Engin Mehmet, of Junction Road business Absolute Print, making protective visors for medical staff

A PAIR of Archway entrepreneurs are producing thousands of face masks to be handed out to medical staff for free.

Engin Mehmet, who runs the Absolute Print store in Junction Road with Hak Huseyin, was shocked when his medical student son said that frontline NHS staff were “screaming” for help, with shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) causing chaos across the country.

Mr Mehmet, a self-proclaimed “tinkerer”, realised he could make visors out of the 3D printer he had at his house.

He contacted his business partner Mr Huseyin who spread the word round his various contacts and since then the orders have come flooding in.

Mr Mehmet, 50, told the Tribune: “My son is going to start working next week for the NHS as a health care assistant. There is a lack of all PPE, to be honest. But these face shields, which help when there is a risk of fluids splashing on the NHS staff, is something I can help with. That’s all I can do to help for now. I wish I could do more.”

Hak Huseyin wearing the finished product

Mr Huseyin put the word out to friends in the BNI Chipping business networking group he is part of and they managed to raise £2,500 so that Mr Mehmet could buy a computer numerical control (CNC) router which uses computer code to cut the masks out of a Perspex sheet, as opposed to melting plastic as the 3D printer does. It could increase the number of visors the pair can produce.

Mr Huseyin said: “I’ve been really blown away by how generous everyone has been. It’s almost had me in tears. We have enough money to buy the new machine and we’re going to fundraise to buy another to produce more. I am just absolutely buzzing, to be honest. It’s been amazing how everyone has rallied round to help each other.

“We’re not going to make any money from this, all the visors are being given away and, at the end, we’re going to auction off the machines and give that cash to charity.”

Once the new CNC machine is up and running Mr Mehmet believes he will be able to produce 50 visors an hour, while the 3D printer was only able to produce 70 a day.

Some of them have already been given to pharmacists, nurses and council staff.

The Highgate Private Hospital, which is now taking in Covid-19 patients, have put in an order for 50, while Mr Huseyin has contacted the Whittington hospital to offer to drop some in there.

Mr Mehmet added: “We’re also doing a drop at the big bus depot in Archway. The bus drivers, tube drivers and shop workers are on the frontline as well. They need these visors.”

Fourteen transport workers have died in London after contracting coronavirus, including Emeka Nyack-Ihenacho, 36, who drove the No 4 bus from Blackfriars to Archway.

His mother, Anne, has called for better protection for bus drivers.

To donate to the visor crowdfunder, which has received more than £5,000 in 24 hours, go to www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/absoluteprint