Josh Mitchel, currently an Apprentice in the Company sent us this piece about his involvement in 3D printing of face masks as part of the fight against COVID 19.
A friend at the Royal Academy of Engineering reached out to me last week to tell me about a project he’s working on: shipping 3D printers to people they know (from running a competition) in Africa in order for them to print face masks for medical personnel, among other things. Since then the initiative has grown, and we’re currently identifying 20 people, each of whom will get 3 3D printers, 20kg of plastic to print with, filter material and £1k to set up a manufacturing lab to supply a local hospital with face masks and face visors.
After the initial setting up of the “print farms” has been accomplished, we will have a better understanding of the issues we’re facing in the continent, and will move on to help converting their current businesses into helping fight the coronavirus.