At an outer suburban manufacturing plant, engineer Byron Kennedy is resetting a machine to spray-print a layer of copper on to a door handle, aiming to use the metal’s antiviral properties to counter the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His firm Spee3D is better known as a producer of 3D printers for copper and aluminium, used by customers including the Australian defence force and US Marines to rapidly print new parts to get broken equipment back in action without waiting days for spares to arrive.