In March a professor at UTRGV started to use 3D printers from the Maker Space Engineering Lab at UTRGV to create parts of face shields and respirators. Vaquero Radio spoke to Assistant Professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Noe Vargas, which says he started this effort to print personal protective equipment using 3D printers.
I can tell you how it started in Engineering, I initiated this effort to print [personal protective equipment] with our 3D printers…
Vargas says when he started to 3D print pieces for face shields, staff, departments, and students among others, offered to help in this effort in any way they could.
Engineering students coordinated with him and offered to design and use their own personal 3D printers at home to print pieces. Other students cooperated by sewing cloth face masks.
The department is aiming to produce between forty to fifty face shields per week. Vargas says he goes to the lab to print almost every day.
I try my best to print almost every day, I go to the lab and I do some printing, and then I have enough pieces, I take them to the Theatre department, they continue the process.
Vargas says he is also working with other University departments such as the Department of Theatre to complete the assembly of face shields, while the UTRGV School of Medicine handles the distribution.
The departments working together formed a group called Minds at Work for COVID-19 and Health Care with the goal of providing aid to the community.
Mechanical Engineer Senior, Anuar Soto says he thinks it’s great that the university is giving back to the community.
When this epidemic is over I think is great that the university is giving something back to the community that has supported so much in the lasts years…
Minds at Work for COVID-19 and Health Care are set to launch their website in the next couple of weeks.
Reporter Victor Rivero
