Meet Luke and his 3D printed e-NABLE hand

[SandervG 1,521]

We love to shine our spotlight on those who are using Ultimakers to make a real difference to people’s lives. One such story is that of e-NABLE. Made up of a global network of over 5,000 volunteers, e-NABLE designs, prints and donates “helper hands” free of charge to children and adults using Ultimaker printers. They work closely with people to find a 3D printer near them to print and assemble the pieces, or the hand files can be downloaded and printed at home. Pretty cool huh?

This is empowering thousands of people like Luke Dennison, or as he’s known by his friends, Little Cool Hand Luke.

Get to know Luke and read his story here. I have posted the accompanying video below.

Enjoy!

 

[axislab 8]

Outstanding!

Truly beautiful.

[tasopoulos 40]

Can't praise this initiative enough (just joined as a volunteer myself, will immediately begin my test print). Congratulations to everyone involved!

[izzy 33]

I've joined e-NABLE myself last month and printed off a sample of the raptor to check, assembly, and get assessed. Printing off at 0.2mm step leaves obvious marks, so I printed at 0.1mm but still no sure how much post finishing people are doing to clean up. Also I'm unable to find a suitable supply for the foam for inside comfort, I was nearly tempted to get a good flexly material and print a soft pad.

Although I've used a couple of different colours, red and blue, I've cleaned it up and assembled it, but I was waiting to try and get some padding before getting it assessed.

I suppose the other option if a cant get foam is to just print off and supply a kit.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Guest

[jameshs 42]

I've joined e-noble

 

love the change of e-nable to e-noble

I would send it off without foam - foam is going to be fairly user specific (have a look for Dr Schoal foam on amazon).

Looks like a really nice print.

Be aware they are a voluntary organisation (I have been making hands/arms for about 18 months) and so response can be a bit slow/flaky, but keep at it!

James

[jameshs 42]

PS - in the meantime play around with some of the other designs - I seem to be asked for a different one each time, and they all have assembly/hardware quirks. The Flexy hand being one of the most requested and the trickiest because of the flexy hinges - have redesigned them for semiflex on the UMO as even though I use ninjaflex on the UMO it is 'temperamental!'

James

[izzy 33]

Cheers Jameshs typo corrected:P I've only looked at the two and not the flexly option, I've not had good success with flexly filament, not to the standard I would be happy to offer. I hope to do some more flexly tests over the Xmas break, I am keeping my eye on ColorFabb and the rumor of a flexible or semi flexible coming out soon. One thing I wasn't sure of was are we also bearing the material cost in producing the parts?

[jameshs 42]

The main part of the flexy is printed in PLA - just the joints in rubber. Semiflex works well in bowden - but try a sample size first (I have a UMO

 

One thing I wasn't sure of was are we also bearing the material cost in producing the parts?

 

I think if some people can't afford materials there may be other volunteers who help, but otherwise yes it is fully voluntary - and I find that the postage is actually the most expensive part!

Keep up the good work!

James

[izzy 33]

Cheers James, I've downloaded the flexly hand files and will try to build one over the holidays. I have some flexly samples from global FSD so will have some fun on the flexy joints.

[izzy 33]

Hi James, I'm building the flexy hand over the next few days, you mention NinjaFlex for the joints, are you using NinjaFlex or SemiFlex?

I've been testing several flexible filaments over Xmas and I have some samples of the porolay filaments by Kai Parthy coming from GlobalFSD in the next week or so, which you soak in water to soften, so will be interesting to test.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Guest

[izzy 33]

Does ant body know where I can get the individual parts for the flexy hand fingers?

I've had two unsuccessful builds that have failed using the finger build plate where there was not enough support, I want to be able to build each part one at a time, and orientation of my choosing.

[tinkergnome 927]

Does ant body know where I can get the individual parts for the flexy hand fingers?

Hi @izzy,

so - you want to split an STL-file into multiple parts?

If you have access to Simplify3D it's a single click (Mesh -> Separate Connected Surfaces).

Here is another way using netfabb basic.

[izzy 33]

Cheers tinker, done the splitting just got to try some builds.

[karine7dm 0]

Very nice as well,....very generous, good forums as well.

[jameshs 42]

Hi @izzy I have used ninjaflex and semiflex. with ninjaflex you can more or less use the stls as supplied, but with semiflex (which I found easier to print with) I had to re-model all the hinges as it is considerably stiffer. Let me know how you get on.

PS - make sure that the supports is only on the base of the finger - not in the hinges and any other holes! - I used S3D and 2mm supports which I placed manually.

[tasopoulos 40]

Finished my test hand yesterday, overall I am quite pleased with the result (the 3D printing part at least, my elastics and flexsors are not as "tight" as they need to be):

[izzy 33]

Hi Tasopoulos, looks nice I like the colours, which make and colours did you use?

Cheers James, I had built the parts before I read your post but I cleaned them out anyway. The only thing I found was that I need to reprint the proximal phalanx (bottom piece) for the index, ring and little finger as they need to be mirrored. I've printed the flexly bits in "Recreus" "FilaFlex" as I had it in silver, it's simular in flex to NinjaFlex but I only had that in bright lime green. Did you use adhesive to fix the flexi pieces in the fingers?

[jameshs 42]

Hi @izzy I did use glue - it is hard to find one that sticks. Tried gel superglue - nothing! Tried hot melt glue - nothing, ended up using araldite - but have to be careful in the application as any on the hinge itself will cause a change in the flexibility of the hinge!

How did you print with filaflex - using the bowden drive of a UM2 and a standard nozzle? - I can get ninjaflex to work on the UMO but have not tried filaflex so might give that a go if you managed on a UM2!

Great to chat about these with UM owners as up to now I have been the only one

Just beginning to play with thermoforming gauntlets ......

[tasopoulos 40]

 

@izzy I used Colorfabb's Pale Gold and Faberdashery's Traffic Red. I was aiming for an Ironman look, but the red turned more "pink-y" than I hoped.

[jameshs 42]

The colourfabb pale gold is really easy to print with - a nice material - their traffic red is a good red too.

[izzy 33]

Hi guys, I must admit that I've been testing lost of different makes of filament but my two favourites are Faberdashery and ColorFabb, both PLAs not a fan of the XT, and yet to test the N-Gen. the TwoBears Linen is also nice, not tried the silk as its only 1.75mm

For the flex materials I drop the speed down, I use PLA setup for the Cura files but then dial the speed down to 30% to 50% of the set up which I usually set to 75mm/s based on the std Ultimaker Robot File.

Yet to test ABS materials, but I got some Kai pathy Porolay today which you print and then soak in water to soften for a do at or so, will print them off in the next few days and let you know.

[izzy 33]

I've just finished assembling the Flexy-Hand 2, I used Faberdashery Architects Stone PLA for the main parts, and "FilaFlex" by "Recreus" in silver for the flexible hinges, it is similar to "NinjaFlex" in properties (which I only had in Green). I also printed the Thermoform Mesh but used "FlexiFil" from "FormFutura" which has produced a firm but semi-flexible palm.

My personal view is that the "Flexi-hand" although looks more realistic it is bulky, the flexible hinges are not as good as elastic cords, I think a redesign of the "Raptor" could produce a more realistic slimmer/smaller version of the hand perhaps using a flexible hinge but using elastic cords to open the fingers.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Guest

[jameshs 42]

 

@izzy I agree it is bulky and I find the look a bit strange - but it is a very popular choice amongst recipients.

[izzy 33]

I've just finished printing the whole of the 1st finger in FilaFlex using the last of my sample, it would probably do with a wall thickness of 1.6mm or 2mm I only had enough filament to do it with 1.2mm walls and it's a bit too spongy. It was built at 45 degrees with support but as you can imagine it gets a bit wobbly as it gets to the top so slow the print speed down even more to about 20mm/s. It also leaves to some post cleanup, doesn't file well, not tried dremel sanding but was using a sharp scalpel. I'm going to try getting a 5m or 10m sample of their Skin1 and try again with a thicker wall thickness.

I got the Proto Pasta samples, and printed off 2 Sets of tags and UM robots for each material, 1 of each is now soaking in water to soften, I will show a photo at the end of the week of the printed and then softened samples.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Guest

[zxen 4]

How do you print the fingers on Flexy Hand 1? They require mid-air printing, don't they?