June 16, 2014
Everybody's excited about the possibilities of 3D printing, from 3D-printed limbs to titanium legs and hands, the technology is improving people's lives. The latest success is the 3D printed hand that two middle school teachers are making for a 7-year-old boy as the gift of a lifetime.
Frankie is a 7 year old little boy in Massachusetts who was born with no fingers on his right hand. His Mother Rachel, joined the E-Nabling the Future community, a network of passionate volunteers using 3D printing to give the world a "Helping Hand", after watching videos about 3D printed limbs online.
Rachel joined the Google+ group where she had volunteers offering to make one for Frankie. One of them was 8th grade science teacher Jourdan Marino at Marshall Simonds Middle School in Massachusetts.
Marino and Kevin Kille, the tech ed. teacher at the school, were working to construct a prosthetic hand using a 3D printer as they were learning their students about 3D printing and the good it can be used for.
Marino says, "I feel personally, that it's critical the students know that I could walk along and all of a sudden this could cross my path and with the support of another person, we could do something…we could create something, that could potentially be life altering."
Marino and Kille learned how to create movable prosthetic hands and then passed the knowledge to the students. They have tried a variety of designs and finally they decided to choose the Ody Hand design for Frankie's first hand.
Designed by Peter Binkley, the Ody Hand is intended to be a starter hand for children with a small palm and a short range of motion. It has two fingers and a thumb so there is less fight of resistance with 3 elastics vs 5. The hand is designed for a little boy from Greece, named Odysseus who has no fingers on his left hand and his wrist didn't have enough function to power one of the full five fingered hand designs.
Frankie couldn't be happier with all the work that has been done for him. "I feel good, it is fun to work on a project with technology." said Frankie.
After a few months of designing and re-working the design, the 3D printed hand was finally ready for Frankie. The printed was printed on a Makerbot 3D printer, which was purchased with the remaining funds from the school budget as he is set to retire at the end of the year.
Frankie will have to spend time building up enough strength to operate the 3D-printed prosthetic hand. In the future when his wrist gets stronger enough he will be able to wear 3D printed full five fingered hand.
Source: E-Nabling the future
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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