NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A New Smyrna Beach man who uses 3D printing technology to build tiny homes is now fabricating face shields for health care workers.
Real estate professional Kevin Para said he’s always had a passion for building.
His work involved making tiny houses and other projects using 3D printing technology inside his workshop on Downing Street.
But after the real estate business slowed down due to the coronavirus pandemic, Para started to look for ways he could use his skills and resources to help others out.
“We all did things different before three, four weeks ago,” Para said.
Para did some research online and found a way to use his 3D printer to make something that is desperately low in supply: personal protection equipment.
“The way I can do that, is by turning my 3-D printing and all the rest of this knowledge and experience to make items that will help make people safer.” Para said. “Personal protection equipment is at an all-time shortage, so I wasn’t to fill that gap as best I can.”
The first thing he started producing was face shields.
“I built one, and it just exploded across social media,” Para said.
Para found that a lot of the plastic supplies he normally used for 3D printing were hard to come by, so he had to get creative.
He found plastic product at Walmart and surgical tubing from Home Depot and plans to make simple and adjustable face shields.
“We’re trying to improvise here,” Para said. “And as Americans, we’re darn good at that.”
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Para has also received some funding and other resources from the New Smyrna Beach Rotary Club.
He said he hasn’t gotten much sleep over the last few weeks and he never worked harder on a project before in his life.
Para said he’s printed around 40 units and has orders for 312 more, but orders keep coming from law enforcement agencies and other groups.
He’s up sometimes in the middle of the night to check on the printing process and fix any problems.
“I love doing it, the reward is phenomenal,” Para said. “We as Americans can help each other, networking, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Para said he’s not charging for the face shields and has started a GoFundMe account for anyone looking to help out.
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