As Sudbury began bracing for the impact of COVID-19, Cambrian R&D, alongside our innovation ecosystem partners, started mobilizing expertise and resources to help protect local frontline healthcare workers.

With a projected shortage of personal protective equipment for staff at Health Sciences North (HSN), Cambrian R&D explored how we could use our 3D printing and advanced manufacturing equipment to help print headbands for face shields.

Although most equipment was still on campus and inaccessible, our mechanical engineer, Patrick Galipeau-Belair, had had the foresight to take a small desktop 3D printer with him before Cambrian College closed the campus in accordance with physical distancing directives.

Working from home, Patrick modified an open-source design developed by 3D Verkstan to optimize the device’s smaller printing bed. Rather than printing the headband as a single unit, Patrick split it into two parts with interlocking pieces for easy assembly and to ensure structural integrity. The design allowed him to batch print the components despite using a smaller printer unit that is more conducive for iterative prototyping than production.

With other organizations in a similar predicament – that is, having to make do with whatever equipment they have available – there has been interest in Patrick’s modified design. Not only has he shared it locally, he has also disseminated it to organizations around the world to help them optimize their equipment, and ultimately, mitigate some of the risks of COVID-19 to healthcare workers.

Turning his living room into a production centre, Patrick has been printing headbands day and night. While Cambrian R&D’s current capacity to produce is not as sizeable as some of our local partners who are still able to use their production-grade equipment, Patrick has nevertheless produced more than 100 headpieces that will be utilized by staff, nurses, and doctors at HSN.

As part of the larger effort, which includes Laurentian University, NOSM, Collège Boréal, Science North, Lively District and Lo-Ellen Park secondary schools, as well as industry partners Ionic Mechatronics, SHYFTinc., and Hard-Line Solutions, more than 500 headbands have already been donated.

While Patrick continues to print headbands for the hospital as part of this local initiative, he is also working on other designs that could be produced for long-term care facilities and emergency services personnel.

Cambrian R&D has always prided itself on thinking outside the box, and this ingenuity has never been more important. As the unprecedented healthcare crisis continues, Cambrian R&D will not stop looking for innovative ways to help protect frontline workers.

For more information on how Patrick and the Cambrian R&D are helping healthcare workers, check out this additional coverage in the Sudbury Star.