When John Mangicaro heard about a team of volunteers 3D-printing face shields for health care workers at the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, he had to see it for himself. 

Mangicaro, head supervisor of Syracuse University’s MakerSpace, drove to the Greater Syracuse SoundStage to learn more about the operation. After speaking with Isaac Budmen, an SU alumnus and one of the volunteers, Mangicaro decided to use the MakerSpace’s 3D printers to turn his basement into a makeshift face shield factory.

“I went up to work, and I grabbed 10 printers, and I brought the printers to my house, and within an hour, we had them all set up,” Mangicaro said. “And I’ve been producing 24/7.”

Mangicaro is one of several students, staff, faculty and alumni at SU and its neighboring schools who are contributing to the fight against the novel coronavirus. As the virus continues to spread across New York state, the university has joined nationwide efforts to support health care providers amid the outbreak. 

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected more than 741,000 people and killed over 35,000 worldwide. New York state had confirmed 59,513 cases of the novel coronavirus as of Sunday, and 965 people have died.

Mangicaro 3D-prints the face shields using designs from Budmen’s company, Budmen Industries.

Budmen runs the company alongside his partner, Stephanie Keefe, also an SU graduate. When County Executive Ryan McMahon announced March 13 the creation of a COVID-19 testing site in Onondaga County, Budmen and Keefe decided to put their printers to use. 

“We actually had to cancel a couple of orders and pull the remaining stock we had ready to ship out to just throw these machines into production,” Budmen said. “We have 14 printers over there right now, running 24 hours around the clock, churning out 14 parts per hour.”

Budmen Industries set up a base of operations at the Greater Syracuse Soundstage, 3D-printing face shield components and assembling them to create a finished product. At any given moment, six volunteers at the soundstage are working to assemble, disinfect and package face shields, Budmen said.

A volunteer team of about 30 central New York residents has used its own 3D printers to  supplement Budmen Industries’ efforts, he said. With these donations included, the operation is currently producing about 400 units a day, Budmen said.

Another team of volunteers has worked to connect the producers with health care workers in need of protective equipment, Budmen said.

“All of a sudden, we started getting requests from all over the world for the face shield,” Budmen said. “At the same time, we had hundreds of volunteers with 3D printers wanting to make them.”

Mangicaro is one of the project’s biggest donors, Budmen said.

Mangicaro said he received approval to bring 10 of the MakerSpace’s printers home to produce face shield components. He estimates he’s produced 300 units so far, and he regularly drops off parts for the Budmen Industries team to assemble.

“Just one 3D printer wouldn’t do much,” Mangicaro said. “But when you compile all the people locally who might have them, or have a large number of them, you can actually take some of the pressure off these people.”

Mangicaro isn’t the only member of the SU community using Budmen’s designs to produce face shields. Faculty and staff at SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Architecture and College of Engineering and Computer Science have also begun building face shields using the plans, according to an SU News release.

Faculty and staff at the School of Architecture and College of Engineering and Computer Science print the face shield components and then bring them to VPA production facilities for assembly, the release states.

The university-encompassing project began with Lynn Greenky, an assistant teaching professor at VPA. After learning about Budmen Industries’ designs from a news article, she began reaching out to deans and department heads who have access to 3D printers, she said.

Greenky heard of the shortage of protective equipment for health care professionals from her husband, a surgeon and president of Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists.

“I remember my husband walking out the door. I remember looking at him and seeing the distress on his face,” Greenky said. “He, along with many of them, were just devastated. I’ve never seen so many physicians reduced to tears.”

Once SU faculty and staff began producing masks, Greenky put them in touch with Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists, she said. The organization is in charge of getting the finished products to health care professionals in the area, she said.

Some of those professionals are just down the street from SU at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Students and faculty at SUNY Upstate have also come together to combat COVID-19, said Simone Seward, director of Upstate’s Center for Civic Engagement, in an email statement to The Daily Orange.

More than 120 student volunteers from Upstate are participating in various COVID-19-related efforts, Seward said. These include fielding virus-related questions from community members, coordinating a blood drive, making follow-up calls to patients and sharing information about COVID-19, she said.

“Upstate students, faculty and staff have done a tremendous job in responding to the coronavirus pandemic,” Seward said. “Although this is unchartered territory for many of us and we are learning to navigate our responsibilities a bit differently, we are still proceeding with the same Upstate pride, compassion and dedication that is at the core of our mission.”

3D-printed equipment won’t be a permanent solution to the supply shortage health care professionals are facing as a result of COVID-19, Mangicaro said. Once large manufacturers create injection molds and can churn out thousands of shields a day, he’ll be able to back off his own operation, he said.

In the meantime, Mangicaro is willing to help out whenever he can. As large-scale manufacturers begin to pick up production of protective equipment, he plans to use his printers to produce whatever need might arise next. 

“We’re here for whatever the next phase is that people might need,” Mangicaro said. “The best medicine for anyone is to help somebody.”

Published on March 30, 2020 at 11:25 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu