3D Printing in Prosthetics

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Canadian Team in Uganda

 

3D Printing has gone from a laboratory curiosity to some very solid uses.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Can't agree more with you this time. We use 3D printed parts at the research group I work in for some special uses. We tend to need 1 or 2 units each time, and I can only see advantages on the current situation.

 

Traditional machining:

- Model the part.

- Do the drawings.

- Check the drawings.

- Re-Do the drawings after the suggestions/conditions of the workshop guys.

- Look for the proper material (normally, aluminum).

- Wait at the machining queue.

- Machine the part.

- Hand-finish the part.

- Install the part.

 

3D printing

- Model the part.

- Auto-scale and format the model.

- Print the part at the FabLab our university has (normally, overnight).

- Hand-finish the part.

- Install the part.

 

Easier, faster, cheaper (in worked hours). We haven't asked the workshop for a machined part since 2013.

 

Adapter between a miniature-sized impact modal hammer and the stepper motor that controls the hammer. The cover of the stepper motor has been cut with a laser cutting machine at the same FabLab.

 

Same concept, but on a larger scale, for the dynamic excitation of larger structures. The cover is provisionary.

 

(Yeah, these hammers are one of our research topics).

 

As far as experienced, 3D printing is a really solid alternative nowadays, BUT only in very small manufacturing quantities. For prototyping, for lab uses or for person-specific prothesics/organs, it is great. Doctors are already using 3D printed models in order to rehearse very delicated brain or heart operations. But right now it is simply not possible to cost-effectively manufacture thousands of parts for series production. A lot of time still has to go before seeing 3D printed car parts or mass-produced smartphone covers.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed, but what a boon to the one-off situation.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Further medical uses.

 

The use of 3D printed models of patient problems before surgery beats the daylights out of just seeing a 3D model on a computer screen.  a hands-on approach is a great help.

 

The project use of bio-ink to produce organs is very exciting.  The "ink" should, of course, be made of the subjects own tissues grown artificially.  This is very exciting but some distance off.