Lake Forest is full of amazing locals who keep making our community thrive! Shark Wheel is one of our super stars who have stepped up to give back during Covid-19.
Shark Wheel was born from innovation, they LITERALLY reinvented the wheel, so they knew somehow, someway they could give back.
While Shark Wheel usually is busy making good stuff better and stoking out the skate industry, David Patrick and Zack Fleishman, co-founders of Shark Wheel, have pumped the brakes on their funky wheels and put their 3D printers to use making PPE face shields.
“Shark Wheel wanted to help out in any way possible. To protect everyone and defeat this virus, we wanted to be a small piece of the overall picture because we had the talent on staff and the equipment to do it,” Chief Operating Officer Zach Fleishmann said. “On a personal note, my wife is in her 3rd trimester and we wanted to give the local hospital supplies it desperately needed to keep everyone safe.”
Shark Wheel is aiming to make over 100 shields per day with their first haul containing 3,400 shields. Currently they are at a few hundred shields and printing more! Every shield made is given away for free.
“Shark Wheel is a small business so we couldn’t fund the entire operation on our own, but with the help of the community we realized we could provide face shields completely free of charge to medical personnel,” Mr. Fleishmann said.
Shark Wheel usually uses 3D printers for their innovative wheels which imitate a sharks jaw! When the company realized they could print PPE, Shark Wheel immediately started to source for shield designs and more printers to ramp up production.
Zach Fleishmann said, “We did our homework and honed in on the most comfortable, most protective and easiest to make shields we could find. Online, there are forums to find CAD files for these PPE items so you don’t have to create designs from scratch.”
Shark Wheel started with two printers and has been able to secure 13 additional 3D printers using community outreach (this means you! Thank you!)
“Shark Wheel has been collaborating with other local 3D print shops and shops with lasers cutting shields to share knowledge on files, how to ‘stack’ multiple attachment parts into one 3D print, how to create comfortable shields, and other knowledge that can be shared,” said Chief Operations Officer Zach Fleishmann.
If you want to get involved Shark Wheel is taking donations on their GoFundMe for materials so they may continue to print and distribute the shields at no cost. Got a 3D printer? Reach out to Shark Wheel and join forces!
“Shark Wheel is currently giving away all face shields 100% free of charge to hospitals in need. To continuing this process, we need to raise more funds on our campaign at bit.ly/covid19shark – we are happy to supply any organization we can that can help,” Zach said.
Thank for being a neighborhood hero Shark Wheel!
