As the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the US, Isaac Budmen and Stephanie Keefe watched closely. They knew what we all did: Protective equipment for health care workers—like those solid-gold N95 masks—were in perilously short supply. Hell, the CDC itself had recommended that, in a pinch, nurses use bandanas. They also knew that in Syracuse, New York, close to where they lived, a Covid-19 testing facility had just opened. They decided to help. Budmen and Keefe are the founders of Budmen Industries, which makes 3D printers for architects and artists. They set about designing a “face shield”—a visor with a plastic sheet attached, like a see-through welder’s helmet. It’s only one small piece of protective gear, but a useful one.
On the evening of Saturday, March 14, Budmen and Keefe got to work. Their first prototype failed: The fit was too tight, and attaching the plastic was too difficult. By 9 pm the following night, though, they had success. “We tried it on, it felt good, we whipped our heads around trying to make the thing fall off,” Budmen says. They printed a b