The city of Curitiba, Brazil, started this Thursday, 26th, to produce face shields in 3D printers to to protect health professionals working in the city’s response to the coronavirus epidemic. Around 220 units will be manufactured per day in the city’s fab lab.

A total of 24 printers will be used to produce the equipment. "The initiative will help to equip those in direct contact with patients with suspected COVID-19", explains Mayor Rafael Greca. 

Various agencies in the municipality, such as the Curitiba Agency of Innovation, Social Action Service and Secretariat of Education, in addition to private companies, mobilized resources to implement the production line of face shields in 3D printing at the city’s fablab. The 3D printers were initially used in a innovation project entitled 'Lighthouses of Knowledge and Innovation', that teaches prototyping and 3D printing for students. 

“Companies and even people who have a 3D printer can join this great effort from all over the city and donate filaments for the production of the mask structure. Any help is very important to stop the coronavirus pandemic ”, says Cris Alessi, president of the Curitiba Development Agency.

The transparent front plate of the shield mask (which covers the face) will be acquired by the City Hall. The production will be based on a shield model made available on the internet by a company from the Czech Republic. The adjustments to simplify and make production a little faster were made by the startup from Curitiba, Maha 3D, which offers technical solutions in 3D printing.

The president of the Curitiba Agency of Development estimates that the production of each face shield will take around two hours. Cutting the front plate of the protective equipment should take about five minutes and will be done with fab lab equipment.