THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
PRINT, COPY, REPEAT
Inspired by the work of the DT Department, Kemal and Ozan Okvuran (Year 11) sourced and serviced a 3D printer at home in Turkey, using it to produce PPE masks for the local community, as Ozan explains
A fter we arrived in Istanbul on 17 March, my brother and I sold some of our old electronic equipment to buy an Ender 3 pro 3D printer for roughly £200. We had decided that we would use the printer to produce face shields for medical personnel and frontline workers in our local community. Our budget meant an entry-level machine which would require a lot of mechanical and electronic work to assemble, maintain and fix. We had to replace certain critical parts such as the pneumatic connectors and the extruder gear. Given the nationwide curfew imposed on people under the age of 20, we had to find and order all parts online and rely on the online community of users for help with maintenance. We still managed to produce roughly 300 face shields. The clear acetate sheets used for the face shields were provided to us by a family friend. Between 30% and 40% of our production went to an organisation called 3BoyutluDestek (translation: 3-dimensional support), which helped all of the 3D printer owners in Turkey to distribute the equipment to hospitals and other places in need. The remaining masks were donated to the local community or to health professionals who requested face shields. We distributed the masks to guards and cleaners in our residential complex, local businesses, our municipality, a dental practice, a health clinic and some individuals, such as a doctor from Anatolia.
OUR BUDGET MEANT AN ENTRY-LEVEL MACHINE WHICH WOULD REQUIRE A LOT OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRONIC WORK TO ASSEMBLE, MAINTAIN AND FIX
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