Southampton engineering students producing thousands of 3D-printed NHS face shields
A team of engineering students and graduates from the University of Southampton are 3D printing thousands of emergency face shields to help the NHS battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Southampton team started with around a dozen 3D printers working in spare rooms before Easter, aiming to assemble and distribute hundreds of masks to NHS sites.
Through a growing GoFundMe fundraising campaign, which has raised over £12,000 for the operation, the engineers have set up a city warehouse production line with an ambitious target to create 4,000 masks for frontline NHS workers.
The project is led by Aeronautics and Astronautics student Fergus McKenzie-Wilson, who is also Chief Technology Officer of the drone company Hydra, following a request from a GP in Winchester.
“This is a time in which uncertainty is at an unprecedented level, but we can take comfort in the certainty that we can work together with industry, the health service and the general public to collectively solve the great challenges facing us,” he says.
“The NHS is in dire need of PPE to support those tirelessly putting their lives on the line in the fight against the coronavirus. As the general public, we are infinitely grateful to the NHS staff and owe them a great debt.”
Fergus initially reached out to engineering students stuck in university houses to pool printing resources and produce their first units. The group sought public support and were amazed to hit their initial £3,000 funding target in little more than six hours. Their current total of over £12,000 will fund the production of 4,000 masks.
“Increasing our production has required the team to constantly monitor and carry out necessary maintenance on the printers, which sometimes involves waking up in the middle of the night,” he says.
“We are immensely grateful for the equipment supplied by the University of Southampton, and generosity of companies such as Motion Robotics, who have been kind enough to loan us a large supply of 3D printers. Their support has been vital to the campaign’s success.”
The 20-strong team, comprised of students on Aeronautics and Astronautics and Ship Science engineering programmes, includes Charles Bickel, Henrique Araujo, Mathias Høgden, Jamie Hawkins-Dady, Miro Šoška, Kynan Feltcher, Chris McLennan, Sam Topping, Mulham Terkaoui, James Saletes, Laura Nelson and Richard Abrams.
“We are still looking to obtain even more 3D printers in order to increase our throughput,” Fergus says. “We would be grateful for any donations in the form of 3D printing hardware.”