Caithness 3D printing team takes new order for 1000 visors
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A new order for 1000 visors has been placed with a local team of volunteers making personal protective equipment (PPE) to guard frontline health workers against coronavirus.
Wick High School computing science teacher Chris Aitken, who has been leading the Caithness 3D printing team, explained that the workload had started to slow down recently.
However, NHS Highland contacted him on Monday morning asking for a second batch of visors.
"I thought we were done," Chris said. "We had been demob happy for about the last five days, but I just received a phone call saying they needed another 1000. We will have to start again."
A previous order of the PPE visors, created with 3D printers, was supplied to NHS Highland at the end of last month.
"This time the Orkney team will be helping us as well so hopefully we can produce them more quickly," Chris said.
We had been demob happy but we will have to start again.
After an initial Caithness order for 1100 visors was completed, NHS Orkney requested 500 and it was then that Chris got in touch with people in Orkney who had access to 3D printers.
So far, Chris and his team of 15 volunteers have produced 2900 visors.
"We started off thinking we would do a couple of hundred," he said. "It has spiralled from there. We are glad we can produce something quickly, even with everybody having jobs to do at the same time.
"We are always grateful to everybody supporting us financially because it is quite an expensive process. Our biggest cost has been purchasing new printers to cope with demand."
A total of £13,000 was raised by the team.
