ONE business based near Yelverton has been busy creating 3D-printed visors and ear protectors to supply key workers with much-need protective equipment during the coronavirus outbreak.

Audiology company Moor Hearing provides home visit services to people requiring hearing tests and wax removal but temporarily closed when lockdown was announced by the Government on March 23 as it requires face-to-face contact with clients.

Owner Lee Rogers said the idea to create the visors using his own 3D-printer began after watching national news surrounding the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline key workers, including care home workers.

Lee said: ‘We deal a lot with care homes, looking after the residents ear care needs, so we decided to try and help as best as we could. I had a hobbyist type (3D) machine already, which is predominantly used for printing out models for my nine-year-old. However, it is big enough to print out the visor bands and the ear protectors for masks — albeit singularly.’

Each visor, using a design approved by the NHS, takes around 50 minutes to print and around 90p to make. The ear protectors are for surgical masks. Currently after long periods, the elastic will cut into the back of the ear, so the ‘ear savers’ are designed to sit at the back of head and take the pressure off.

Lee has managed to deliver small quantities of both to Yelverton Surgery, Yelverton Pharmacy, Abbey Surgery in Tavistock, a care home in Cornwall and the paediatric department at Exeter’s Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Lee has also received requests from Spring House in Peter Tavy and Moorgate, Saltash Health Centre and Derriford Hospital’s ICU.

‘My local GP practice said that they could not get hold of this protective equipment and were so grateful, as was everyone else,’ said Lee.

The demand for Lee’s visors started to spiral out of what he could produce on a hobbyist machine, so he decided to launch a GoFundMe page stating that bigger 3D-printers were needed to meet the demand for visors for key workers.

Lee added: ‘The response was amazing and our £500 target now sits at £1,254 meaning we now have two large printers arriving soon, meaning we can produce around 40 to 60 a day instead of about eight.

‘We already decided that we would soak up the consumables/postage cost from the business anyway.

‘Filament for 1kg can range from £10 up to £30. We will probably get through a considerable about of filament but also we are buying the acetate sheets for the visors too.

‘The amazing response from the GoFundMe means that not only will we have two large printers, we have funding to keep the filament coming.

‘The reaction from people has been overwhelming. People have left the kindest messages and have been supportive and generous.’