Paul Yanzick, our February Hacker of the Month, reminds us that 3D printing can be utilized to influence the lives of others, together with his son, Tanner.
Posted on February 10, 2017
by
Visitor Contributor Paul Yanzick
Like lots of you, what introduced me to 3D printing was the ‘cool issue’ – having the ability to create issues out of nothing however a mannequin and what regarded like coloured trimmer string. I began my journey over 3 years in the past now, and on the time I used to be googly eyed by the spectacular prints that folks had been making, and located it really wonderful that I may make a butterfly, a Christmas tree topper and a minion (my first two prints ever) proper in my lounge, out of plastic! I used to be wanting ahead to the route that this new interest could take me, however I might have by no means guessed the place it could go.
What route did I’m going chances are you’ll ask? As an alternative of wanting on the cool knickknacks I can litter my cabinets with, I began taking a look at what sensible issues I can use my printer to unravel. I like to unravel issues, it’s simply in my nature, and on the time there have been some life altering occasions taking place that actually pressured me to take a look at what 3D printing may do. My youngest son Tanner, who’s now 5, suffers from a number of disabilities, and on the time we had been actually not getting many solutions. He was recognized with Spina Bifida, a genetic dysfunction, earlier than he was born (see http://spinabifidaassociation.org/ for extra info). If that was not sufficient, he was additionally recognized with one other genetic dysfunction, DiGeorge Syndrome. All of it boils right down to Tanner having points with muscle motion and management of his decrease physique in addition to affected by vital points with studying and speech. Tanner is a really distinctive boy, and actually he’s so distinctive that his genetic counselors (sure, plural, he has had 2 due to how distinctive his case is) have stated there is no such thing as a file of their genetic databases of one other little one together with his particular set of genetic deletions.
Being a dad or mum, I need my children to have the most effective life they will, and no person actually had the crystal ball that will inform us what Tanners’ future would maintain. On the time, we knew he could not have the ability to stroll, and he could not have the ability to speak. He was capable of study, that was evident, however he couldn’t inform us what his wants or desires had been. He was in a number of packages which included a number of varieties of therapies, a number of occasions per week, and whereas he was making progress he was nonetheless falling behind. There have been no solutions the docs may give us, so we took every problem one by one and labored with what we knew and what we may do for him.
Communication was one of many first challenges that we had been ready to make use of 3D printing to assist remedy. Tanner was speaking with us by pointing at what he wanted and grunting, however he couldn’t inform us. He was studying some signal language, however his therapists at his college thought he may do greater than that. Tanner is a fast learner, however he couldn’t categorical himself verbally. As an experiment, his speech therapist let him use an iPad on the college with particular software program to see if he may adapt to communication that means. The software program exhibits icons in numerous customizable groupings, and he may choose the photographs which the iPad would verbalize for him. It was wonderful seeing him talk with us the primary time utilizing that software program! Sadly, it result in another challenges. To deal with his mobility wants, he was fitted with a wheelchair (in of itself very useful on the time) however he was not sturdy sufficient or coordinated sufficient to carry an iPad in addition to function it. Wheelchair mounts existed, however are costly for what they’re. His therapists on the college had been type sufficient to allow us to use one briefly that that they had and favored, which bolted proper onto his chair. It made a world of distinction! It was actually a reasonably easy equipment, a plate and a mount with a goose-neck in between, so I assumed I might give it a shot. I had no modeling expertise on the time, and thought this is able to be an ideal means for me to study. So, I fired up Fusion360 and modeled the plate and the bottom. I ordered a goose-neck for a microphone, put that in between the elements, and like magic Tanner had his personal custom-made iPad mount. It even matched the colour of his wheelchair!
Threaded portion for Tanner’s bench
He used the mount the remainder of the varsity yr and summer season, and it made it a lot simpler for him to speak (and saved the iPad from being dropped repeatedly). Seeing his progress with it actually helped me see the influence 3D printing may have one somebody’s life, and gave me a goal. I needed to see what else 3D printing may do to enhance my sons’ life! Not just for Tanner, however the different youngsters on this world which have disabilities.
Strolling was the subsequent problem. We needed to get him out of that wheelchair, and there was no medical cause they might discover why he couldn’t stroll. It was thought that maybe he wasn’t prepared for strolling mentally, however we wanted to start out attempting to get him to stroll. It doesn’t matter what we had been doing in therapies or at house, it simply wasn’t greedy the idea, and we weren’t positive if he would ever stroll. After consulting his medical staff, it was determined to start out off with ankle foot orthosis (AFOs), that are thermoplastic types that match across the again of his leg, and run from his calf down underneath his foot. The concept was to restrict a few of his mobility in hopes that he would have the ability to grasp the motion that was left to him to have the ability to stand, then stroll.
Simply by probability whereas at swimming classes for my oldest son did we run into Carole, who’s an teacher for a program known as Adaptive Aquatics. This program focuses on serving to youngsters with particular wants with motion and mobility points in addition to constructing their confidence. We weren’t positive how Tanner would take to being in water, however we tried a pair classes to see how nicely he would do. Whereas floating within the water utilizing a specialised float, the staff was capable of get him to kick his legs and transfer his arms, and make strolling actions together with his legs. It was wonderful! Lastly, progress after so lengthy! We enrolled him at that time, and the staff shortly moved him from merely floating within the water to strolling on a bench within the water to cut back his weight. He appeared to do nicely with it, nevertheless it was arduous for Carole and her staff to do that with him. The bench required two folks to function when Tanner was strolling on it as he had no steadiness and the bench system had no rails besides on the far ends. In speaking with Carole, a plan was hatched, and my subsequent sensible 3D printing challenge started!
Some prototypes for Tanner’s bench
The bench is not more than PVC pipe with a flat floor, and finish rails alongside the slender sides. An answer wanted to be created for the longer sides of the bench. There have been just a few necessities for this challenge, although. The bench was on mortgage, so it couldn’t be modified in any means. No matter resolution was used needed to be detachable and couldn’t completely mount to the bench, nor may the bench be modified to accommodate the railing system.
The primary a number of makes an attempt failed for numerous causes, however in the end, we had been profitable! Specialised ends had been developed that may match on the ends of a PVC pipe that may clamp to the bench, and utilizing bolts with knobs could possibly be eliminated simply. We tried it with Tanner and virtually instantly Tanner was utilizing the system with out instructors having to carry onto his palms! Inside per week, different youngsters had been utilizing the answer as nicely, and to today it’s nonetheless in use (though the answer continues to be modified). Not lengthy after Tanner first took his steps on that bench was he strolling in the home together with his AFO’s. I’m proud to say that he can stroll with out his AFO’s now, though he nonetheless makes use of them for stability causes.
Tanner’s modified bench with arms for assist
You could be considering ‘however wait, you talked about AFO’s had been made out of thermoplastic, why haven’t you executed something with these?’ Properly, that’s going to be one in all my subsequent tasks! There are some engineering challenges with that one although which have taken me down a totally completely different path of studying. Standard filaments and FDM printing strategies have some challenges when coping with one thing like a brace that must be skinny. I’m maintaining a tally of filament applied sciences although, and someday, Tanner might be utilizing some 3D printed AFOs!
I believe my 3D printing journey began out prefer it has for a lot of; you want the thought of producing your personal stuff, and see fashions on the Web that you simply suppose can be cool to print. My path, as you see right here, has veered right into a route that’s pretty distinctive, and has helped me see the potential of 3D printing first hand. With the assistance of the entire folks we have now met throughout Tanner’s journey up to now, he’s now a really blissful 5-year- outdated who can stroll on his personal, is studying to speak to us, and is collaborating in an everyday Kindergarten class. All of those are issues we weren’t positive we might see him do. I prefer to suppose that 3D printing performed a small half in that success, as with it some distinctive options to a few of his issues had been found.
3D printing isn’t just for creating the newest Groot mannequin to sit down in your desk, the newest Benchy, or your very personal Terminator desk statue. It may be used for sensible functions as nicely. If there’s a lesson that I can share from my experiences, it’s this: maintain a glance out for alternatives the place 3D printing can have some actual influence on somebody’s life. Life is all in regards to the journey, and consider me, the journey of enhancing somebody’s’ life is about as fulfilling as it may possibly get! You by no means know, you may additionally study a bit alongside the way in which!
