Our 3D printer is up and running again!

This is our first 3D print of our cosmetic hand prototype. The last few weeks we struggled to continue with this task because our 3D printer was broken, but Sonja managed to repair it and could finally print our first version of the hand prototype.

The material used for the print is polylactic acid (PLA). However it is not the most stable material, which we learned after dropping one of our prints by accident and the thumb broke off. For this reason we performed later prints with the more robust PLA+ and also used a higher infill. We use 3D printing in our current prototyping phase, but want to switch to other manufacturing techniques for the application in low income countries. 3D printers are great for prototyping, but not the quickest method for manufacturing greater amounts of prostheses, and also not applicable in all circumstances. For example, in rural areas in some countries, they would not be a sensible choice due to problems with intermittent power sources, obtaining spare parts if the printer breaks, as well as other logistics problems. As replacement, we plan to use silicone molding when we move out of the prototyping phase.

We obtained the hand from a 3D scan, and it can be attached to the residual limb via a stump interface to form a cosmetic prosthesis. When talking to our partners from Naya Qadam, we learned that realistic-looking cosmetic hands are very important to many amputees, as there is a strong social stigma associated to a visible amputation. For this reason, for many of the patients, the cosmetic qualities of a prosthesis are even more important than the functionality. For this reason, we focused on the cosmetic prototype first - nevertheless, we are working in parallel on a functional hand prototype which can perform grasping and help in day-to-day tasks.