18 | APRIL 9 • 2020 

I

n response to medical 
supplies running low due 
to the rapid spread of the 
coronavirus, staff at Frankel 
Jewish Academy (FJA) began 
using their STEM lab’
s 3D 
printers to create protective 
face shields for the medical 
community.
Since March 27, FJA 
Director of Innovation and 
Technology Dan Bourdeau 
and STEM Lab Manager 
Dale Rogers have created 40 
shields, while enabling con-
tactless pick-ups for nurses 
and doctors stationed at 
mobile COVID-19 testing 
sites in Farmington Hills.
The project took off after 
Nicole Kahn, a teacher at 
FJA, inquired if the school’
s 
STEM lab had the capacity to 
produce personal protective 
equipment. 
“Nicole’
s brother is in the 
medical profession over 
on the East Coast and was 
relaying messages to her 
about how desperate the sit-
uation was for medical staff 
to receive more supplies,” 

Bourdeau said. “That got the 
ball rolling for us to start 
looking at ideas to help our 
own community. With about 
an hour of research, I was 
able to find a design that met 
the material capability that 
we have here in the lab.”
According to Bourdeau, 
there is an abundance of 
designs of protective face 
shields that can be 3D printed 
or produced locally, but there 
are also a number of designs 
that aren’
t ideal for hygienic 
reasons.
Bourdeau and Rogers are 
producing a design involving 
all non-porous plastic, which 
makes it easy to wipe down 
and does not absorb any sub-
stances. The product is also 
lightweight and cost-effective 
to make with products readily 
available in their lab.
While there are multiple 
types of 3D printers, the FJA 
STEM lab printer uses a plas-
tic filament that is heated, 
and then squeezes out small, 
thin layers of molten plastic, 
which harden on top of one 

another. The printer forms 
the product layer by layer, 
and then cools to form the 
final product.
“We are constantly optimiz-
ing our printing process so we 
can use less material and print 
them faster,” Bourdeau said. 
“We started with printing two 
pieces at a time, and now we 
are up to three pieces. We are 
also creating these pieces at 
less than 45 minutes per piece 
instead of 90 minutes per 
piece when we first started.”
With the school being 
closed, Bourdeau or Rogers 
have to go in by themselves, 
remove the parts from the 
machine and start the next 
round. 
They are now exploring 
options to move the machine 
so they can easily access it to 
enable the printer to run any-
where from 10-24 hours a day 
to ramp up production.
“We are hyperlocal, and we 
are filling the need for this 
equipment within our own 
communities,” Bourdeau said. 
“We are helping our neigh-

bors who are doing mobile 
COVID-19 testing because it 
is these local doctors who are 
on the low end of receiving 
more assistance from the state 
or federal government.”
Bourdeau and Rogers are 
now working off a list of 
requests from the community 
for their face shields. As of 
today, they have requests for 
more than 100 face shields. 
“We have no plans on stop-
ping production — we actual-
ly just received some donated 
parts to continue making 
these shields,” Bourdeau said. 
“We will not stop until the 
need is not there anymore. 
This whole process has been 
gratifying to be able to help 
in some very small way.” 

If you or someone you know would 
like a face shield, you can email 
info@frankelja.org with your name, 
how many shields you want, where 
the shields will be used and contact 
information to arrange pickup. You 
can also donate to help FJA contin-
ue to buy the materials needed to 
produce the face shields by going to 
frankelja.org/donate.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

FJA staff creates protective face shields 
for medical workers with 3D printer.
Printing PPE

Jews in the D

LEFT: Medical staff at a mobile COVID-19 testing site wearing the 3D printed face shield. RIGHT: A finished 3D face shield 
.

COURTESY OF SHANA KANTOR

