Saturday 6 September 2014

3D Printed Hands Just Got Better Thanks To These DIY Wolverine Claws

3D Printed Hands Just Got Better Thanks To These DIY Wolverine Claws

John Biggs
TechCrunch


What could be better than giving disabled kids a new pair of hands? How about slapping a set of claws on those hands!
Aaron Brown, a maker and volunteer for the group Enabling The Future, has been building 3D printed prosthetic hands for kids who are missing fingers. These hands are given away for free and the group has made countless children quite happy.
Now they can be happier. Brown built a set of Wolverine claws that are compatible with the free prosthetic hand plans available on Thingiverse.

“The Comic loving nerd inside of me (along with some Facebook friends) said there is no way I can make a Wolverine hand without CLAWS…so I modeled some in Sketchup the morning before the makerfaire, printed ‘em, spray painted ‘em silver and velcro’d ‘em on there. Turned out pretty darn cool!” said Brown.

“I worked for about 7 years in nightclub security, with a few less exciting factory jobs before that. Playing around with technology has always been a passion and hobby on the side and when my grandfather passed away unexpectedly last year, I was left with a small amount of funds in his will – just enough to start building my own business,” he said. Now he is working on a small 3D print shop and has been building Wolverine-themed hands for kids since he showed the first hand at the Grand Rapids Maker Faire.

It’s great to see 3D printing become truly useful and it’s even more exciting to see folks who can move from part-time nightclub bouncer to full time maker with a little time and effort.

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