SIGNAL in Bordon has issued a call for owners of 3D printers to unite in making vital personal protection equipment (PPE) for the NHS – having already crafted hundreds of visors for GP surgeries and health providers across the area.

The co-working space in Hampshire Road is asking people to engage by printing headbands, supplying materials for visors and donating money for materials – and is also encouraging key workers and health settings in need of visors to get in touch.

A network of people with 3D printers are already busy crafting visors, and SiGNAL can supply the materials free of charge.

It comes as new cottage industries have popped up across the Herald area in recent weeks – with small business owners and schools among those putting their isolation to good use to make vital PPE for the NHS.

Last week the Herald reported on a group of seamstresses led by Headley Down’s Melanie Downing making scrubs on an industrial scale.

And this week visors are all the rage, with Bordon-based co-working space SiGNAL setting out to co-ordinate the area’s 3D printing efforts.

SiGNAL's campaign was instigated by an email from Dr Anthony Leung at Badgerswood Surgery in Headley to founder Emma Selby, explaining he understood SiGNAL had a 3D printer and requesting help crafting urgently-needed visors to protect staff from coronavirus.

Emma said: "Dr Lueng said Andy Tree at the town council had told him that SiGNAL have a 3D tech zone, which we do.

"We launched it in 2008 thinking that we would train small businesses in the use of 3D technology – but then we shelved it all because demand really was very slack and we weren't making money.

"But the printers and the materials were all still there, and so when this happened, it was a fantastic opportunity to utilise those skills that we'd all trained in."

Dr Leung sent a blueprint of the surgery’s requirement, and Bordon-based 3D printing expert Ian Hiscox set about turning this into a workable design.

The prototype was deemed a success, and so Badgerswood, on behalf of a group of surgeries across the area, put in an initial order for 120. Signal is now producing ten visors a day – and is appealing for help both from those with 3D printers, and for donations towards materials to ensure the visors can be provided to GPs and care providers free of charge.

“The demand is huge,” said Emma. “So what we want to do next is to organise a three-county campaign, find all small businesses with 3D printing capacity, and start a little cottage industry where everybody’s home can be a centre for production.”

Signal has launched a page on its website https://www.signalbordon.org/ppe-keyworkers for anyone seeking more information – including for key workers and care providers to request visors.