Helping others was already second nature for Little Compton resident Cyrus Allen. 

For almost three years, the 20-year-old would volunteer his time at the nonprofit LC Makers, sharing with students from the Wilbur & McMahon School his passion for 3D printing – something he himself first discovered five years ago, while as a sophomore at Portsmouth High School.

With LC Makers now closed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, Cyrus is spending his free time helping others in a different way – by using 3D printing to produce face shields for first responders and essential workers.

“Being able to keep 3D printing and being able to help people with this is pretty nice,” Cyrus said.

The volunteer effort did not begin right away. While he knew he had the skill, Cyrus had no idea who would even need his printed face shields when the pandemic first took hold.

“I didn’t know how easy it would be to facilitate,” he said.

Then in early April, Cyrus got his first request – from a friend of his mother, Polly Allen, who said they were running out of masks where they worked at Charlton Hospital. After printing off a small batch for those few healthcare workers, Cyrus found the demand did not stop. In the weeks since, he has produced nearly 200 face shields for the Tiverton police, fire, town hall and DPW departments, plus the Little Compton food bank and transfer station.

To make them, Cyrus uses his own Prusa i3mk2 3D printer, along with one from LC Makers and two borrowed from the Wilbur & McMahon School (though they were “for the most part broken,” he said, first requiring him to repair). Using Prusa’s face shield design, Cyrus needed little else other than 3D printing filament to get started – the straightforwardness of which is what attracted him to 3D printing to begin with. 

“You don’t need to be constantly looking for a giant grocery list of different items to build something,” Cyrus said.

Each mask takes about four hours to make, with Cyrus usually printing in batches of two. While the plastic recommended for the actual see-through portion of the shield was sold out, Cyrus said he and his mother discovered that running a piece of laminate through a laminator empty worked “just as well.” Ms. Allen will often be the one to cut the laminate to mount onto the printed masks, and Cyrus has even shown her how to run through the printers’ menu screen so she can continue producing, even when he is not around.

Cyrus doesn’t print every day. Sometimes they have lost internet at home, or his younger brother has needed the printer for his senior project. But he has a small stockpile of masks for anyone who needs them in a hurry, and encourages anyone in need to reach out.

Though he likely won’t continue to produce face shields once the pandemic is over, Cyrus is interested in continuing to use his 3D printer to make products that help people in the future. But for now, he is more than happy to continue helping his community in a different, meaningful way.

“It’s definitely nice that I’m able to help,” Cyrus said.

To put in a request for face shields, call or text Ms. Allen at 401 297 9534.

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