Recently, hospitals and other public institutions throughout the country have faced a shortage of necessary supplies to keep in operation. Notably, there has been an insufficiency of protective equipment—cloth face masks, respirators, transparent face shields—due to the drastic rise in demand from the pandemic. Public service officials and private citizens are now required by state law to wear such equipment while in public to diminish the risk of possible infection from close interaction with others.
Because of the scarcity in purchasable protective equipment, many people have begun constructing their own face masks for personal use, using materials easily accessible to them in their homes. But the problem remains that essential workers such as health professionals and police officials, who face daily risk and possible exposure to the coronavirus, require a higher standard of protection than private citizens.
To do his part, Arjun Oberoi, a sophomore from Montgomery Blair High School, along with other like-minded students, have taken it upon themselves to build face shields for local institutions in need using his home 3D printer. Oberoi, with the help of fellow students throughout Montgomery County, manufactures twenty to thirty professional-grade face shields per day to distribute to locations such as the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department, Holy Cross Hospital, and Rockville Police Department.
“I’m one of the few people who actually has access to the resources to make face shields, so I feel like I should be doing this because most people… don’t have access to a 3D printer or the opportunity. And, since I [do], I feel like it’s something I should do because I’m not one of the people who is just regularly getting exposed to COVID everyday, so I think I should be helping those people who are,” Oberoi said.
The endeavor began a few weeks ago when Open Works—a Baltimore-based makerspace—posted an announcement on their social media page requesting the assistance of those with access to 3D printers and other resources and materials to help collaborate on the production of much-needed face shields, under the social media banner “#makersunite.”
Oberoi, who owns such tools at his home, volunteered to help manufacture equipment and got to work. After spending some time producing face shields exclusively for Open Works, he asked members of the local community to help with these efforts for Montgomery County institutions as the assembled face shields at the time were mostly distributed within Baltimore.
“I just threw out a [social media] post to the community asking for donations and… the response was huge… I had multiple people reach out asking how to donate and I had a few people who have 3D printers but just didn’t know where to start, so I [sent them the designs] and told them how to start printing. I also got a few requests from people asking for face shields from me… so I started making a different version at my house,” Oberoi said.
Having noticed some design flaws in the version sent by Open Works, Oberoi later switched to a different NIH-approved design, which allowed him to increase production to the current rate.
Oberoi’s main interest, robotics, was what prompted him to begin his noble endeavor. The tools and skills he has attained to manufacture and oversee the production of his face shields have stemmed from his background and experience with it, which he has been involved in for several years.
“My [robotics] team—which is based in my house—won the world championship in 2018, and I’ve captained the team that represented the whole USA for the first global competition in 2018, and I have one of the most respected teams in the world… We have a lot of machines in my house because of [robotics]… We have a CNC machine, [a] laser-cutter, and a lot of 3D printers right now,” Oberoi said.
All eight printers Oberoi currently has at his home run 24/7, producing plastic frames for face shields. A significant portion of his time is spent fixing the printers whenever they break or have problems. Oberoi also sources transparent sheets and laser-cuts them to attach to the frames.
When both parts of a face shield have been completed, they are set aside for distribution and packaged in resealable bags. For most deliveries, the plastic frames and sheets are kept unassembled, but some recipients ask for them to be pre-assembled. Oberoi distributes the products with the help of his parents, who drive him to various locations.
“The places I’ve been and have distributed [the face shields] in-person is the best feeling for me because they’re just so thankful, like… they’re just so grateful for the support. That’s what makes it all so worth it — that feeling,” Oberoi said.
Article by Eliazar Montemayor III of Walter Johnson High School
Photo courtesy of Arjun Oberoi