IBM staff with 3D printers are volunteering to turn their devices and skills to help alleviate the shortage of protective face visors for hospitals.

Within just the first few days of a rallying call for help, a shipment of 20 visors was created and sent to a grateful University Hospital Southampton. Over 300 have now been distributed, and more are in production.

Each visor consists of three components: a 3D printed frame which holds a sheet of acetate and an elastic strap. Once the plastic frame has finished printing, the sheet of acetate has holes punched into it and the two are fixed together by clipping the acetate over pegs on the frame. Finally, the elastic strap is secured over hooks at the back of the frame. Each mask costs about £2.50 in materials to produce, and can be ready to go in two hours.

To fund production, crowd-funding through GoFundMe which reached its initial goal of £3,500 in less than five hours, by the 31st March an additional £2,500 had been donated. This has enabled the team to buy additional filament, acetate and more printers to help in the effort. Initially the team had the capacity to produce approximately a dozen masks per day, but can now produce 120, with additional printers volunteering to join the team every day.

The masks are intended to help prevent fluids from patients coming into contact with the skin of hospital staff. In normal circumstances healthcare professionals would have access to medically certified visors to provide the necessary protection, but these are not normal circumstances. These home-made visors are not medically approved or tested devices, and they are produced and supplied through a volunteering initiative, not on any commercial basis. They are intended and acknowledged as a temporary measure to try and help keep frontline staff safer than if they had no protection at all. Each mask is typically used for one shift although some hospitals are exploring the possibility of cleaning them for re-use.

You can read more about their efforts, here.