By Gina Duwe
The Janesville Gazette
EVANSVILLE - Prototypes of 3-D printed parts that soon will be used to build 3-year-old Liam Schmit's new hand look liked a K'Nex toy set.
The completed prosthetic hand made from a few dollars in plastic pieces and screws will allow Liam to better grasp items, such as a bike handle, his father, Alex Schmit, told The Janesville Gazette.
The technology will allow Schmit to scale the hand as Liam grows and manufacture larger versions on his home 3-D printer.
"The neat thing for Liam is that he's going to be able to see a lot of new technology come out as he grows up that will help him a lot," said Nathan Patterson, who is helping with the project.
Liam, who turns 4 this month, is excited and calls the project his "robot arm."
Liam has amniotic band syndrome. He was born without his right hand, but he has a wrist.
"This (his wrist) is why the project is more exciting because he has extra flexibility that other kids (don't)," his dad said.
Schmit started researching and bought a home 3-D printer to make Liam a hand after a bad experience with a traditional prosthetic, he said. He's been studying online templates and researching how best to match Liam's needs.
At about the same time, Schmit's friend Tammy Pomplun took Liam to meet her co-workers at Parker High School in Janesville. Pomplun talked with co-worker Stacci Barganz, who also is on the board of the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association.
The organization has its annual conference this month, and one of the sponsors is Radiant Fabrication of Fitchburg, which sells 3-D printers and scanners and 3-D modeling software.
Barganz suggested Radiant help with Liam's hand, and Patterson, who is the president of Radiant, entered the picture. He's been printing the box of "rough draft" pieces of fingers and hand, each time tweaking the model.
Patterson recently met with Schmit and Liam for a fitting.
"Part of the problem, here, is as soon as you get one part figured out, then he's outgrown the part that you just did," Schmit said.
They compared the timeline of printing a larger hand to the pace of a child outgrowing shoes-maybe once a year or maybe once every three to six months, depending on growth spurts.
"I wasn't aiming for multicolor," Patterson said with a grin while looking at the red hand, blue thumb and multicolor fingers.
He's printing the parts using multiple printers and while testing software changes, hence the red, blue and black pieces.
The parts are printed using polylactic acid, a biodegradable plastic, and Patterson plans to put a rubbery coating around the finished product for a softer touch and uniform color.
A skin color?
He grinned.
"He wants John Deere green," he said of Liam. "We'll check with him once I'm ready to do that part."
Long term, 3-D printing is far more cost effective, Schmit said, though the learning process is costing more than the few dollars in supplies used in the final product. He noted the $200 to $300 he's spent in printer filament alone.
Traditional prosthetic hands can range from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Patterson said.
Barganz is making a video of the project's progress to present at her organization's conference later this month. Liam will be featured on stage to show his "robot arm."
Dressed in a Batman stocking hat, Nike jersey and sneakers that light up, Liam laughed and ran around a local library with a new friend. He's never known what it's like to live with two hands, so he doesn't need the prosthetic, his dad said.
"But it will be a much better assist for him so he doesn't have that handicap," he said.
It will make it easier to get dressed and go to the bathroom.
"He's going to direct most of what he does with it," he said.
Nylon cords tie into the hand's arm brace, running in tracks to the fingers. A latex cord inside allows the prosthetic to be flexible, Patterson said.
When Liam bends his wrist, the fingers will bend together.
Individual fingers won't move like a normal hand-they're not yet that sophisticated, though Schmit is working on it.
He's using circuit boards and just learned about sensors that work with Bluetooth technology.
Patterson hopes someday a hand will be built equipped with electronics to control motors that bend each finger.
"There are sensors that you can get that kind of read the electrical sensors under your skin," Patterson said. "So he would have to learn how to use his hand, because he hasn't been able to do that before, but it would be much in the same way he uses his other hand."
For now, the prosthetic will offer Liam stability for things such as bike riding.
"When we've taken him on bike rides, he does fine with his nub, he balances on it, but when he hits a bump or whatever, he can't do it with it one arm, it throws him off," Schmit said. "That's the main thing for me - to stabilize him."
The Janesville Gazette
EVANSVILLE - Prototypes of 3-D printed parts that soon will be used to build 3-year-old Liam Schmit's new hand look liked a K'Nex toy set.
The completed prosthetic hand made from a few dollars in plastic pieces and screws will allow Liam to better grasp items, such as a bike handle, his father, Alex Schmit, told The Janesville Gazette.
The technology will allow Schmit to scale the hand as Liam grows and manufacture larger versions on his home 3-D printer.
"The neat thing for Liam is that he's going to be able to see a lot of new technology come out as he grows up that will help him a lot," said Nathan Patterson, who is helping with the project.
Liam, who turns 4 this month, is excited and calls the project his "robot arm."
Liam has amniotic band syndrome. He was born without his right hand, but he has a wrist.
"This (his wrist) is why the project is more exciting because he has extra flexibility that other kids (don't)," his dad said.
Schmit started researching and bought a home 3-D printer to make Liam a hand after a bad experience with a traditional prosthetic, he said. He's been studying online templates and researching how best to match Liam's needs.
At about the same time, Schmit's friend Tammy Pomplun took Liam to meet her co-workers at Parker High School in Janesville. Pomplun talked with co-worker Stacci Barganz, who also is on the board of the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association.
The organization has its annual conference this month, and one of the sponsors is Radiant Fabrication of Fitchburg, which sells 3-D printers and scanners and 3-D modeling software.
Barganz suggested Radiant help with Liam's hand, and Patterson, who is the president of Radiant, entered the picture. He's been printing the box of "rough draft" pieces of fingers and hand, each time tweaking the model.
Patterson recently met with Schmit and Liam for a fitting.
"Part of the problem, here, is as soon as you get one part figured out, then he's outgrown the part that you just did," Schmit said.
They compared the timeline of printing a larger hand to the pace of a child outgrowing shoes-maybe once a year or maybe once every three to six months, depending on growth spurts.
"I wasn't aiming for multicolor," Patterson said with a grin while looking at the red hand, blue thumb and multicolor fingers.
He's printing the parts using multiple printers and while testing software changes, hence the red, blue and black pieces.
The parts are printed using polylactic acid, a biodegradable plastic, and Patterson plans to put a rubbery coating around the finished product for a softer touch and uniform color.
A skin color?
He grinned.
"He wants John Deere green," he said of Liam. "We'll check with him once I'm ready to do that part."
Long term, 3-D printing is far more cost effective, Schmit said, though the learning process is costing more than the few dollars in supplies used in the final product. He noted the $200 to $300 he's spent in printer filament alone.
Traditional prosthetic hands can range from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, Patterson said.
Barganz is making a video of the project's progress to present at her organization's conference later this month. Liam will be featured on stage to show his "robot arm."
Dressed in a Batman stocking hat, Nike jersey and sneakers that light up, Liam laughed and ran around a local library with a new friend. He's never known what it's like to live with two hands, so he doesn't need the prosthetic, his dad said.
"But it will be a much better assist for him so he doesn't have that handicap," he said.
It will make it easier to get dressed and go to the bathroom.
"He's going to direct most of what he does with it," he said.
Nylon cords tie into the hand's arm brace, running in tracks to the fingers. A latex cord inside allows the prosthetic to be flexible, Patterson said.
When Liam bends his wrist, the fingers will bend together.
Individual fingers won't move like a normal hand-they're not yet that sophisticated, though Schmit is working on it.
He's using circuit boards and just learned about sensors that work with Bluetooth technology.
Patterson hopes someday a hand will be built equipped with electronics to control motors that bend each finger.
"There are sensors that you can get that kind of read the electrical sensors under your skin," Patterson said. "So he would have to learn how to use his hand, because he hasn't been able to do that before, but it would be much in the same way he uses his other hand."
For now, the prosthetic will offer Liam stability for things such as bike riding.
"When we've taken him on bike rides, he does fine with his nub, he balances on it, but when he hits a bump or whatever, he can't do it with it one arm, it throws him off," Schmit said. "That's the main thing for me - to stabilize him."