6
QUEENS WEEKLY, APRIL 12, 2020
St. John’s University professor sets up 3D print
farm at home to donate PPE to Queens hospitals
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
It took no time for Max
Hergenrother, director of
Technology Operations of
The Lesley H. and William
L. Collins College of Professional
Studies at St. John’s
University, to pack up as
many 3D printers he could
fit into his car to take home
and get to work building face
shields for medical workers
at the forefront of the
COVID-19 crisis in Queens.
“At St. John’s, if we’re
able to help, it happens,”
Hergenrother said. “It’s the
Vincentian mission. St. Vincent
de Paul was about helping
people who are most in
need — and the most pressing
need now, I think, is our
medical services. They’re
the ones helping stem the
crisis that’s going on. If we
can help them, we can help
all of us.”
Hergenrother has
worked in several different
capacities at St. John’s for
20 years, including as an
adjunct professor for the Department
of Art and Design
as well as running 3D printing
courses and seminars.
Shortly after the university
implemented remote
working due to the coronavirus
outbreak, Hergenrother
figured out that by using the
university’s equipment from
home in Glen Head, NY, he
could help alleviate at least
some of Queens hospitals’
need for personal protective
equipment (PPE).
The husband and father
of two then set up the
printing farm in one of his
spare rooms, with a total of
six printers that run for 24
hours a day, everyday.
Hergenrother decided
to create validated, semidisposable
face shields. The
face shields are made of a
semicircle clear plastic that
covers an individual’s entire
face and is adjustable with a
buttonhole elastic band.
Although these aren’t
replacements for face
masks, they are an added
safety measure for the medical
workers risking their
lives to treat the hundreds
of thousands COVID-19
patients in Queens.
“This is a real grassroots
effort from makers
in the community,”
Hergenrother said.
There’s a lot of organizing
and planning that goes
into the making of the face
shields — especially with
two kids who Hergenrother
and his wife are guiding
through remote learning
while they take care of their
own work remotely.
“It is a juggle but it’s a
worthwhile juggle,” he said.
He began by assembling
175 face shields a week, and
is now up to 250 a week.
Hergenrother said there
will soon be another design
that will make it easier
to build and will boost up
production to 400 a week.
The face shields are going
to NewYork-Presbyterian
Queens Hospital and have
been distributed to other
Queens hospitals through
their own distribution
chain. St. John’s University
previously donated 186,000
medical gloves, 500 disposable
lab coats, 100 surgical
masks and 20 protective face
shields to New York Presbyterian
Queens Hospital.
After Fox News featured
St. John’s and Hergenrother’s
efforts, he’s already
received offers to expand
the printing farm and work
with organizations to mass
produce the face shields.
However, what he’s most
in need of at the moment are
buttonhole elastic bands, being
that supply is limited.
Hergenrother emphasizes
that if anyone has
these supplies and wants to
donate them, they can mail
them to St. John’s University
— located on 8000 Utopia
Parkway in Jamaica — and
he’ll keep up the work.
When asked whether
there might be surplus of
this kind of equipment,
Hergenrother said he isn’t
worried about that.
“That’s not going to happen
any time soon,” Hergenrother
said. “The more, the
better off the medical workers
are and the more effectively
they can work. So I’m
going to keep running full
steam ahead.”
St. John’s University’s Director of Technology Operations Max Hergenrother set up a 3D
print farm to donate personal protective equipment to Queens Hospitals in need.
Photos courtesy of St. John’s University
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