Project
Line Pen
Client
Line Pen
Date
Service
Brand Identity
Project Overview
As part of my Eagle Scout project, I led a rapid-response effort to design and distribute 3D printed PPE during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project focused on developing protective equipment optimized for additive manufacturing under severe time, material, and supply chain constraints.
Beyond design and iteration, I coordinated a distributed printing effort that supplied health systems across southeastern Washington and northeastern Oregon with thousands of PPE components.
Skills Strengthened
Design for additive manufacturing
Tolerance control across distributed production
Rapid prototyping and iteration
Production standardization under supply constraints
Logistics coordination and quality control
Leadership in time-sensitive technical deployment
Outcome
The primary engineering challenge was designing parts that could be reliably produced across a wide range of printers with varying calibration and material quality. Designs had to minimize print time, reduce failure rates, and maintain structural integrity while remaining comfortable and usable in clinical environments.
Standardizing geometry for distributed manufacturing required simplifying features, controlling tolerances, and validating performance through iterative testing. Small changes in print orientation or wall thickness had significant impacts on strength and production throughput.
Coordinating production at scale introduced a different set of constraints. Volunteer printers operated independently, so documentation, file control, and clear communication became essential. Consistency across hundreds of prints required establishing repeatable guidelines and quality checks rather than relying on centralized oversight.
This project reinforced that engineering effectiveness is not only about design quality, but about deployability. A design that performs well in isolation is not sufficient if it cannot be reliably manufactured and distributed under real-world conditions. Balancing speed, manufacturability, and system coordination under pressure was one of the most formative engineering experiences I have had.
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