When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, 13-year-old Carson Wolff wanted to help out in any way that he could. So the St. Albert youth fired up his 3D printer and, with the help of his mom and grandpa, started printing mask clips for healthcare workers.
Carson is making 3D printed clips that go behind a worker's head so they can clip the mask’s elastic bands to it, which stops the elastic from rubbing behind their ears.
“I think everyone kind of needs to do something,” Carson said of his motivation for the project.
Carson started making the clips after his grandpa, Art Rutledge, who is also a 3D printing enthusiast, made a design for his printer.
Rutledge is also printing out mask clips, but his printer is a bit bigger than Carson’s and can use 3D printing designs being issued by governments.
Rutledge used his 3D printing design skills and made a special design for mask clips that would fit Carson’s smaller printer.
Carson first got interested in 3D printing when he was 10. His school had a 3D printer and he took part in a contest where he made a filter that held gravel, charcoal and sand that would filter water so it was pure and clean.
After the contest, Carson was so interested in the device that he started doing research on 3D printers. At just 10 years old, he saved up to buy a Monoprice Mini printer and started printing toys, puzzles and fidget items for himself and his classmates.
But once Carson started looking into the printer, Rutledge, who is the tech expert in the family, became immediately interested in them too.
Rutledge went out and got the same printer as Carson and the two have been bonding over the same hobby for the past three years.
“It’s pretty neat. Him and I speak a language that the rest of the family doesn’t understand,” Rutledge said.
In the three years that Rutledge has been printing, he has made car parts, tools and repair parts. Last year, his goal was to start making his own designs for his 3D printer so he could make anything he could dream up.
But once COVID-19 hit, the printing duo decided it was time to help their community with their hobby.
In the past few weeks, Rutledge has printed around 1,000 mask clips, with around 800 already distributed to healthcare workers in the community. His printers (he now owns several) have been running around 16 hours a day trying to meet the demand in the community. It takes Rutledge around seven or eight minutes to print one mask clip on one of his printers.
Carson has made 230 clips so far and just got an order for another 58.
“It’s the people at the hospital, because they have to wear the masks at the hospital,” Carson said.
It takes Carson 47 minutes to print five and a half clips.
Carson’s mom Stefanie Wolff takes and fulfills orders for Carson’s mask clips, and also sews homemade masks.
Carson’s two younger siblings, who are eight and ten years old, are also helping out by sewing bags for nurses to safely carry their contaminated clothes home in.
Carson is no stranger to giving back to the community. The teen cut off over 16 inches of hair to donate to make a wig for kids with cancer and has also raised $1,500 for cancer research.
“He’s just an awesome kid. He has always been that way. He’s always looking to help other people,” Stefanie said.
Rutledge agrees.
“He’s just a nice boy. I’m prejudiced, but he’s a good kid."
