The 3D printing sector have started developing solutions to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. For example, the 3D printing company Materialise, has created a 3D printed hands-free door opener, removing the to touch door handles. The company is offering the print file free of charge and is urging upon the worldwide 3D printing community to 3D print the door opener and make it available as widely as possible.

Many experts believe that the Covid 19 Coronavirus can survive on surfaces for a long time, and door handles are a high risk source of contamination. Fried Vancraen, the CEO of Materialise said: “By making the design available digitally, it can be produced on 3D printers everywhere and become available around the world in a matter of hours. In this case, we designed the product in Belgium and people in China, Europe or the U.S. can now 3D print the door opener locally.”

In Italy, where the situation is particularly bad, excellent 3D printing projects have such as the Pugliese-Sicilian open source mask project have developed. Masks are becoming a very scarce resource, and very expensive. This Italian team set up a web platform which allows users to freely download a file so that the mask can be printed at home. The team says: “In this scenario we decided to force the system of production and large-scale distribution by creating a completely open-source project that everyone can draw on, improving it, spreading it, finding application even beyond the COVID-19 alarm“.

Another wonderful use of 3D printers has hoccured in Brescia, Italy. A hospital in there was facing a critical issue; its personnel were out of valves used in the ICU. 3D printers were brought to the hospital and the valves were drawn with CAD software and 3D printed. Massimo Temporelli, the founder of The FabLab in Milan carried out part of the project and says that the system with the 3D printed valve works fine, with several patients who have benefited from them.

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