Protective masks now being 3-D printed with help from Suffolk libraries

With Long Island fully in the throes of the COVID-19 crisis, dozens of Suffolk County libraries have donated their 3-D printers to print protective face masks for health care workers.

A 3-D “print farm” is now set up in Bellport and is churning out gear. In just three days the farm when from five printers to 58, according to an announcement. The printers are currently working in two shifts and averaging 200 printed items per day.

The Suffolk Cooperative Library System, which is also supplying the workers, teamed up with Stony Brook University’s iCREATE program on the relief efforts.

“Every public library in Suffolk County has responded and contributed in some way,” said Roger Reyes, the library system’s assistant director.

The materials have come both from the supplies of Suffolk’s public libraries and through a generous donation from MakerBot, which manufactures 3-D printers.

“As we watch healthcare workers work tirelessly during this epidemic, loaning the library’s 3D printer to help make personal protection equipment was our community’s small way of saying ‘thank you’ to everyone on the front lines in our hospitals.” said Lisa Kropp, the director at Lindenhurst Memorial Library Director.

Some of the printers are from the Suffolk County Library System but the vast majority have come from member libraries all over Suffolk County that are donating their 3D printers and supplies, temporarily, toward this effort, reads an announcement.

The printers are working as quickly as they can, while operators are maintaining safety measures and social distancing.

The first makes were printed Wednesday, March 26, but the production did not fully ramp up to the current levels until Friday, March 28.

“When our public library heard there was a chance to be involved in helping health care workers, we were all in,” said Danielle Paisley, the Patchogue-Medford Library director. “We knew our community would want to be involved.”

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