3D Printing 2,000 Face Shields During the COVID-19 Lockdown

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill in early 2020, supply chains collapsed and personal protective equipment became desperately scarce. A few friends reached out — they had already started 3D printing face shields based on open-source designs and wanted to scale up. As someone running a small PPE development and manufacturing operation, I joined in.

Together with Aravind, we ran two 3D printers we had built ourselves — housed not in a garage, but in a guest house — printing around the clock. We pooled in every spool of filament we had left, because ordering new stock was nearly impossible. Supply chains had broken down completely.

The lockdown added another layer of challenge. To acquire raw materials and ship the finished shields out, we had to be accompanied by police — that was the only way to move during curfew. Despite that, we pushed through and collectively manufactured 2,000 face shields, which were distributed to those who needed them most.

The initiative caught the attention of local media, and we were featured in the newspaper for our efforts during the crisis.