Notre Dame Donating 3-D Printed Face Shields

The University of Notre Dame has repurposed 3-D printers from labs across campus to make clear plastic face shield kits for health care workers.

More than 40 of the machines are working hard at Notre Dame to turn out about 250 face shield kits a day. 

Matthew Leevy is the director of the Innovation Lab at Notre Dame’s Idea Center.

“So we 3-D print the part onto which the plastic sheet goes as well as a bottom piece that also clips on to sort of maintain the bend of the, we’ll call it sheet plastic that goes over the front of it,” Leevy says.

Leevy says the shields are a group effort from various departments at the university. The 3-D printers came from across campus to the lab. Others helped with design, and sourcing of the clear plastic, elastic and the rest of the pieces for the kits.

The shields also come with a little touch of Notre Dame.

“We have allocated some bleacher wood removed from Notre Dame Stadium and we make coins from that repurposed wood that say ‘Notre Dame Supports You’ and on the other side there is a graphic of Touchdown Jesus.”

The face shield kits are shipping out to local health care workers and the lab is accepting requests from across the country.