Our Story

March 17, 2020

Idea born

Katie, a student of Charlotte Latin’s FabLab reached out to Tom Dubick (FabLab director) after her dad told her about the shortage at his hospital.
Challenge accepted.

March 17, 2020
March 20, 2020

Prototypes

The first prototypes were printed at Charlotte Latin.
Time to get help.

March 20, 2020
March 21, 2020

Group formed

After a few phone calls and texts to other Charlotte Latin staff, UNCC, and friends in the community, Charlotte MEDI was formed.
No time to waste.

March 21, 2020
March 22, 2020

Community

Shields started forming on 3D printers around labs throughout the city.
Time to organize.

March 22, 2020
March 22, 2020

Donations

We setup a GoFundMe to ask the public to help. The response was overwhelming! We hit our goal in 12 hours.
Time to buy materials.

March 22, 2020
March 23, 2020

First delivery to hospitals

We shipped out our first batch of 30 face shields to a local hospital. 
This could actually work!

March 23, 2020
March 29, 2020

Large scale manufacturing

Starting to mass produce 5,000 face shields a day with the help of local manufacturing facilities.
We’re big time now.

March 29, 2020
March 31, 2020

Shipping

First large scale deliveries made to Atrium and Novant Health with over 2,200 face shields delivered in one day.
Logistics are hard!

March 31, 2020

OUR GOAL
In support of the #MillionMaskChallenge, a group of makers in Charlotte got together with Charlotte Latin and UNCC with the hope of producing over 1,000 face shields. We started with a design made by Prusa, and after a few days of minor modifications, were able to prototype the first few dozen and get them in the hands of doctors at Atrium Health.

As we continue to refine our process, our goal has grown to print 1,000 masks per week using our community network of volunteers and 3D printers. We are also working with manufacturing companies to help us take this to the next level and produce over 10,000 a week.

Hopefully soon, with all the help of other efforts like ours, the face shield shortage will be over. We have already started talking (and late night prototyping) other types of PPE that are (or will be soon) in short supply. We’re not giving up until all our healthcare workers are protected!