A SCHOOL is using its 3D printers to produce visor headbands for local NHS staff.

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School has been making the products for Royal Blackburn Hospital, as well as GP surgeries.

Based on a face shield prototype the school was working on just before its closure, design and technology lab technician Janette Milligan has been spending her days making the products.

She said: “The complexity of the hospitals 3D printing technology means that they are only able to produce four headbands in 24 hours.

“Using our four 3D printers we have been able to create 16 each day.

“The complexity of the hospitals 3D printing technology means that they are only able to produce four headbands in 24 hours. Using our four 3D printers we have been able to create 16 each day.

“The hospital’s consultant maxillofacial prosthetist, Brendan McPhillips, completes the face guards with medical grade clear plastic and ensures these are constantly disinfected, but they didn’t have enough headbands.

“Initially I created 80 but as demand has continued, we had a request for another 80.”

The school’s headteacher, Alan Porteous, added: “We originally heard of the hospital’s demand from one of our student’s parents who is a doctor and knew we had 3D printers.

“Although sadly our students haven’t been able to be involved in the actual production, it provides us with a wonderful opportunity for them to appreciate the real-life value of these new industrial techniques once they return to school. We are so pleased to have been able to support the NHS’s sharp rise in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.”