3D Printing Community Responds To COVID-19 Equipment Shortages

Professional additive manufacturing designers, providers and amateurs have responded to the global call to arms, assisting the medical professionals who are faced with a shortage of

ventilators, masks, face shields and personal protective equipment (PPE). To assist the overloaded healthcare system and to provide some respite to the overstretched supply chain, global blue-chips to individual people have been lending a hand in order to meet demand. There are numerous cases of 3D printing coming to the rescue – a hospital in Brescia, Italy obtaining respiratory valves from local engineering firm Isinnova. Global provider of printing machines Materialise has released files for a 3D printer hands-free door handle attachment to alleviate virus transmission. Stratasys has 3D printed full-face shields. US design software maker Autodesk has made certain cloud-based design software free of charge as people work remotely to design medical solutions. US Formlabs is working to supply 3D-printed test swabs.