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We have had a chance to catch up with Damien Long, who has been working in his mancave for the last 4 weeks manufacturing visors for the NHS with 3D Printers.

O&B: Damien, we hope you and Beccy are well. We hear that you have completed 3381 visors for the NHS, and have since run out of materials. That is incredible, how are you feeling?

Damien: Tired!! Long days combined with breakdowns and maintenance was hard work.

O&B: What are you doing with yourself now?

Damien: I had been made redundant, so the timing of being able to do this worked well. I am due to start work with Southampton FC as their Digital Project Manager this coming Friday, so I am quickly recharging the batteries! I must also add that Southampton FC accommodated moving my start date back by 2 weeks when they heard what I was doing, so a big thank you to them.

O&B: When you started this process, did you expect it to take off as it did?

Damien: I had planned on putting in some of my own money and hopefully being able to send out around 200 hundred if I could. The feedback on the crowd funder changed what was possible. There are some seriously generous people and companies who saw this as an extra manufacturing stream of PPE.

O&B: How many days straight did you work?

Damien: 24 days straight, 18-hour days. Beccy my girlfriend makes the best cups of tea and fish finger sandwiches so I was well fuelled.

O&B: What kind of issues did you encounter?

Damien:

  • In order to speed up production, the nozzles were twice as large to push twice as much plastic.
  • Sourcing OHP to start with.
  • Sourcing spare parts, clogged parts, damaged parts, daily maintenance, cleaning fans, re lubricating parts. This was all due to running the 3D Printers at this rate.
  • Shopping, including my girlfriends birthday. I am in the vulnerable category so I cannot head out to shop. Thanks Brendan!

O&B: How did you speed up the process?

Damien:

  • I was able to amend the file so the printing could be stacked. This meant I could do more than one at a time on each printer.
  • At the start I could print 2 visors per bed, when I had the stack file sorted, I could do 10-12, so I didn’t have to sit by the printers and restart. Basically I could manufacture larger batches. It made it more of a factory line essentially.
  • By the end we were doing 206 per day, at the start we could manufacture 16 per day.

O&B: How were the masks distributed?

Damien: Either by courier if they were going some distance or by local volunteer groups to testing centres, ambulance services and hospitals, they were collected from my front door.

O&B: Have you had any feedback from the users?

Damien: Everyone loves them, they said they were being reused, through chlorine dipping and alcohol wiping. They were standing up to this due to the way they were being fixed and the ‘structural integrity’ of plastic we used. The photos from the NHS seen online show the rubbing and sores from nurses wearing them all day. These were comfortable as well as providing the necessary protection which is great.

O&B: Damien, from all of the people at O’Neill & Brennan, Dodd Group and the wider communities that you have helped, we must say a big well done, very impressive foresight, application, endurance and above all just a great thing to do.

The snapshot of the services Damien supplied visors to listed below.  

Business

Location Address

Number of Masks

Doctors surgeries

Various

75

Savernak Hospital

Wiltshire

13

Savernak Hospital

Wiltshire

100

SSJ Hostel

Southampton

14

Titchfield Jubilee Surgery

Titchfield

30

Neuro Theatre

Southampton General Hospital

75

Queen Alexandra Hospital

Portsmouth

100

Council/social workers

Southampton

15

Southampton CCG

Southampton

75

Queen Alexandra Hospital

Portsmouth

100

Moorgreen Palative care

West End

25

Care homes

Locksheath

50

White house

Curdridge

20

Hunters Moore Testing

Birmingham

50

Hightown Ambulance station

Bursledon

100

Home nurses End of life care

Kent

25

Southern Health

Southampton

100

Local GP

Southampton

20

Ambulance service

Southampton

100

Queen Alexandra Hospital

Portsmouth

100

Southern Health

Southampton

150

Willow domicilary care

Lee on solent

12

COVID SUPPORT

Southampton

20

Surgery

Basingstoke

10

Southern Health

Southampton

100

Nurses

Southampton

12

A&E & Ambulance

Portsmouth

100

Care homes

Locksheath

20

care homes

Park Gate

10

At risk

Wickham

6

Nurses

Locksheath

2

Nurses

Southampton

4

Ambulance station

Nursling

40

Firs Emsworth

Emsworth

20

Care Company

Southampton

20

Southampton General Hospital

Southampton

100

Southampton General Hospital

Southampton

20

COVID CONTROL SILVER CELL

Winchester

100

Southampton General Hospital

Southampton

100

Ambulance Services

Southampton

50

Park Gate funeral directors

Park Gate

6

Care Homes

Southampton

25

police station, gp and pharmacy

Southampton

200

Palative Care

West End

119

Southampton General Hospital

Southampton

100

Southampton General Hospital

Southampton

100

Southern health

Southampton

150

Soton Council

Southampton

200

at risk kids still in schooling

Southampton

5

Care Homes

Southampton

50

Lyndhurst Hospital and drs

New Forrest

146

Care homes

Hedge End

120

Soton covid support

Southampton

75

 

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