3D Systems Teams with e-NABLE to create new K-1 Prosthetic Hand

Today, 3D Systems and e-NABLE have announced a groundbreaking partnership. 3D Systems has unveiled a new K-1 Prosthetic hand which has been created to print perfection on the CUBE line of 3D printers. They will also be aiding e-NABLE in further developing similar prosthetics hands in the future and also help bring 3D printing of prostheses into universities. They will be giving at least 4 universities all the equipment needed to be "hubs" for the 3d printing of hands for individuals with upper arm differences. Read and see more at http://3dprint.com/72594/3d-systems-e-nable-k-1-hand/

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So this design is only free to make for someone if you own a CUBE model printer? Boo.

"free to download and print on the Cube, CubePro and EKOCYCLE Cube 3D printers"Really? Are they going to try to lock down e-nable? This looks more like a trojan horse than assistance, if true...-Jeff

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Originally Posted by schmots

So this design is only free to make for someone if you own a CUBE model printer? Boo.

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Yeah, I'm thinking it's not even pretending to be generous for the marketing. It's just straight-up quid pro quo.

I'd suggest not buying their machines anyway. The machines and materials cost a lot more and they really aren't any better. Also, I know people that had to deal with CubeXs, and they didn't support them, nor were refunds ever allowed.

I lost the four fingers of my right hand last November and, on the same day, I started figuring out how I was going to make something like this.

First up, this is a great looking design and pretty much follows the principles that I had conceptualised. Specifically, the arrangement of the 'knuckles' is a lot more natural than the other e-Nable designs.

However, there are some issues here...

1. I, like many similar amputees, still have the majority of my hand (right up to my knuckles) which means that the first finger joints of the prosthesis are going to be way forward of their natural position. Therefore the interaction of the fingers with my existing thumb will be awkward. This will be a common problem with accident victims because, during hand surgery, the palm area is relatively easy to reconstruct and surgeons always save as much of the hand as possible.

2. As mention, I still have my thumb yet I could see this being a fairly simple modification of the design.

3. Releasing the designs for specific printers seems to be out of kilter with the ethics of the e-Nable organisation; a cynic might suggest that 3DS is leveraging the physically impaired to sell more printers. Why not just release the designs in a common format?

found K1 files here: http://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-001705