General > General Technical Chat
Working From Home - Impacts of Coronavirus
AndyC_772:
Case in point: the Swedish Work Environment Authority threatens to sue a 3D printing company for donating face shields:
https://twitter.com/erikcederb/status/1242467321555202048
rdl:
I read about this first on Hackaday.
https://e-vent.mit.edu/
rsjsouza:
--- Quote from: james_s on March 26, 2020, 06:23:10 am ---
--- Quote from: Nusa on March 26, 2020, 05:38:59 am ---But red tape can be either cut or ignored when the situation is sufficiently dire and the choice is between uncertified equipment or letting people die.
For instance: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2020/03/19/talking-with-the-italian-engineers-who-3d-printed-respirator-parts-for-hospitals-with-coronavirus-patients-for-free/#2698329978f1
--- End quote ---
That is my thought exactly, in an emergency when the alternative is many people dying it's acceptable to cut corners.
During WWII we designed new aircraft, put them into service and started mass production in all sorts of factories in an insanely short period of time. Often while the design was still being polished and without any of the red tape and certification processes that would normally be required to build an aircraft. All of that legal stuff can be short circuited, you don't just let a bunch of people die over bureaucratic nonsense. You do it properly when you've got the luxury to do so, but if this virus pandemic is as dire as people say it is then we don't have that luxury, just build stuff, make it as cheap, simple and easy to build as possible and build a whole bunch of them. When we're done with them and replace them with properly built, tested and certified medical equipment they can be scrapped or donated to the third world.
--- End quote ---
Not defending the "legal" and bureaucractic process in any way, but would you buy a N95 or a ventilator from Banggood or Aliexpress? Certainly the cut corners criteria would be met.
Sure, a N95 mask is a passive piece of gear, but when there's talk about car manufacturers making ventilators the game is changed. This becomes especially worse if the shortcut is somewhat deliberate due to the lack of proper or tested materials - a gear that has weaker material and can't withstand a 24hr operation, or a lubricant that has toxic components on it, etc.
For us engineers that understand the limitations of design and materials, that is more or less second nature. The issue is when all this is settled and the news organizations get wind of some of these decisions and blow or distort all this to the general public with the consequential outcry and ensuing lawsuits. By this logic, a company would be better off to "donate to the third world" instead, since their ability to sue the company is virtually zero. :palm:
The manufacturers and general population just have to live with the reality that a fraction of people will die of equipment failure. Not many will live with that.
SiliconWizard:
--- Quote from: Stray Electron on March 26, 2020, 03:08:47 am ---
--- Quote from: langwadt on March 26, 2020, 01:35:18 am ---[
you don't just make medical things, there is tons of red tape involved, for good reasons
--- End quote ---
Really? My step father was an orthapedic surgeon and he had many instruments the he designed and that were custom built for him. A good number of them are now standard instruments in that field including the bone drill that is used to drill holes in bones so that pins can be installed. A friend of mine is a dammed good mechanical engineer and owns his own small machine shop and he's built dozens of specialty devices for various doctors and hospitals.
--- End quote ---
Please don't share any more info about him, as he might get in trouble and the doctors implied as well.
::)
james_s:
--- Quote from: rsjsouza on March 26, 2020, 11:16:44 am ---Not defending the "legal" and bureaucractic process in any way, but would you buy a N95 or a ventilator from Banggood or Aliexpress? Certainly the cut corners criteria would be met.
--- End quote ---
If the choice was between that and dying? Absolutely, it would be better than nothing. I mean I was reading that some hospitals are fabricating gowns out of trash bags and cutting face shields out of soda bottles, people are improvising and doing what they need to do in order to get by.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version