MakerDifference - responding locally to COVID-19

We have a workshop full of tools - from sewing machines to 3D printers and a laser cutter - and hundreds of members with a huge range of skills and enthusiasm.

We're fundraising in order to use these facilities in whatever way is needed to respond locally to the COVID-19 pandemic in Lambeth, Southwark and across South London - right now our focus is making and distributing face shields to medics and other public facing staff who run the services that keep the country running.

July 2020 Update - goal increased to £10k!

Well...what we thought of as a short-term intervention has solidified into a longer-term project

We imagined (and hoped) the need for our DIY PPE would soon be overtaken by large scale manufacturing - however we committed to respond according to demand...and demand is still high

Evidence emerging about the unequal effect COVID-19 is having on members of BAME communities has led to our decision to put a special focus on supporting and partnering with local community groups with high proportions of BAME members - and committing to a slightly daunting target of producing 1000 new face masks over the next few weeks!

We have a strong team who are committed to the task- but to make this sustainable we need to cover costs - hence the goal increase. And we're also proud to be able to provide some funded work to makers who've found themselves unemployed due to the pandemic, with no safety net

Other projects:

We're working on a budget-priced high-volume 'Fresh Air Machine' (FAM) - a HEPA filter that scrubs the air in a room and removes airborne contaminants in minutes - this can be deployed in shops/offices/waiting rooms/community centres/workshops...in fact any confined space were social distancing is hard to maintain and good ventilation ventilation not practical - details to follow

Window masks - lip-readers have been hard hit by the sudden widespread use of masks, and many have found themselves cut off from vital communication and social interactions. We've worked with professionals to develop our own design of a fitted and reusable window face mask - the first batch went out last week - we now plan a run of 100...they're fiddly and time consuming to make...but seeing the smiles on faces is more than worth it!

Original text below......

One of our face shields - they fit comfortably over glasses or other PPE:

We're using our laser cutter to produce a design developed by our friends at Smoke and Mirrors and Kitronik and aiming for ~2000 in the coming week alone.

The parts are prepared in our workshop and then distributed to a team of volunteers who assemble and distribute them.

We're also 3D printing the Verkstan face shield - a much slower process, but we're creating a mini 3d Print farm to speed things up (and members are printing at home too).

But won't huge amounts of PPE start flooding the market from imports/mass production soon?

We hope so! And we'll be ready to put our resources into whatever is next - this is a long haul flight!

We "know that we don't know" what may be needed in a week's time - but we believe local workshops and makers are ideally placed to act quickly in a way that traditional manufacturing simply cannot. For example: we recognise that a large factory can eventually produce tens of thousands of face shields per day to satisfy the demand - in which case we'll be delighted... and we'll move onto the next challenge.

The maker community has proven highly agile in this pandemic - a design can be dreamt up, prototyped, tested, distributed and manufactured worldwide within a matter of days - and improvements can be rolled back in during production.

How we got here...

At the end of March it became apparent that there was a severe shortage of PPE and face shields looked like something we could make – after some initial prototyping of our own we decided to start up small scale production of a design developed by Smoke and Mirrors and Kitronik: it was fast to make, easy to assemble, and the materials were available in large quantities, and – importantly - had already been accepted by an NHS practice in Nottingham. We ordered a bunch of materials and got making - we were able to supply some to local shops to subsidise shields for health and care workers, but to move up to the scale we want to produce at we decided to create this campaign.

Our Makerspace closed on March 17th due to COVID-19 but we're opening up under strictly controlled conditions when an opportunity to help arises - from production of PPE to prototyping of medical equipment to...well, who knows what next?

Thank you

...to all those on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic - to all the medics, carers, first responders, shop staff, delivery drivers, and all those working to keep us safe and well.

...to all those in the maker community who are finding creative ways to solve problems - and sharing that knowledge for the benefit of all.

...to everyone supporting this fundraising appeal, and the many other appeals like it.

Links

South London Makerspace - our website, where you can request PPE and find out more about out workshop community.

Nottinghack Faceshield FAQ - everything you need to know about the lasercut face shield.

Community and Mirrors - if you have access to a laser cutter and want to get involved, start here.