A former Army medic from Laguna Beach has joined Chapman University classmates using their 3D printers to manufacture face shields for healthcare workers at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
Christopher Moore, 28, said he and 49 other Chapman students have manufactured about 1,700 face shields. He’s been printing parts from home since last Thursday and has personally assembled about 100 shields. Moore said he dropped off his first batch at Chapman on Tuesday.
“I’m really excited,” Moore said. “I can’t be in the hospitals but it’s something I can do from home and at least have some kind of contribution rather than just sitting around doing nothing.”
During his time as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, Moore deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Resolute Support. He left the Army five years ago.
He’s now in his final semester at the Fowler School of Engineering and will pursue a Master’s Degree in Medical Device Engineering at the Keck Graduate Institute this fall.
“When you get down to it, engineering is about building, and the best builds are the ones that keep human needs at the forefront,” Erik Linstead, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Chapman, said in a prepared statement. “While it’s hugely satisfying to be able to do something impactful for our healthcare workers during these difficult times, I’d like to think we are simply staying true to one of the most fundamental lessons we teach our students.”
MatterHackers, a Lake Forest-based 3D printer manufacturer, played a vital role in bringing together Chapman and other community members in this grassroots effort to protect health providers, Chapman assistant professor of biology Gregory Goldsmith said in a statement.
While Moore read about healthcare workers needed personal protective equipment he was still surprised by their positive reaction to the donations by his classmates.
“I thought that they would have more and if they needed more they would get professional equipment,” he said.
Moore has optimized a crowd-sourced computer code to print multiple face shield components at once. The public is welcome to access the code via GitHub.com.
“Once you give [the 3D printer] the instructions it just goes,” he said.
Community members who own 3D printers and are interested in contributing to MatterHackers’ efforts are encouraged to register here.
