As of Thursday, April 16th we are officially winding down our large scale 3D printing efforts. If you have completed prints, please plan to drop them off at designated drop points before noon on Saturday, April 18th.
For the last three weeks, the community of 3D printer users and designers throughout the Charlotte area and beyond has contributed an astounding amount of time, effort, and resources to this cause. Roughly 3000 3D printed PPE face shields have been constructed and delivered to doctors and nurses on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is also thanks in no small part to additional volunteers who have driven supplies to and from drop points around the county and those who have worked to assemble parts for delivery. Today, production of injection molded face shields (based on the feedback gathered from 3D printed PPE) now hovers around 10,000 units per day, allowing CharlotteMEDi to support locations even outside of the immediate geographic area. We have investigated additional options for ways to suppport medical staff via 3D printing, however initial feeback has been middling and does not indicate the need to continue with the resource intensive process of printing, gathering, and assembly required to continue at this time. Also, the cancellation of several planned field hospitals has reduced the call for additional ventilator technologies that may have benefited from mass printing efforts.
Many of you have already used the volunteer form to share your contact info with our Community Printer team. If a new design emerges that can clearly benefit medical workers or other essential personnal, we will use email addresses gathered on that list to notify the community.
From the CharlotteMEDi group organizers and the healthcare workers that have expressed their gratitude in person and in writing, thank you all for your help. Know that your work continues to make a difference every day PPE gear is in use. For now, stay safe and stay hopeful.