Worksop College staff are using their workshop and 3D printers to make personal protective equipment for frontline NHS staff battling coronavirus.
Worksop College staff are using their workshop and 3D printers to make personal protective equipment for frontline NHS staff battling coronavirus.
The project was initiated by Head of DT Gary Duckering, with resident staff now overseeing the process. The school are funding the initiative from existing materials to produce 10 – 12 visors a day to help local hospitals and surgeries in the UK.
It comes as a national shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for NHS staff on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, has resulted in many key workers suffering injury from wearing uncomfortable equipment for long hours, or going without vital protective wear at all.
Aside from those being distributed locally, visors will also be sent further afield to both The Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge and St George’s Hospital in London, after donations were requested by members of the school’s alumni network, Rhea Durgahee and Molly Halmshaw.
The design has been modelled using SolidWorks CAD software, the STL file produced is then ‘sliced’ using the CURA 3D printing software to enable the school’s three 3D printers to print using PLA plastic filament. Each print takes about 2 hours 30 minutes and is using the NHS-approved design, which has been developed in consultation with healthcare professionals for rapid prototype printing.
Headmaster, Dr John Price, said:
'We're only too happy to do what we can to support. We can only hope it makes a difference to those working on the front line of this crisis'.