Surrey based men, Cee-Jay Williams and Tim Charlesworth, are using 3D printers to help make Personal Protective Equipment for frontline healthcare workers. The NHS is struggling with a deficit of 80,000 clips used to attach the protective plastic visors for doctors and nurses working closely with Coronavirus patients.
The two are a part of a wider group whose first batch of over 1000 sterilised clips will be collected by the DPD and taken to be distributed to hospitals throughout the UK today.
Cee-Jay, who is on furlough leave from his position as General Manager at the Junction Tap, on Chertsey Road in Woking, decided to join the fight against COVID-19 after seeing the story of a group in Italy using their own printers to adapt diving masks into protective gear on Facebook. He and Tim then resolved to find their own way to help NHS workers in the UK, and after some trial and error, perfected the attachment clips.
Cee-Jay said, “Now we’ve mastered the technique we should be able to make a lot more – and fast! I’ve bulk ordered more of the filament needed to create the clips and then it’s back to printing. Tim and I decided that’s what we needed to make after reading online that the NHS was missing so many of them – there is an abundance of visors, but not enough clips for people to use them.
“I hope that we can make a real difference to our amazing NHS and help them to continue to do the incredible job they are doing for the people of this country. I can’t thank them enough for the work they do for us every day, but hopefully, this small gesture goes some way to show all of our appreciation.”
So far 659 members of the UK’s 3D-printing community have made nearly 17,000 face mask clips for the NHS.
