Designing Adaptive Skis for Folks with Disabilities Utilizing 3D Printing

Our September Hacker of the Month, Oliver Vaughan-Jones, is an out of doors, snow-sports fanatic that comes from a design engineering background in central Wales. 

Oliver began his journey into 3D printing early – his father was a dentist who used 3D design and printing to recreate jaws and dental molds for his apply. Seeing the advantages of the know-how early on, Oliver was already accustomed to the ideas and purposes of 3D printing when he enrolled in Brunel College in 2008 to review design engineering. Oliver additionally labored as a snowboard teacher and was very enthusiastic about snow sports activities.

Throughout his third yr, the scholars had been tasked with making use of for jobs that had been related to their diploma programs. Right here, Oliver landed a chance working with Gillette’s analysis laboratory close to London.

Oliver explains, “It was there, as idea engineers, we got here up with concepts, designs after which used a spread of 3D printers and stereolithography to create modern idea razors. In actual fact, again in 2008, the analysis lab already had a division of 4 or 5 employees devoted solely to taking the CAD recordsdata from the designers and making their prints for them – what luxurious!”

However throughout his time at Gillette, Oliver turned extraordinarily sick and was recognized with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a neurological spectrum situation that may have an effect on folks to various levels. Oliver was hit extraordinarily onerous by the situation, and he has spent the final eleven years bed-bound nearly 90% of the time, and he usually has difficulties with pondering and focus. However Oliver is greater than his situation – beneath every part, he’s nonetheless a design engineer and a snow-sports fanatic at coronary heart, and he’s on a mission to make hitting the slopes a actuality for others who share his love of the mountains.

Decided to make a distinction for himself and others, Oliver began portray in 2017 to boost consciousness of ME in addition to funds – 20% of the gross sales of his work go to analysis right into a treatment for myalgic encephalomyelitis. As soon as his paintings gained some traction, he was in a position to transfer ahead together with his subsequent objective: designing and making a sit-ski; an adaptive gadget for individuals who can’t stand, however nonetheless have upper-torso mobility, that may allow them to shred on the slopes once more.

As soon as he began, he found that many of the present gear is extraordinarily cumbersome and prohibitively costly in lots of instances. He felt that he might do a greater job at designing a lighter, extra inexpensive sit-ski regardless of his situation.

So for the final eight months, Oliver has been designing an adaptive sit-ski from scratch, principally from his mattress. Oliver began with sketches to idea his design and shortly made life-size fashions for cardboard cutout fabricating. On the identical time, he took to YouTube to learn to use Fusion 360 so he might begin to 3D print his cardboard ideas. Oliver’s primary design objectives are to develop a platform that has a extra user-friendly worth level, is extra adaptive to extra customers, in addition to extra light-weight from a supplies standpoint.

Oliver explains, “There are numerous issues; rider weight, rider skill-level, ski-lift entry, materials choices, materials thicknesses, and shock absorbers to call just a few. The 3D printing is permitting me to mannequin my concepts up shortly to see if the mechanics work and, extra importantly, the ergonomics. For instance, some folks is likely to be lacking limbs or have constructions like prosthetics that have to be accommodated. Dexterity is one other main consideration; poor gripping energy is a matter for me and I would like to incorporate buttons or straps which might be straightforward to find and use. Like all design work, it’s juggling many parts on the identical time and making an attempt to carry it in below finances. I’ve already modeled a full-scale prototype and I’m aiming for a completely useful prototype by November. Nonetheless, the straightforward objective is to have one thing I can journey on! I’m outpriced to purchase a ski outright and leases will not be potential. This can be a ardour mission for me and I can’t wait to journey this winter!”

Oliver is presently working with a Creality CR10S Professional and a Flashforge Dreamer to create his 3D prototypes. Oliver gained invaluable perception into every part from mattress leveling, altering the belts, the nozzle, the hotend and plenty of different aspects of 3D printing utilizing the CR10S. Nonetheless, his favourite printer is the Flashforge Dreamer, because it has been extremely in keeping with nearly each materials he’s thrown at it from PLA to ABS and nylon. He additionally makes use of simplify3D as his slicer because it provides nice management over slice settings and consists of a big selection of appropriate printer profiles. Proper now, he’s trying to find a secure 3D printer with a bigger mattress to accommodate the bigger print quantity he’ll want for a few of his prototype elements. His overarching objective, as soon as his prototypes have been examined, is to manufacture usable elements with NylonX for excessive energy and sturdiness.

Like all designers, Oliver hopes that 3D printers and supplies will proceed to return down in worth to make extra complicated purposes obtainable and inexpensive for everybody. “I’m nicely conscious of how very new I’m to 3D printing and I don’t have nice data or expertise in it past the home sub-$1000 vary so far as equipment goes. It does nonetheless really feel like far more of an artwork type fairly than a science to me. I think about home printers of the long run to take over the laborious duties of correct automated self-leveling, nozzle cleansing and to have higher sensors so when issues begin to go incorrect, they’ll self-regulate. I feel we’re going to see bigger print volumes come onto the market imminently and having simply been despatched a pattern from a steel 3D printer, I can see the long run in a number of materials printing with totally different supplies being printed inside one print (complexities like shrinkage charges for every materials calculated beforehand). Past that, I think about one of many subsequent main leaps will likely be some kind of printed circuitry which will likely be integral as a part of the design.”

We’re extraordinarily excited to see the finished sit-ski that Oliver is designing, and we hope that using NylonX within the design makes it probably the most rugged sit-ski in the marketplace!

For those who’re excited by studying extra about Oliver and his initiatives and work, you possibly can go to the next web sites:

For Oliver’s paintings: https://www.ovjart.com/

To go to Oliver’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLK4iUyxNVlXgQ7hAXCxA_w