The Modeling and Development of 3D Printable Orthopedic Prosthetics

This project was worked on alongside a former student of Monmouth College: Max Balagna '19. The goal of this research project was to utilize the 3D printing ability students have here on campus, and create a working prototype prosthetic that someone could possibly use one day.

Methodology

Monmouth College has three Prusa i3 3D printers that utilize F.D.M. printing, or fused deposition modeling. These printers use heat in order to print thermoplastic material. The filament is fed from a large coil through a moving heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the building work. The print head is moved via computer control to define the printed shape inputted from the code. STL files were downloaded from a website called Thingaverse. The STL files are then converted into G-code for a software called Slic3r can break the STL files down and my partner and I could manipulate specific designs or print settings for the prosthetic. Once the manipulations have been made, the STL is converted into G-code for the printer to print the desired object.