Dave
I use the heck out of skype. Do all my long distance phone calls at 3.2 cents a minute. Also the screen sharing is great when working on a project with someone. Mike the owner of Preston and I spent meany hours working out various problems with the engines.
Dave
Ariel, WA
Hi all,
Just to keep you up to dateā¦
Iāve been working on a redesign of the $30 handā¦I will upload visuals, and .svg files this weekend.
Please fee free to download the files, and print them outā¦it would be great to get some feedback on the design.
Hereās a prosthetic project I worked on with my best friend, and ex-Hensonās animatronic engineer Mark Hunterā¦it has been hailed as, āThe Worlds most advanced prosthetic handā.
As I mentioned previously, I have a vested interest in bringing prosthetics out of the dark agesā¦ In 1984 I lost my left hand in an accident, and have been on a mission to create prosthetic solutions ever since!!
All the very best
Dave
Hey Dave, great project I wish you all the best.
I lost my arm in a motorbike accident 25yrs ago so I know pain brother!
I have a Carvey on order and will check up on your project to see how you go and if I can help.
With my injury it was completely paralysed so prosthetics wouldnāt work. I lost my dominant arm, so it was a challenge at first but I get by fine these days.
Cheers Robbie
Hi Robbie,
Great to hear from you!! Thank you so much for your sharing your storyā¦sounds like youāre a fighter!!
As far as the prosthetic goes, Iām intending to get a prototype built early in the new yearā¦Iāll let you know how it goes.
Thank you so much for your offer of help, and support, it means a lot!!!
Hope you have a fantastic Christmas, and an amazing 2016!!
All the very best
Dave
Count me in for anything I can do to help on this project. Iām not too well versed on a lot of the areas, but I would gladly help any way I could on this project. Iām more of welder fabricator type, but this x-carve is a very cool tool and Iām looking forward to some projects on this thing.
Iām not sure what I could do to help too much as Iām in Indiana, but let me know if I can do anything.
Thanks,
Jason
Hi Jason,
Fantastic!! Thank you so much for your offer of help!!
Iām going to be building the initial prototype very soonā¦Iāll post pics when itās built.
Happy holiday!!!
All the very best
Dave
Hi all,
ā¦a Very Happy New Year to you all!!!
Sadly I was really unwell over the Christmas holidayāsā¦sorry for the lack of updatesā¦Iām on the mend nowā¦thankfully!!!
Great news on the ā$30 Prosthetic Handā project !!!
Thanks to the wonderful guys & gals over at āDremelāā¦a āDremel Idea Builderā 3D printer is winging itās way to me!!!
Dremel have very kindly agreed to supply me with one of their superb desktop 3d printers to enable me to create 3d prototype parts for the ā$30 Prosthetic Handā project!! I canāt thank them enough!!!
I will be uploading pics of the prototype as soon as poss.
All the very best
Dave
Dave
Glad to hear that you are on the mend. Also glad to hear that Dremel is getting involved with the project.
If you have prototype parts that need to be machined from metal let me know I have a fairly complete machine shop at my house so metal parts are not a problem for me.
Dave
Ariel, WA
Hi there Dave,
Fantastic!! Thank you so much!!
A very Happy New Year to you!!!
All the very best
Dave
Dave,
Now that you are possibly going down the 3d print route it is worth (if you have not already seen them) looking at the e-nable designs - there are lots of ideas developing there and you will find lots and lots of thinking that may speed you along (and possible collaboration) as a for instance I have published a rotatable wrist on youmagine YouMagine ā Rotatable Wrist Version 2 by James Holmes-Siedle ā YouMagine ā which has been tested so far by one user in the field and works fairly well - it is not āgenericā but I am working in one to link to the team unlimbited thermoformed arm versions. Here is a video which makes it clearer. The rotation is shown at about 1:00
James
Hi James,
Fantastic work!!! Iām going to take a look at www.youmagine.com this eveningā¦the video link didnāt post sadlyā¦could you please let me know where I can find it.
Iām going to be using the Dremel Idea Builder to prototype parts, rather than use it to build the final handā¦metal is the way to go, as PLA, or ABS wonāt be strong enough to allow the user to undertake heavy manual labour.
Having said that, I might 3D print the grip surface covers, etcā¦Iāll have to wait and see.
Thank you so much for your message!!! Itās wonderful to hear from likeminded people!!!
All the very best
Dave
Dāoh - forgot to post the youtube link - my bad! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPnmtsgUKWA
On the material strength bit - you may be pleasantly surprised - I have used PLA for all the actual builds so far and only design flaws have broken. I use PLA to hang off a chin up bar on a daily basis - and it has worked for 2 years. Then factor in the stronger materials like XT which I have used extensively, an some of the Nylons that i have been using for a few months and you have some very credible materials which can a) be printed on most machines and b) can be sent round the world and modified by users and printed locally. (Oh and Nylon can be dyed any colour you want!)
I have made hands for a 15 year old boy who used it for rounders - again some breakage but always of the connections, never of the printed parts.
In the last year the designs (as they are open source) have move on so much and the introduction of thermo-forming lots of the elements means they have also become stronger and stronger.
What software are you going to be developing in - as the beauty of Inventor or Fusion360 is that it does not really matter what you use to prototype - you either spit out an stl or use HSM to mill - but from the same 3d file.
Is Dremel also going to be helping you - if they are then a relative of mine works as a product engineer in the Dremel Division (Chicago) and he is a smart cookie!
Hi James,
Just watched your videoā¦the limb looks amazing!!! I love the simple, but amazingly functional design!! Looks so cool as well!!!
Sadly Iāve looked at various materials, and because of the abuse the hand would be subjected to, and also the grip force required to complete the tasks required, the main components would need to be machined from aluminiumā¦it really is my only option.
Even the bebionic hand, which I worked on wouldnāt be able to hold a shovel without destroying the linkagesā¦been there several times!!
I appreciate what you are saying about ABS, PLA, etc, but sadly they just donāt cut the mustard when the main purpose of the limb is to allow the user to work long hours in the fieldsā¦as you are awareā¦life is tough in the third world!!
The hand I want to build has to be useable, day in, day out, without any downtime.
The only maintenance required would be a dab of grease once a month, and a replacement resistance band every so often.
I can either work in Solidworks, Inventor, or Fusion360ā¦not sure what app. Iām going to create the final designs on yetā¦itās nice to have a choice:) Iām going to use Fusion360 for the initial prototypesā¦itās a great app.!!
Itās early days, re: Dremelā¦Iāll keep you posted, I would love to bend your relatives ear at some point!!
Thank you so much again James!!
All the very best
Dave
thanks for the comments - work in progress 
understand about the materials - will be interesting to follow your progress - I have bee looking at lost pla printing for metal part prototyping
the bebonic is an incredibly beautiful prosthetic - love the mechanism and the grip looks superb.
reading the manual it also looks like a superb bit of design
There is an e-nable member who is a stage hand - and weightlifter - and the early version of the ātalonā hand were made for him and go through everyday use. He has modified the hand to use nylon tendons and no other tensioning (the cord pulls and then springs back to re-open the hand) and really puts it through its paces - I think he used ABS.
Great to see so many approaches to this though - and the open source sharing (though e-nable that has dropped off a bit) has made this a mix of evolution and revolution!
Plus digital fabrication - I am really experienced on my 2 UMOās but built a shapeoko a few months ago and have yet had the chance to play as much as I wanted to - but cutting functional parts in some of the hard plastics has convinced me of itās potential usefulness - may try aluminium at some point, but no need at the moment.
I use Inventor (only recently - Iām actually an architect so Revit is my main platform, but it seemed sensible to add another Autodesk product) but annoyingly Fusion 360 is SO much more user friendly than inventor and in many areas seems way ahead of the desktop package I pay Ā£000s for 
but at some point i have a feeling they are going to port inventor over to F360 and stop the āfreeā licenses.
look forward to seeing how you progress!
James
Hi James,
Great minds!! Iāve also been looking at lost PLA, but sadly the current production costs would be a bit high!!
So pleased you love the bebionic!!! My best friend designed it!! Heās an absolute genius!!
Nylon would hold up to most of the stresses, apart from lateralā¦abrasion would also be an issueā¦all plastics would wear down too quicklyā¦sadly.
Evolution, revolutionā¦great words to see connected to the development of prosthetics!!!
I completely agree with you about Inventor/F360ā¦looks like that might be the end gameā¦unfortunatelyā¦but, having said that Autodeskās ethos is all about the makerā¦this might save the app.
Iām starting a YouTube prop channel very soonā¦the ā$30 prostheticā will feature from time to time.
I would have loved to have studied architectureā¦what a fantastic career!!!
Thank you so much for your interest, and inspiring work!!
All the very best
Dave
Hi all,
Yeeeeeeh!!! My Dremel Idea Builder arrived this morningā¦itās a thing of beauty!!..time to get printing!!!
Hope you al have a fantastic weekend!!!
All the very best
Dave
Awesome stuff here.
I also have a 3d printer.
I have the HDR from Airwolf3d
I can print just about any material ever made for them.
I use simplify3d which has the fastest slicer out there.
I created a prop for the Sci- fy show Sharknado 3.
The prop was a robotic looking hand for the main actress.
I do not have any pics of the hand as it was hush project.
@DaveSullivan I was at an Airworthy conference a little over a year ago and sat in on a forum discussing the materials that can be 3D printed. I was blown away when they said that GE was printing fuel injectors for 737 engines with cobalt/chrome. The parts looked awesome, it would be really cool if GE could jump on board and give your project a little boostā¦
Hi Bill,
Superb idea!!!
Iām going to have to give them a call!! I completely agreeā¦GE would give the project a lot more kudos!!
So sorry for the delay replyingā¦the last few months have been extremely hectic!!
All the very best
Dave
Wow Stephen, sounds like youāve got a fantastic set-up there!!
The Sharknado 3 job sounds really cool!!!
