釉假肢, a Polish manufacturer of personalized prosthetic arms, has brought its entire 3D printing production process in-house with the addition of a Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) 580 Color 3D printer from 3D printer OEM生命值.
Investing in the machine has enabled Glaze to digitize its production processes and work directly with clinicians to speed up previously lengthy workflows. The MJF 580 will also allow Glaze to produce and deliver customized prosthetics within a seven to 14 days turnaround.
“Everyone wants to be part of the digital revolution, yet the prosthesis industry is one which is not traditionally born into digital,” said Franek Kosch, Co-founder of Glaze Prosthetics. “With the help of HP’s 3D technology, Glaze is democratizing digital workflows and giving everyone a chance to be a part of this new revolution.”
3D printed prosthetics
釉假肢was founded in Krakow, Poland, in 2017, after one of its founders 3D printed a customized prosthetic arm for a friend. Havingidentified a gap in the market对于想要可以定制的轻巧和耐用假肢的截肢者，该公司已成长为拥有全球客户群。
Glaze以前曾使用HP MJF 4200打印机与外部服务提供商合作生产订单，但是随着业务的发展，公司看到了内部移动其整个生产的经济利益。现在，该公司是世界上唯一允许患者选择假肢的模型，颜色和饰面的人，并为他们提供了在线设计和订购的选择。
Additive manufacturing has been increasingly leveraged to produce customized, lighter weight prosthetic limbs.Formlabs’Form 1 3D printerhas been used by advanced prosthetics manufacturer部分手部解决方案(PHS) to optimize its人造肢体制造过程，而科学家Israel Institute of Technologyhave developed anautomated production linefor printing low-cost customized prosthetics.
3D printing has also been deployed to develop prototypes of 3D printed sensor-operatedprosthetic arms for toddlers和生产个性化的乳房假体for cancer patients post-vasectomy. Most recently, a mechanical student fromtu delftdesigned a假体上限插座that can be printed using an everyday FDM system for just €30.
Bringing production in-house
由于需要制造各种组件，因此制造假肢可能是一个缓慢而漫长的过程。为了将其生产转换为一个数字生态系统，并为3D打印的假肢打印创建了新的应用程序，投资于HP的580颜色打印机投资了釉料假肢。
The technology enables clinicians to take a scan of a patient’s upper socket and upload the measurements onto Glaze’s database, which is then sent to the MJF 580 machine. The printer then produces the prosthetic limb in the right shape, size and color of the patient’s choosing.
直接彩印元素是ke之一y benefits of the 580 for Glaze, and helps the company to drastically reduce its post-processing times. The machine is capable of printing the prosthetic in the exact base color required by the patient which significantly reduces the company’s time to market. This allows Glaze to spend more time adding the final hand-painted touches that are fully tailored to the customers design of choice.
Additionally, this time saving also benefits Glaze’s clinician customers who previously spent between 60 and 80 percent of their time going back and forth with Glaze submitting measurements. These measurements are now sent directly to the 3D printer, allowing clinicians to spend more time with their patients.
Aside from the time-saving benefits, Glaze has also seen improvements to the weight and durability of its final products since installing the MJF 580. Each aspect of the firm’s 3D printed prosthetic arm is modular, featuring an elbow system to allow for easy arm movements, as well as a swing system that helps amputees to mimic natural arm movements. With the 580, Glaze is able to produce a bionic hand weighing just one kilogram, reportedly the lightest on the market.
The new application developed in combination with the MJF 580 means Glaze’s customers can receive a finished, fully working prosthetic in around one to two weeks, not only reducing staff costs and time but also enabling the company to achieve fine detail and high dimensional accuracy to ensure an exact fit for the customer.
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Featured image shows投资MJF 580将使Glaze能够在两周内生产和提供定制的假肢。通过釉假肢照片。
