In homes, businesses and studios across Iowa, the whirring sounds of 3D printers in the background have become a new normal.
Iowa makers are answering the call for donated face shields to help health care workers as they care for patients with the novel coronavirus. As of Thursday, a team in Cedar Rapids has delivered more than 5,000 homemade face shields to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and other hospitals across the state.
“We have a pilot flying on Saturday to Sioux City and Council Bluffs” to deliver more, said Eric Engelmann, executive director of NewBoCo in Cedar Rapids.
They and hundreds of other Iowans across the state are making face shields using 3D printed parts and plastic cut by lasers, assembling them and donating them to Iowa hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities in need.
Brandon Hart, owner of HartSmart Productions in Clive, has…