Chico State is bridging the gap for health care workers by creating 3D Face Shields

You may have seen a national trend of engineers across the country producing face shields for healthcare workers.

### chico state is partnering with enloe medical center to provide much needed protective wear for frontline workers.

Mackenzie drigo is at the university with a look at how they'll be making 3,000 face shields in the first phase alone.

### look live faculty, staff, students, and community members are using 3d printers to make face shields to donate to places like enloe medical center.

Take pkg nat pop of snapping shield sot greg watkins chair of csu, chico's department of mechanical and mechatronic engineering and sustainable manufacturing "the idea is that these are now reusable these shield can be disconnected or disinfected or once their useful is..they can just be replaced," vo greg watkins is the chair of csu, and eric ayars professor and chair of physics.

Sot eric ayars professor and chair of physics of csu "when we got booted off campus for the isolation i suspected the 3d printer that we had in our lab to come in handy so i borrow that one its currently at my desk at home," sot "we are 3d printing this piece which is university design," vo watkins says csu modified design was based on an original design made by georgia tech.

Stand up the face shield comes with two parts, the mold and the film all you have to do is snap the film onto the mold..

Showing it snapped and this is what the finished product will look like.

Sot "the frame here which we are currently 3d printing supports (he's taking it apart) this shield the shield," vo watkins says the shield is being produced by idea fab labs here in chico.

Standup watkin tells me that health care workers may want to put a band at the end of the shield to make sure that the shield fits tight enough around the face.

More vo watkin tells us if they begin to run short of material or funds north valley foundation has offered further support.

Tag watkins tells me that one piece takes about an hour to make so volunteers are need, reporting at chico state mackenzie drigo action news now coverage you can count on.

Watkins says..

For the next phase..

They are seeking approval from the university to allow students to come on campus to make the mold and run production on the plastic injection mold machine.

Watkins also says he is grateful he can put his engineering training to good use.

### the coronavirus has been the root of many summer events being cancelled across the region this spring..

But shasta district fair is not one of those events.

Shasta district fair officials are holding on to hope they will be able to put on the four-day event in june.

Fair c-e-o 'b-j mac- farlane' says planning with all the uncertainty is a challenge.

I know its tough, it's not singled out one person or one industry, everybody is underneath this and to give a little bit of hope to a somewhat normal way of life.

Mac-farlane also says putting the fair on hold is not an option because there are too many moving parts that come with putting the event together.

He says they'll have a better idea of where the fair's future lies when it comes closer to may.

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