I’ve always been interested in creating physical objects for disabled people, especially prosthetic limbs. I recently heard of an organisation called ‘e-NABLE’ who design and make prosthetics.
I’m currently working on printing the ‘Phoenix’ hand design. It is a design that was originally made for those who do not have a hand but have wrist function so that the muscles in the wrist can control the prosthetic itself. There have been several remakes of this original design to improve functionality and comfortability for the user, which have been remarkable and have changed the original look and parts. One user (Jayson Bryant) redesigned the original Phoenix so instead of printing a curved wrist support, it was printed flat so that it could later be thermoformed into a curved design which makes it stronger and more stable. Thermoforming is the act of dipping the flat design into water and gently moulding it to become curved once it is soft enough.
I am very delighted to start creating prosthetics and inspired by the many designs that people have made and allowed to become open source for others to also make it as well as add to the design. Here are a few screenshots of when I brought the design into Fusion and Cura to look at it, I think I will first create the original designs and then a remake design and by this point, maybe I will be confident enough to make my own version or modify one.
