Welcome to the club Aaron!
I'm a volunteer as well and I printed a test hand not too long ago, plan on printing a new one as I like how you and others have used a two colour scheme for the hand as I just printed mine out in black initially.
Love the Wolverine hand, will you be making those designs available for others to print out?
Welcome to the community and thanks for sharing this.
It's a great project! I really think this is what 3d printing is all about! I love the themed hands, i'm sure the kids love them too.
You say you're a volunteer, could you explain what you have to do to become a volunteer? Is this a worldwide thing?
Hi Didier,
It is a worldwide thing and you just 'volunteer'!
Ideally you will have printed out a test hand so that you go through the 'growing pains' and work out how all the scaling stuff works.
Then you fill in a matching form to show where you are ans what you want to help with - and then a matching service will put you in touch with a recipient.
The recipient will have submitted a set of photographs and measurements that help you to get the scale and size right and which hand they would prefer and you take it from there.
How you customise (colours etc) are between you and the recipient - depends on the age, bu the two I have done so far wanted Spiderman superhero, and 'rainbow.
If you have modelling skills and are not happy with the 'product' then t is open source and the community welcomes input back into the designs.
Some designs need more 'vitamines' than others - both of mine have been for RIT Arms (a cuff above the elbow as the recipient has no wrist) and that design is 'evolving'.
I have been playing with ways to get info on exact measurements in case anyone wants I will go through more - it involves making ghost hands in selotape 
I was really surprised that I was providing hands for children in the UK - we have a good health system! - but they are children who are just not getting appropriate things from the NHS.
These are semi-functional products with faults and benefits - but the psychological boost is large for the children who have been provided so far.
Do not understimate the complication of actually printing and assembling - and the designs are not currently 'easy' to print - you are looking at a good 20-30 hours of input to your first hand, and getting all the vitamines, but after that it becomes 'easier'
A project fully supported by UM too! (They have donated some printers in the US.)
Hope that helps!
James
Yes thanks
The link for the website:
I read the blog post about the cyborg hand really cool what you did for the kid
Thanks Didier, That hand was very fun to put together, his story really touched my heart.
They all do really, lol.
eNABLE is a truly great group of people. Like James here, and thousands of others.
I am just lucky to be involved.
Here's a pic of the Batman one I finished last night.
It is going to little 'Bubba' in Hawaii, if you saw him in the news at all. He's our most famous little superhero.
Sadly his first IronMan hand broke, the small size of his hand makes it a bit of a challenge on the older design, the new Raptor is much stronger.
His mom is keeping this one a surprise, and this batman one is on the way as we speak. :mrgreen:
1
Nice
I just signed up as a volunteer yesterday
I don't have much time at the moment to read all the stuff on their website, so maybe you can answer some of the questions i have:
What materials are used for printing the hands? PLA? ABS? other?
What about the costs of the hand(s)? Is it fully in charge of the maker? I also saw that there is quite a list of materials to have to put the hand together
Do you need to send spare parts often? I guess that they can be damaged with time and use. And also probably they need to follow the growth of the kids?
Do you share your modified designs?
Anyway, i think that the feeling you have when the kid receives his hand must be a real blast!
Hi Didier - answers in your post ....
Nice
I just signed up as a volunteer yesterday
Great! - the more the better
I don't have much time at the moment to read all the stuff on their website, so maybe you can answer some of the questions i have:
What materials are used for printing the hands? PLA? ABS? other?
So far just PLA - I am experimenting with XT but PLA is plenty strong enough
What about the costs of the hand(s)? Is it fully in charge of the maker? I also saw that there is quite a list of materials to have to put the hand together
At the moment the maker volunteers time, materials and postage!
Do you need to send spare parts often? I guess that they can be damaged with time and use. And also probably they need to follow the growth of the kids?
Have not had to send spares yet - but the designs may not 'fit' at first and I am certainly keen to follow up - the first one i sent was too ig for the 4 year old so I am modifying from casts.
Do you share your modified designs?
When they are finished hopefully!
Anyway, i think that the feeling you have when the kid receives his hand must be a real blast!
This is great and I am proud to have you in the community Aaron!
Very excited to see what you will be posting.
At Ultimaker we love the e-NABLE project!
There are these similarities in community - open source - 3D printing that connects us.
Thanks Sander, glad to be here!
As for the questions Didier, James seems to have this thread covered lol. I would like to elaborate just a bit though.
For materials, I wouldn't say PLA only. Really ABS is fine if that is a material you prefer.
We tried to keep it PLA only for a large conference we put on at Johns Hopkins University here in the US, but we had a reason for that. For general printing otherwise ABS is fine.
Many early on were using Nylon (Bridge mostly), which is a great material, just limited to white unless you take the time to dye it before hand.
I am experimenting with a new material from Igus, it is an industrial filament designed for custom bearings, a self lubricating, very low friction material. I just received a sample and will be printing some fingers to try it out.
After talking with the igus people, it sounds like it will be fine for skin safe, already used in prosthetics, but I am mostly concerned with the strength/brittle factor.
As for sending spare parts, that is always an option, and some volunteers do send extra fingers. I personally only send extra cord/elastic, and Velcro in case the family wants to custom the fit.
I have only heard however, one breakage in the field by actual use. That was on a very small hand, for a 3yr old. The wrist gauntlet snapped in half. That is the child I made the replacement Batman hand for.
I didn't make his original, but I saw pictures, and really that was just because of the small scale and thin walls.
As the child grows, the need for new hands does arise. Our little Liam, the first child that was ever fitted, I think he is on his third or fourth hand maybe? But his makers like sending him the new designs as they come out, to keep him current.
It can become a long term relationship with a family, printing as they grow, or trying new hands when they are designed, or even just for testing if the recipient/family is willing to give feedback.
For the question on sharing the modified designs, absolutely I would if anyone wanted them.
The wolverine claws are up on thingiverse, but they are just a simple little design really, I think anyone could do better haha.
They would also need to be scaled to size, and would really only fit on the Cyborg Beast without modification. The new raptor has many more exposed cables on the claw area.
The design with the functional accessory rails is a little tougher. The rails are best if kept at 100% scale to fit standard accessory mounts.
The best thing to do is scale the palm/hand files FIRST, then add the rail files prior to printing.
If you are printing custom mounts to hold items like pencils, paint brushes, spoon, ect... you have a little more flexibility in how you can scale down the rails, but I like keeping them at 100% for strength reasons. They are really rock solid when done right.
And yes, the feeling of giving a child a hand is the best! I have done and measured all mine remotely, so it's a mix of both excitement, and fear that it won't fit lol.
Once I see the package is delivered, I will pretty much pace the house, nervous, until I see a picture or video that the hand actually fits perfect haha. Measuring and fitting from a thousand miles away has it's difficulties at times lol.
Thanks for the further info
Actually i don't print in ABS at all (i don't like the toxic fumes etc...) but i was wondering if they needed to be printed in the most "strong" material available.
Have you ever considered trying Colorfabb XT?
I did mention it to Jon a few times, and other volunteers in the e-nable community.
But the most feedback I heard was that it was not as commonly available in the US as it is here through colorfabb.
But also because it is odorfree, foodsafe, and supposedly 50 times stronger then PLA and have high hopes for XT
I have a spool of XT here, But have not really felt the need to use it on a hand.
PLA with 30+ infill has worked great so far.
XT I know would be great for some applications, maybe a larger adult hand 'utility' hand, or maybe in high temperature areas of the world where the hot sun could be a factor.
But for the most part PLA is adequate. We have 2 adults, both working jobs that require lifting, one is a package handler actually, and they both have been able to use the hands well with standard plastics.
I would be interested to try XT to test the surface area and smoothness of joints. PLA and ABS can both have a little squeak to them when flexing, some use various light oils to quiet the fingers.
I AM curious to test the "sound" of XT now that I think about it...
I agree with you that PLA is relatively strong the only thing i can think off PLA being problematic for prosthetics is that it begins to deform at 50°c, it's probably a temperature that is rarely encountered by hands. But imagine if the kid leaves his hand in a car in the sun...
Anyway thanks for the feedback, i was a bit concerned that i wouldn't be able to print enable hands because i just hate ABS
Oops, we posted at the same time, sorry to double post, It's much easier now to get XT here in the states since the last month or so.
Colorfabb teamed with an online friend of mine at PrintedSolid.com, he has been keeping the colors in stock.
He is also a great US distributer of many of the exotic filaments. Carbon fiber, woods, bronze etc..
Not trying to promote other suppliers on here, but if anyone in the US reads this, it may help to find some XT quickly at his site.
Maybe I will promote this to the eNABLE group, with hopes of some testing started...
No worries PrintedSolid is often proposed on the forum 
I have another question about the non-printed materials, do you buy them at local stores or go by amazon or by the website that sells the whole kit?
What about using a material like Ninjaflex on (part of the) fingers?
It can be pretty stiff, and I can imagine it offering good grip.
Ninjaflex is pretty strong too.. (did you see the
interesting discussion.
i am prototyping the arm as we speak and over the last 2 days have been working with XT and PLA (both colorfabb) and while XT 'feels' stronger - it is still more difficult to print with.
I print on a cold HB with glass and pla glue. XT 'can' stick to this but you need to go slooooow and hot with no fan - and some of the bridging with that setup can be poor.
Whereas PLA just prints!
So I have switched back to PLA which is SO easy to print with and amply strong enough at the moment.
The only thing i use XT for definitely is the tensioners - they kind of crumble in PLA whereas in XT they have proved unbreakable (better layer adhesion and resist heating when I drill them out for the screws.
Oops, we posted at the same time, sorry to double post, It's much easier now to get XT here in the states since the last month or so.
Colorfabb teamed with an online friend of mine at PrintedSolid.com, he has been keeping the colors in stock.
He is also a great US distributer of many of the exotic filaments. Carbon fiber, woods, bronze etc..
Not trying to promote other suppliers on here, but if anyone in the US reads this, it may help to find some XT quickly at his site.
Maybe I will promote this to the eNABLE group, with hopes of some testing started...
Yea I know him, what was his name again, I want to say Matthew.. Very nice guy!
Matt Gordon, yeah great guy.
Didier, as for the non printed materials, Online is good for medical foam padding, and Velcro, but I go to my local hardware store for the screws and nylon line.
Hobby store for elastic cord.
Here is a nice list of online locations to start with: http://enablingthefuture.org/resources/hardware-sources/
This isn't about the hands, but still very cool.
I was invited to my local Children's Hospital yesterday, not about the hands for kids in this case, although that is a HUGE upcoming project with them in the future.
This invite was to the cardiatric center, to speak with one of the Heart Surgeons and a Clinical Research Nurse, about how 3D printing is benefiting heart surgery.
Here's a brief article about what I am talking about, http://3dprint.com/1219/3d-printing-helps-fix-childs-heart-save-life/
In short, pre-surgery, the doctors can take the MRI scan of the heart, and print out an exact copy. This eliminates the need for exploratory procedures like going in with a camera/endoscope, saving much time, thousands of dollars, and added risk of the necessary anesthesia.
It sounds like I will be working with them on a closer basis in the future to help, not just IMPROVE lives with the eNABLE hands, but even help SAVE lives with printed heart models. Too cool.
I printed out a demo heart to bring with me. It is more of a "toy" model I just pulled off thingiverse, but i think it's super cool anyway
This is a great project. I do not get how the movement of the fingers can then be controlled by the carrier, can you tell something about that.
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Hello, sorry, G.R. is my hometown. Grand Rapids Michigan. Force of habit when I typed it.
Yeah, I've printed a dozen or so hands, so I am more than happy to share tips and answer ANY questions that come with building them.
Nice to meet you.
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