A local company in Frome is at the heart of a national campaign to get 3D-printed face masks directly into the hands of NHS staff and care workers.
James Allen and his team at Trackhat in Keyford have distributed over 1,000 masks in just the last three days to GP surgeries, care homes and pharmacies. He chats to Frome Times.
Hi James, can you tell us a bit about what you have been doing?
We’ve been working with a national organisation to deliver free volunteer-made 3D printed face shields to medical professionals across the nation. In Frome, I’ve been very happy to put my temporarily closed business to good use as a regional hub where the 400+ volunteers from across the south west can send their 3D printed parts, which can then be assembled into face shields with clear plastic sheets and elastics sent to us by the national coordinators in Sheffield.
How much equipment have you been able to deliver and where is it going?
Initially the volunteers in the south west sent their parts to the national hub in Sheffield who assembled more than 20,000 masks for NHS hospitals over the easter weekend. Since then we have switched to assembling and dispatching masks from Frome, and have managed to send over 1,000 masks in just three days, and hope to send another two or three thousand before May. The recipients of the orders are health professionals in all fields from large hospitals to GP surgeries, and also care homes and pharmacies. So far 3Dcrowd has delivered nearly 80,000 face shields, but we have orders pending for 600,000+ more!
How challenging have things been?
Thanks to our amazing head admins and coordinators in each county, I would say the efforts are going well considering we have managed to organize 7,000+ volunteers throughout the British Isles, and dispatch raw materials to hubs dotted around the country. The biggest challenge has been for local coordinators organising delivery runs collecting 3D printed parts from hundreds of volunteers, and also getting mask orders to where they need to be throughout the region.
How are you and your staff all coping?
Putting aside the mask effort my business is in good shape. Due to the level of cleanliness required to assemble masks the business could not run alongside it, so I chose to keep my employees furloughed and ask volunteers to come in and assemble masks. They’ve done an amazing job so far!
What were you doing before the current crisis?
My business TrackHat designs and manufactures head tracking systems for home flight simulations. Almost like a kind of virtual reality kit. We’ve been quite different in that we manufacture everything in house using our 3D printers, and have fulfilled 25,000+ orders to every corner of the world over the last 4 years, all from a small warehouse in Frome!
What made you get involved?
I was looking initially to make masks just on my own using the businesses three 3D printers, but realised that by joining a national effort we could get much more done. Thankfully 3D crowd are helping everyone who wants to get involved in the effor
What sort of reaction have you had?
Healthcare workers have been very grateful for the masks, citing huge problems in getting any from regular supply lines, including private care homes and smaller organizations.
How can people help if they want to get involved?
Be sure to visit www.3dcrowd.uk and sign up if you have a 3D printer! You can also keep track of our efforts on our facebook page: www.fb.me/3dcrowdSW where we may ask for delivery drivers to help us out in the near future.
