LUXEMBURG, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Local companies are putting their normal operations aside to come together to help fill the need for medical face shields.
As coronavirus concerns started to spread, Tom Rueckl, of Luxemburg, tells FOX 11 he checked his 3D printer groups on Facebook to see how he could turn his hobby into help.
“This has been a project that has caught me in.”
For the past week, Rueckl has been using his 3D printers to make parts for the medical face shields. He says about 1,200 people across the country have been doing the same thing.
“Within that group I found out that people were really having a hard time securing the plastic that we use to print these things.”.
That’s when Rueckl contacted Coex in Appleton, one of the nation’s only producers of 3D filament.
“What I’ve been told is Amazon is out until about April 21st or longer on the same materials we’re producing in house today,” said Bob Rutton, Coex’s Director of Sales and Operations.
Coex set Rueckl’s 3D printing group up with a ‘Coex Helps’ promocode and decided to join the effort, putting its 3D printers to work on the same face shield parts.
“We’ve probably doubled our current demand from what it was last week at the same time,” said Rueckl of 3D filament sales.
Nurses say the big thing with the face shields is they are reusable and they protect the highly coveted N95 masks, allowing them to be worn longer.
Bay Tek Entertainment out of Pulaski is providing Coex with the plastic for its shields.
“A lot of their big customers have canceled their orders and they don’t have a lot of other things to do so this helps keep them doing good for the cause as well,” said Rutten.
“There’s discounts and donations going kind of across the board,” said Rueckl.
For Rueckl’s shields, Midland Plastics in De Pere is providing the plastic and Laser Form in Ashwaubenon is cutting them to size.
“We’ve just had a great outpouring from companies around here who’ve been willing to help,” said Rueckl.
Rueckl says the cost to make one face shield is about $2.
