Printing a Solution

Resource/supply chain limitations are a constant battle here. Basic hardware items can be found but when it becomes specialty items, I almost always find myself having to track them down in the states and ship them down here. Sometimes this can result in lead times on the order of weeks at best. So how do you balance those lead times with the need to keep critical equipment operational? Knowing the resource limitations that we would encounter I had my 3D printer shipped down on the first container with the idea that in a pinch I could reverse engineer a part and simply print the part. During the time that Tyler and I were working on the sterilizer we discovered a spacer ring that goes between the hand wheel and the door lock mechanism was missing, and all of the screws that attached the drive hub to the hand wheel were either bent or entirely broken. Knowing the chances of locating the correct replacement part were slim, the idea of 3D printing a new one came to mind. So a few measurements and some minutes later on FreeCad (shout out to this amazing program) and we had a model of the spacer ready to print.

Up until this point I hadn't actually used the 3d printer since it came down here. So I was little worried during its journey down here that it may have lost calibration but thankfully everything checked out OK. In my excitement/haste I didn't even bother to set it up on a table.

The next day we had one 3D printed spacer ring ready to go. Everything assembled well and I'm hopeful this works as a long term solution.

These types of limited resource situations are where 3D printing really has the opportunity to shine. Combined with programs like FreeCad, the startup costs are becoming much less than they were even a few years ago. This greatly improves the ability to minimize equipment downtime and keep the hospital operational and serving patients and the community!

Keep after it!