AACC's 3D Printers Help Produce Plastic Respirator Masks

Shoutout to instructors Tim Tumelty and Tim Callinan, who, along with an engineering student, are using AACC's 3D printers to produce plastic respirator masks!

After reading an article on Facebook about a family using a 3D printer to make face masks, Tumelty forwarded it to Angelo Thalassinidis, assistant dean of the School of Science, Technology and Education, since he knew AACC had 3D printers. Thalassinidis reached out to Callinan, associate professor of engineering, to see if he would like to help out.

The Engineering department uses 3D printers for class projects, but since AACC’s classes have been moved to online, the printers were available for the effort. Callinan and one of his engineering students were able to take printers home to start producing the masks immediately.

Tumelty, an instructional specialist who is known as “The Drone Guy” at AACC, had to get a bit of training in the operation of the 3D printer before he could get started. Tumelty has now been producing an average of three masks per day from home.

Callinan is coordinating with Steve Saint Amour from the Eclipse Group Inc., which will complete the assembly and deliver the masks to Anne Arundel Medical Center and other places in need. They've made 50 masks so far using an open-source design. The masks are not FDA approved N-95 masks but are emergency substitutes.

Let's give it up to these #RiverhawksatHome who are helping out those on the front lines!