A 3D printing farm set up at Żabbar Primary this week has already provided Mater Dei health workers with hundreds of free face shields and will be producing more in the coming days.

Around 420 masks have been given to hospital workers to protect them against contracting COVID-19, since 45 3D printers were plugged into one of the rooms at the state school on Monday.

"We will soon be looking at making 500 a day," David Sciberras, at the helm of the project, told Times of Malta. "And all the face shields produced at this location will be going to the hospital for free."

Face shields 3D printed at Zabbar primary

Funding for the material is being channeled through a crowdfunding initiative, donations by sponsors, and any profits from the private sales of the protective equipment, he added.

Sciberras was currently in discussion with the hospital about supplying them with other items they needed through 3D printing and explained that the 3D community was ready to be of service to health workers in any way possible.

The US Embassy was among those in the community to lend out their 3D printers to the school, which are currently being manned by volunteers.

A 3D printer creates a physical object from a digital model, usually by laying down layer after layer of material.