#TogetherApart: Pens employee, fan using 3D printers to help community

While there may not be hockey this spring, the entire Penguins organization is doing what it can to help others in our community. In the coming days, we will be putting the spotlight on a few Penguins employees (and fans) who are going above and beyond to make a difference during these difficult times.

The week that Josh Ludwig began his new position as a motion graphics designer with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he worked just a few days in the front office at PPG Paints Arena before the state's Stay-at-Home order was issued.
But even though he hasn't been in Pittsburgh long, Ludwig has already found a way to give back to the community. Ludwig, who was born in McKeesport, grew up in Virgina Beach and relocated from Orlando, is using his 3D printers to make masks and face shields to donate to people who need them.
"I've played a very small role in the community, but I do hope what I was able to make made a difference," Ludwig said.
About three years ago, Ludwig opened an online 3D printing shop through Etsy called Dips and Prints, where he makes air plant holders and other home décor items.
Ludwig currently has 15 3D printers, and when this all started, he thought he could utilize a few of them to help others. So his fiancée, who works in health care, found an article about people who were 3D printing masks.
"That's what got my attention," he said. "It was a hospital releasing these official files, so I checked them out. Then there were people asking me for (masks) because they knew I could 3D printer. Then I just posted something on Facebook."
And it went from there, with Ludwig's main focus being on the face shields. He has donated about 100 of them to the Clairton Police Department, a hospital in Jacksonville and a medical facility in St. Peters, Missouri.
He uses clear plastic overhead projector sheets, the kind teachers used to write on with dry-erase markers. Ludwig punches holes in them so they pop into the frame, which rests on the forehead.
"You would definitely still need to wear a mask with the face shield," Ludwig said. "But what's nice is that you don't even think about it, it's habit to touch your face, so when you have this shield on it helps out."
Meanwhile, the masks have been going to friends, family and neighbors. One of his neighbors actually told him that their brother-in-law works for the local police department and they needed better masks, so he printed up a few for them.
The printed masks are different than cloth masks, as they are made of plastic and Ludwig cuts up filters and inserts them in.

It's a relatively easy process to make the 3D printed masks and face shields. The only real obstacle is procuring supplies, as a lot of the manufacturers he uses for his materials have closed their stores.
"Patience is the real answer," Ludwig said. "You've just got to wait a little longer to get your stuff. But I'm able to get it. Every day I get a new package of whatever."
And every day, he continues to stay busy printing masks, face shields and items for his business while he continues working from home.
"I spent a long time making my own models, that's the hard part," Ludwig said. "But now that it's done, all I have to do is hit a button and I walk away. I'm working and I'm working right now. The printer is working in the basement and I'm up here making animations right now. It's pretty nice."
Meanwhile, across the country longtime Penguins fan Patrick Coy is using his 3D printer to make tension bands for surgical masks.
His 3D printer, which he originally purchased to tinker around with while also making some practical items, had actually been down for the last year and had been sitting in the garage.
"That's one of the positives of this situation, is that I got my printer back out," Coy said. "It didn't cause me any grief once I fired it up, it was working pretty well."
Once he got it up and running again, Coy printed out a mask like the ones Ludwig is creating, but it was impractical for him to make them in bunches with just a single 3D printer.
So Coy saw that a company he has used for supplies in the past called Matter Hackers had started a COVID-19 Maker Response Hub, where they help everyone from individuals with one 3D printer in their home to people managing manufacturing floors with 50-plus 3D printers figure out the best way for them to contribute.
"You put in your information, what you have, what you feel like you can do," Coy said. "I got response No. 21, which are these surgical mask tension release bands."
They are used to hold the elastic straps of a surgical mask to relieve the pressure on the ears.
"As soon as I put the loops around my ears, it feels like they're digging into the back of my ears," Coy said. "These bands really work very well because it takes all that pressure off the back of your ears. I thought yeah, this is a fantastic idea."

Initially, Coy committed to making 100 of them, which MatterHackers will distribute in the Los Angeles area. His printer can create a batch of three every hour and a half.
While he was working on those, he was also working on 3D printing stick holders to mount the signed twigs from Marc-Andre Fleury and Phil Kessel that he received for being a top fundraiser for the Penguins Beard-A-Thon in past years. It was then that Coy decided he would reach out to the Penguins organization about making a batch for them.
Coy is from Saegertown, which is about 100 miles north of Pittsburgh. While he wasn't a hockey fan growing up, after he moved west, he was flipping through the channels one day and saw that the 2008 Winter Classic was on TV.
"I saw the game and was like, that's the Penguins, that's cool," he said. "I should watch this as a general fan of Pittsburgh sports. I was just hooked from that moment."
With the time difference, Penguins games usually air at 4 p.m., so he'll put them on his second screen at work. When the Penguins come to town, Coy will buy tickets from his friend who has Kings' season tickets. One year, he actually appeared on the jumbotron in a Penguins jersey for a Good Guy-Bad Guy segment - across from Will Ferrell.
Coy and his wife took their daughter CeCe to her first Penguins game back in February.
"I proposed to my wife in Pittsburgh," Coy said. "We took the incline up to Mount Washington and went to this restaurant that overlooked the whole city. I proposed to her there because I wanted her to have some sort of connection to where I grew up, basically.
"So I just thought if I can do something with the Penguins in some kind of way, that would be great. I appreciate everything that the Penguins do. I see so much of just how involved in the community they are, and it's just awesome."
And fortunately, UPMC will be able to accept Coy's generous donation. He is working on them now, and plans to make half of them black and the other half yellow.
"I'm really excited for this opportunity to help out the Pittsburgh community," he said.