Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
From building tough 4×4s, to 3D printing pandemic shields
ON ANY GIVEN day in the English town of Gaydon, you might drive past the Jaguar Land Rover Centre just west of the small village, where staff are hard at work experimenting on the latest automotive innovations for the British manufacturer.
However, back in April, the company turned over its prototype build operations and, utilising its CAD design expertise, commenced production on 3D printed protective visors for key workers. Jaguar Land Rover made the decision to shift focus away from vehicles to help answer the British government’s call for more vital equipment to fight the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus.
The team designed the only reusable National Health Service (NHS)-approved visor of its kind. It was developed as part of a collaboration between a team of healthcare professionals from the NHS and Jaguar Land Rover personnel. The visors are printed at the Advanced Product Creation Centre in Gaydon, home to one of the most advanced 3D-printing facilities in Europe.
The carmaker’s decision to print the protective visors was made to help mitigate the national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff. Workers on the front line of the fight against COVID-19 have suffered injury from wearing uncomfortable equipment for long hours.
Jaguar Land Rover says the company will collaborate with Pro2Pro, based in Telford, to produce around 5 000 visors a week for NHS trusts across the UK. The visors have been designed to be reusable and easily taken apart and cleaned. The sustainable design helps to safeguard the NHS trusts against any future shortages of protective visors.
Jaguar Land Rover additive manufacturing and prototype design manager Ben Wilson says the design and production of the visors went through several trials. These included using different materials and improving the design over several iterations. This was done in close consultation with doctors and nurses, so the end product would best suit healthcare workers’ needs.
‘While this is just a small effort, it’s vital that we help as many people as we can by utilising our resources,’ says Wilson. ‘Collaborative teams working at Jaguar Land Rover, along with the wider computer-aided designand 3D-printing community will continue to do what we can to help healthcare workers.’
The protective visors consist of a clear shield manufactured using chemically resistant polycarbonate, which is later trimmed down by a multi-cutter machine. The cap top is easily and safely worn for hours thanks to the careful state-ofthe-art laser sintering, jet fusion, and fused deposition modelling processes. The visor is held in place through the use of a secure elastic strap, provided by Beacon Trimmings of Coventry. The elastic strap can be quickly and easily replaced, which helps to avoid any potential contamination.
Dr Steve Iley, chief medical officer for Jaguar Land Rover, says the health and safety of all the employees, customers and their families remains the top priority for the Range Rover manufacturer. ‘It’s important we all utilise our skills, expertise and facilities to help protect NHS staff on the front line during our country’s greatest crisis in a generation. We can all play a part in helping those who need it most.’
A small skeleton team of just four Jaguar Land Rover employees assemble the visors in a designated clean area within the centre. The company has also implemented strict control processes to make sure none of the employees or visors are contaminated before they leave the site.