Liverpool Maker Community Makes Visors for NHS Staff

Liverpool's maker community joins fight against Covid-19.

11:36 22 April 2020

Liverpool's maker communities are coming together to create 'laser cut' visors for NHS staff. They are the newest to join the fight against Covid-19 by ensuring that frontline health professionals are protected while they attend to coronavirus patients. 

 

Tom Darlow, technology lead at Liverpool manufacturer Ideal Modular Homes, who is behind the initiative, started the ball rolling after finding out from his orthopaedic surgeon girlfriend that NHS staff were finding it hard to source PPE (personal protective equipment) through the usual NHS procurement routes. 

 

Working together with DoES Liverpool co-founder Adrian McEwen, DoES PPE was launched with a group of 25 makers from Liverpool. Together, they were able to create a tiny end-to-end manufacturing system with a supply chain. 

 

McEwen then collaborated with multiple NHS doctors to create a laser-cut version of the 3D printed visors. 

 

"One of the key benefits of using laser cutters over 3D printers is that our laser cut version takes just two minutes to produce, whereas the 3D printed versions take around 40 minutes - resulting in a 10-fold increase in the numbers we can get out of the door," he said. 

 

A Go Fund Me campaign set up to get the project up and running has now raised more than £22,000.