Stonegate manager uses time furloughed to 3D print PPE for the NHS

A Stonegate general manager has used his time furloughed to help make personal protective equipment for frontline healthcare workers using 3D printing.

Cee-Jay Williams, the general manager of the Junction Tap in Woking, teamed up with friend Tim Charlesworth to create sterilised clips for visors used by health workers with their own printers.

The pair were inspired having seen a story of a group in Italy using printers to adapt diving gear into protective masks. They are now part of a wider UK group who have already had 1,000 clips distributed to hospitals.

Williams said: “Now we’ve mastered the technique we should be able to make a lot more – and fast! I’ve bulk ordered more of the filament needed to create the clips and then it’s back to printing. Tim and I decided that’s what we needed to make after reading online that the NHS was missing so many of them - there is an abundance of visors, but not enough clips for people to use them.

“I hope that we can make a real difference to our amazing NHS and help them to continue to do the incredible job they are doing for the people of this country. I can’t thank them enough for the work they do for us every day, but hopefully, this small gesture goes some way to show all of our appreciation.”

So far 659 members of the UK’s 3D-printing community have made almost 17,000 face mask clips for the NHS.

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