise them, attach visors and straps, and then supply them to whoever needs them.

He says he's close to agreeing a deal with NZ Health Partnerships, the procurement arm for district health boards. Venter said Health Partnerships had indicated they wanted 300,000 masks.

"We have people from nursing homes and clinics waiting to get as many as we can start producing," says Venter.

"We will supply any frontline health worker who doesn't already have one - which is most of them."

He said he'd sent his prototype models to one nursing home chain who were begging him for any masks he could supply because staff were currently using welding helmets.

He'd reduced initial production time from four hours to two on a home printer, and 30 minutes on an industrial machine.

"If we can get everyone working together, we can produce tens of thousands of these - but we need hundreds of thousands."

After having a surgical team provide feedback on a prototype, and conducting strength tests, the masks went into production on Friday.

Venter said they should be single use, but could be sterilised and he was making them from a thicker plastic than normal to increase durability.

His biggest issue is getting supplies from businesses and access to printers closed by the lockdown, and he's also worried about the reliability of courier services.

At his regular media briefing on Friday, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield assured New Zealanders the country had a solid stock of personal protective equipment, but said they were "leaving no stone unturned" to find more supplies.

Venter's work won cautious support from immunologist Dr James Ussher, associate professor at Otago University.

"Globally, there is pressure on access to PPE (personal protective equipment), such as face shields, and they are becoming more and more difficult to source. There's ongoing supply issues with lots of things in the health system at the moment," Ussher said.

Ussher explained that medical professionals would wear a mask and shield in tandem. The mask would prevent the inhalation of droplets, while the mask would prevent splashing, particularly into the eyes.

Ussher said the only issue would be ensuring the visor part was able to be disinfected - by immersion in a 0.5 per cent bleach solution - and if it had any foam padding that would have to be replaceable.

"The supply chains are compromised around the world at the moment, and local supply of anything that is fit for purpose is welcome and should certainly be considered."

NZ Health Partnerships refused to comment, saying that they were channelling any media enquiries to Civil Defence.

For Kapiti-based GP Christine Coulter, the "epic" initiative started with a local patient who had taught her son at school. He had a 3D printer and asked her how he could help.

Initially, Coulter was not sure if he could, but it struck her during a trip to Mitre 10 when she noticed face shields available for line trimming.

She went back to him about the idea, and within 30 minutes her patient had discovered an open-source design and began work.

Coulter said the people making the face shields were superheroes.

"It's really revolutionary for us, it's transformed our ability to work and communicate with each other," she said.

She said there was not enough PPE or masks available.

"We are running out, because we've been told originally that you can only use things once," she said.

Coulter said normal face masks were made from absorbable material, which means they can only be used once, while face shields could be cleaned and reused.

She also said face shields were better because you can see a person's face, whereas a face mask covers a person's nose and mouth.

"It's terrible to see a patient when they can't see your face and you can't see there's, it's really really hard to communicate," Coulter said.

She was now reaching out to others about the idea. "I've shared it with all of my GP colleagues," she said.

Mechanical engineer Ben King has been helping out with the initiative too.

His cousin, an industrial designer in New York, helped design an open-source face shield, with instructions now freely available online.

"Anything that I can do to help is a no-brainer," King said.



"Helping people is what makes the world go round, so for me it's the right thing to do.

Additional reporting Steven Walton