Hundreds of protective visors created for NHS as Doncaster College engineers mobilise its machines

The students may not be in at Doncaster College.
Doncaster College staff with some of the equipment they made for Doncaster Royal InfirmaryDoncaster College staff with some of the equipment they made for Doncaster Royal Infirmary
Doncaster College staff with some of the equipment they made for Doncaster Royal Infirmary

But while they’re away during lockdown, the engineering department is putting the hi-tech gear usually used for teaching to use in the fight against Covid 19.

The college’s engineering staff have set up the college’s 3D printers to produce over 200 visors for NHS doctors and nurses who need them as personal protective equpiment while caring for coronavirus patients.

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Darren Farrar, a technician and instructor at DN Colleges Group engineering industrial technologies department decided to get involved in making protective gear after hearing of NHS shortages.

He wanted to use the printers that the college owns, which are usually for making 3D parts that students have designed for their engineering projects.

Four printers were kept running for 10 hours a day at Darren’s home – which produced 20 visors per day.

The process involves spools of plastic filament being melted and used by the printer to create and print out the visor, one layer at a time, to slowly build up the 3D shape. The college’s estates team made sure he had the equipment he needed.

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The visors also had to be sterilised before staff on the front line could use them, and were split between the community nurses based at Global House, situated within the grounds of North Lindsey College, run by the same DN Colleges Group as Doncaster College, and the Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Doncaster Royal Infirmary.

They were handed to Richard Somerset, head of procurement at Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals.

He said: “Visors are in high demand and this donation will help massively to protect our frontline staff for Covid 19. Due to the high quality of the visors provided these will mainly be used within our theatres where the demand on visors is highest.

“We are very grateful to the staff especially as they went beyond the norm by sterilising the visors as well.”

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Darren said: “We will continue to create them for as long as they are required.”

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