Astor-Bannerman (Medical) Ltd was established 22 years ago and we are extremely proud to be market leaders in the disability bathing market. We design, manufacture, install and maintain innovative specialist equipment from our Cheltenham headquarters such as height adjustable baths, child and adult changing benches, patient hoists and much more.
Our Technical Director Peter Deverson recently spoke with ShopBot Tools and explained how using their ShopBot PRSalpha has enabled us to manufacturelife changing equipment for hundreds of disabled people and their families across the UK as well as worldwide.
Pete has a background as a mechanical engineer, and his business partner James Stuart-Smith holds a Physics Degree and is qualified as a patent attorney, in fact many of our unique products, such as our Neatfold bi-fold stretcher are patent protected.
“From early on, we focused efforts on designing and building baths that raise and lower easily as we wanted to be able to meet the changing needs of a growing child, as well as to do everything possible to provide a comfortable and respectful setting. We are very aware of how the equipment we manufacture affects the lives of the people that use it,”
“We have very high standards in both design and customer care, and it’s important to us that we achieve a beautiful looking product, a comfortable product, and one that exceeds standards for safety.” Pete explains.
At Astor-Bannerman we always put our new baths through a rigorous testing regimen of up to 100,000 cycles. In Pete’s words, “We punish the baths pretty harshly, opening and closing the moving parts, and raising and lowering the baths, as we don’t want any patient to get hurt using our baths.”
One of many unique and increasingly popular products in our range that we have designed and is the Vanna height-adjustable bath which gives the client and the care giver much greater freedom and control through day to day life. With its simple elegant design and convenient side door, the Vanna allows for easy access in and out of the bath either with or without the aid of a hoist. The height of the bath can easily be adjusted at the touch of a button and also allows for the powered door to be opened and closed for quick and easy transfers. It gives both clients and the care givers the control to do more at the touch of a button.
The image above shows how the base, door, door top roll, side wings and returns are all made from the same sheet of polypropelyne plastic by using fretting and controlled routing using a ball nosed tool. All of the material highlighted in green is the same piece of plastic. Along with fretting, we use a 90° tool to produce 90° ‘corners’ in the material which allow us to fold the material through 90°. The two 90° folds allow us to locate the material into the back face of the door which helps during manufacture and produce a strengthening beam along the length of the door. This image also shows the door closing mechanism incorporating a slot to prevent damage to the bath if someone were to sit on the door before it was fully lowered. The precise hinge on the Vanna bath means we can create a water-tight bath, with ‘soft corners’ rather than sharp edges that could become uncomfortable for the bather, and help ensure maintenance of the bath’s hygiene.
The illustration shown below of the sectioned end box / fretting shows how we use fretting to make up the radii of the bath from a solid 12mm thick sheet of polypropylene (PP). There are a couple of reasons for this, the first is to help protect the client / person in the bath if they have a tendency for spasms, the other is hygiene. By having radius edges we avoid overhangs and hidden corners where pathogens can hide.
The end box image below shows how by using the router, we create a path into which all of the components fit. This has two benefits: it allows a convenient reservoir for the adhesive we apply to all the joins and also helps with assembly as the components are held in position rather than requiring expensive jigs to hold it all in position. Once the adhesive has set we apply a plastic weld to all the joins; this is a belt and bra
ces approach to bonding the joins and also produces a better aesthetic while also making it easier to clean and reducing hiding places for pathogens.
The video below shows our Vanna bath in action
Another example an Astor-Bannerman designed and manufactured product which makes use of the ShopBot tool we have is the Syncra bath with integrated seat.
The Syncra Standard Modular bath is designed to offer comfortable and safe independent and assisted bathing. The fully powered transfer seat and bath are operated at the touch of a button, allowing for quick, comfortable and easy bathing for all mobility levels. The seat can easily be detached from the bath by the means of the optional transfer frame enabling easy bedroom to bathroom transfers. The Syncra standard bath allows the care giver to perform any assisted bathing routine effectively and efficiently.
In our recent interview Peter explained that we used the ShopBot router to produce the moulds for the seat back and base and also the mould for the long side panel, “We did this by creating a 3D model in Solidworks, importing the model into Partworks 3D and producing a programme. There was a little hand finishing of the moulds, but in essence the router was capable of producing what we needed in a sensible time frame.”
“The challenge here was, we needed to react to the demand for a larger bath – there was a poor supply of these sizes, and frankly it was the ShopBot that allowed us to re-engineer one of our baths to a larger size in just two weeks”said Peter.
The image above shows how the bath incorporates a few other items that we manufacture on the Syncra bath. With the seat cover removed, you can see the hook assembly and the relevant components highlighted in green. As part of the hook arrangement there are two guide blocks, one on either side with another at the base and a cover to the rear. None of them are very complex, but at Astor-Bannerman we are able to make small quantities in-house rather than investing in tooling and large batches of moulded components. Particularly useful to us when making bespoke products.
To see how the Syncra bath works, watch this video
If you would like to find out more about how Astor-Bannerman approach the design of our patient handling equipment, or if you would like a tour of our factory and showroom, just get in touch with our team!