The Generator maker space in Burlington has borrowed more than a dozen 3D printers to make face shields for health care workers. Director Michael Metz picked up two more from the Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury today. The Generator is making 1,000 shields for the University of Vermont Medical Center, and is negotiating a deal with the state to make 3,000 to 4,000 more.
The nonprofit can make about 1,000 of the shields a week, said Metz on April 7. They are so busy making the shields that they are creating a second shift of a half-dozen workers, and have enlisted 10 more of the printers owned by Beta Technologies, the South Burlington company that makes electric aircraft.
Two Generator employees are working at Beta making the shields, said Metz.
“They have turned over their capacity to us,” he said. “We are making regular runs to pick up what they print to bring back to our fulfillment station, where we are assembling the masks, sanitizing them, putting them in a package, and delivering them to the hospital.”
— Anne Wallace Allen
