BRISTOL SUPPORTS

THE NHS FRONT LINE

By Richard Lunn

It is with great pride that I can report that some of our members at Bristol are using their 3D printers to make either complete, or parts of, face masks which they are then donating to the NHS. I have some details here of what Mike Goom and Roger Davis are doing but I believe that other Bristol SMEE members are also involved in this worthwhile task.


Michael Goom

Michael is working full time making the face shields for the NHS and other frontline workers as part of the 3Dcrowd.uk effort. His wife has apologized for criticizing him making yet another 3D printer as he now has four in use 16 hours a day. Michael is currently turning out the plastic parts for about 16 visors a day. A batch of 45 went to the central hub in Sheffield on Tuesday morning (free collection from DPD!) to have the transparent bit and the elastic fitted. The 3Dcrowd.uk volunteers had a big push over the weekend and managed to make over 16,000 between them. Michael is currently working on a big batch that will go to the local hub in Frome for finishing and distributing to hospitals in the West Country.

Michael has appealed that if any members have access to transparent sheet between 0.5 and 0.75mm thick and 240mm square he would be most grateful as he would then be able to finish some himself for his local surgery. All donations of PETG filament would also be gratefully received.

Photos show one completed mask (above) and a batch of 20 about to be sent (below).



Roger Davis

The picture below was taken by Roger’s wife Sara of him finishing off a batch of 20 3D printed face shields to fulfil an urgent request from his daughter this week. She is a GP and Palliative Care Specialist whose surgery is desperate for PP equipment both for their medics and also for their District Nurses. Roger said he was very honoured to be able help out. The problem now is a country wide shortage of A4 Clear Acrylic 250 micron Sheets needed for the shields. The only supplier he could find on the web had just 20 sheets left which he gratefully snapped up last week. He 3D printed the frame in ABS which would withstand sterilization by boiling; the design is one approved by the Swedish medical authorities.

 
https://www.sarikhobbies.com/model-engineer-builder/

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