Australian recreational aircraft producer Jabiru has joined the greatest industrial mobilisation of recent times by turning to making medical face shields. The company is using 3D printing to make the shields, which protect medical personnel from airborne infection by the Covid-19 virus.
Jabiru Aircraft business manager Sue Woods said, ‘We have been very concerned for the wellbeing of paramedics, GPs and medical personnel who are on the frontline. We hope that the extra layer of protection offered by the face shield will keep these essential people free of the virus.’
An engineer for the Bundaberg-based aircraft maker, Alex Swan, designed the face shield with a 3D-printed headband and a transparent polycarbonate visor cut with a flatbed computer numeric control router.
Swan took the company’s 3D printers home with him and has been waking in the middle of the night to reset them for maximum production. ‘They are going 24/7 and Alex will be running them all over Easter, to get them to the hospital as soon as possible,’ Woods said.
Jabiru is working with a range of institutions and businesses to produce the shield framework on 3D printers. Among the volunteer organisations are CQUniversity Bundaberg and Gladstone, Makerspace Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, CQUniversity Makerspace , Bundaberg Library, Terry Harlick Industries, Shalom School and Signature Drafting.
Hospitals and paramedics have placed orders for 2000 shields. The first shipment of 110 face shields went to Western Australia on Monday for use by paramedics. Hospitals in Wide Bay and Cairns and GP clinics are due to receive face shields soon.
Woods said Jabiru and its associates were on track to deliver 300 shields by early next week. ‘We’ll just keep on printing them until the crisis is over.’
True Aussie can do attitude at work here.
Congratulations to Sue and the Team at Jabiru Aircraft, Bundaberg. Queensland
Kind regards, take care and keep safe.
Agile, proactive, creative, enthusiastic, fantastic!
Congrats
Kind regards
Hi,
We can take your masks to any outback town in Qld or NSW and Vic if you can get them out there the normal way by road…we have aircraft and pilots willing to give their aircraft fuel and time for free and to deliver these to any town hospital or age care facility just if the town has an airfield…just let us know if you need to help to transport them..
Leave a message on our Facebook page and we will contact you…
“The Essential Medical Air Supply Volunteers”
Regards
David Lefrancke
Excellent work modifying and up-scaling your manufacturing equipment for PPE for front line staff – commendable.
“from airborne infection by the Covid-19 virus”
Just to correct the terminology, COVID-19 is the disease that is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Virus (a coronovirus).
COVID isn’t a virus…
P.S I look forward to buying a J160 one day =)