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 |
