Carroll Newsroom /

Zach Merz ‘20 has turned one of his hobbies into a project to help doctors, nurses, and first responders across the country fight the coronavirus pandemic.  After his mother saw a social media post with instructions on how to make ear reliefs for medical masks, Zach researched ways he could use his 3D printer to produce his own pieces.  He found the file with instructions online at a site called Thingiverse that has free digital recipe cards for countless projects created with 3D printers, lasercutters, and CNC (computer numerical control) machines.  Zach fired up his 3D printer to create the reliefs which use hooks to pull elastic bands off the wearer’s head for more comfort by reducing pressure around the ears.

From start to finish, printing one relief is a ten minute process.   Not only has Zach donated an estimated 400 ear reliefs so far to local hospitals, veterinarians, and schools, but he is finding ways to get some to hard-hit areas like New York, Michigan, Florida, and Chicago.

“Just seeing how a simple thing that I could print quickly and get it out to people,” Zach recalls, “I thought that was pretty cool.”

Zach started working with 3D printers in junior high school when they first became affordable at a consumer level.

“I started out by printing knick-knacks, but [my knowledge] grew through Carroll Science Day.  During my freshman year, I learned Computer Aided Design to make 3D models but my junior year was when I really found the power of 3D printing,” Zach says.  “[Carroll Science Department Co-Chair] Mrs. Laurie Fuhr really challenged me to think outside the box in AP Physics. Mrs. Fuhr and the Science Day helped me figure out how reliable my printer could be.”

His project “Strengths of 3D Printed Composites” focused on developing a plan to test the strength of different plastics blended with materials like steel, brass, carbon fiber, cork, and wood.  Zach’s engineering research won the Thomas Edison Award at Ohio’s State Science Day in 2019.

“I had to make the test specimens to test each one’s strength,  and I had to make nine of each material,” Zach says. “I had to figure out how to make them quickly and of good quality.  I was able to figure out what material and what settings I needed so that I could easily put it [in the machine] and just hit reprint after every cycle.”

Zach’s research of making those test pieces inspired the process he uses to make the reliefs efficiently.  He just bought more material to continue production and plans on printing reliefs as long as people need them.