Materialise is offering a 3D printable design for free and calling upon the global maker community to 3D print its door opener and make it available all around the world.
With door handles representing a high risk of contamination for Coronavirus, Belgium-based 3D printing experts Materialise has launched the design of a hands-free door opener.
The idea for the 3D printed door handle originated at an internal meeting to define measures to protect Materialise employees and visitors, and the company soon decided to make it available for free.
It can be attached to existing door handles and features a paddle-shaped extension that allows people to open and close doors with their arm instead of their hands.
For safety reasons, not all doors can remain open and by removing the need to touch door handles, the opener can help to reduce the spread of the virus.
The hands-free door opener can be fitted to a door handle without drilling holes or replacing the existing door handle.
The first model can be attached to cylindrical handles and Materialise plans to introduce additional designs using different 3D printing technologies as needed in response to the spread of the Coronavirus.
“The power of 3D printing in combination with Materialise’s three decades of 3D printing expertise made it possible to turn an idea into an innovative product in less than 24 hours,” says Fried Vancraen CEO of Materialise.
“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… can now 3D print the door opener locally.”
