Supporting COVID front line

During the current Covid pandemic we hear stories daily, from around the world of initiatives to help communities and countries survive this current global crisis.

Czech citizens are well known for their community spirit. Many people are sewing face masks at home and in local communities for use wherever needed; in hospitals, retirement homes, for essential workers etc. As part of this national initiative we are happy to report that RACOM and our staff are doing what we can to support local efforts. Many of us have been making face masks for the local communities where we live. As part of our collective efforts, we have even designed and made the latest must have RACOM face mask fashion accessory.

Worthy of a special mention, our mechanical designer is supporting a cause of particular note. He came across another nationwide initiative ‘3D printing against Covid’ on Social media. This initiative provides printing and distribution of protective face shields to be used by doctors, nurses and other front line workers in the fight against Covid-19. Fortunately there was already a local group in our region organized by Scouts. Milan quickly decided he should support this worthy effort and discussed the possibility with his line manager at RACOM.

As a Covid home-office worker, Milan transferred all RACOM 3D printing equipment home, set up his own printing lab and got to work producing shields in accordance with strict guidelines. After refining the manufacturing technique, reducing printing time by 40%, he has been producing 10 shields a day and will continue as long as there is a demand for this essential equipment. Milan is fully supported by RACOM and his work RACOM duties have been minimized to support his community action.

The initiative was started by Prusa Research, a Czech producer of 3D printers who developed a prototype over 3 days making the designs and CAD available to others for free.

Anyone wishing to join this initiative can get more information here and watch a video of the fabrication technique here.