A LAB manager is dedicating his time and money to create masks and visors to help NHS staff stay protected from the spread of coronavirus.

Tom Macpherson-Pope, who runs The Making Rooms in Blackburn, is creating 150 visors and personal protective equipment for frontline staff.

He has been using 3D technology, using two machines from the Making Rooms and using two of his own to create the frames and masks.

He said: “I first heard of makers creating masks through an organisation called Vulca. They visited me at the lab a year ago and I’ve been connecting with makers throughout Europe since.

“We have a WhatsApp group and a few weeks ago, Italian makers in the group started talking about how bad the situation had gotten there and what they were doing to try and help their communities, from making masks and valves to full ventilators.

“One of the first designs to be posted on the group was designed by a 3D printer company called Prusa in the Czech Republic. They donated 10,000 masks to the Czech ministry of health who had open-sourced their design so people all around the world could make the masks for free. My girlfriend and I laser cut parts for 150 masks at The Making Rooms. I have then been printing the frames for these masks, they should be finished in a couple of weeks. I have bought another printer to speed up production.”

Tom has had requests for masks from Manchester, Blackburn and Sheffield hospitals.

He said: “The mask frames take a while to print and I had intended to send them out in a big batch, but workers have been so desperate for masks they have been driving up to an hour and a half round trip to collect them. I have funded the masks with my savings, but loads of people have contacted me wanting to help with either donations or by using their 3D printers. I’m looking into designs that are quicker to make.”

Tom added that The Making Rooms work to help businesses.

He said: "At The Making Rooms, we help entrepreneurs and companies to prototype their products, or run funded programmes such as business accelerators or workshops.

Before lockdown, they would teach people how to use the machines every Saturday for free in the Fab Lab Blackburn programme.

He added: "Fab Labs are all over the world and give free access to new making technology, which is how I first learnt these skills at Fab Lab Manchester 10 years ago. But the processes and machines are the same."