eNABLE needs a hand - 1000 hand kit 3d print challenge!
Join the 1000 Hand Kit 3D Print Challenge! Enable needs a hand – discover how to participate now.
eNABLE, the organization behind the original 3D printed mechanical hand, is reaching out to the 3D printing community to crowdsource the largest donation of 3D printed hands yet. With requests for over 1000 hands from all over the world, eNABLE is teaming up with groups like 3DPrinterOS, Florida State, Purdue, Duke, Mind-to-Matter and Fargo 3D to work together to make as many hands as possible.The goal is to reach 1000 hands by mid-September and in order to accomplish this, eNABLE is asking for the all of those in the 3d printing community to “lend a helping hand.”
“We challenge the 3d printing industry as a whole to take the time to print at least one hand to help eNABLE meet their goals. Working with e-NABLE and utilizing our network of printers is a prime example of how 3d printing can affect real change and this is just the beginning,” said John Dogru, CEO of 3DPrinterOS.
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You can access the eNABLE hand right from your projects screen[/caption]The Raptor Reloaded hand file has been added as a stock project into 3DPrinterOS, which includes mailing instructions for each hand kit completed. 3DPrinterOS will be giving away t-shirts to the first 30 3DPrinterOS users who print and mail the hand kits to e-NABLE. 3DPrinterOS will also be giving away a Raspberry Pi 2 to the user who prints and sends the most hands by September 15.The team at Fargo 3D Printing will also be offering 25% off all orders on 3domusa through September 15 with the promo code ENABLE25.
"We're looking forward to being involved with the e-NABLE project and helping to get more hands printed. We're excited to be able to offer a discount on our materials to help that happen,” said John Schneider of Fargo 3D Printing.
Google recently awarded e-NABLE a $600,000 grant to help further develop their hands and technology. The e-NABLE community and the “3d Mechanical Hand – Maker Movement” was inspired by two strangers (a prop maker from the USA and a carpenter from South Africa) that came together from 10,000 miles apart – to create a prosthetic hand device for a small child in South Africa …and then gave the plans away – for free…so that those in need of the device could make them for themselves or have someone make it for them.
What originally started out as a couple of guys who created something to help one child in need has grown into a world wide movement of tinkerers, engineers, 3D print enthusiasts, occupational therapists, university professors, designers, parents, families, artists, students, teachers and people who just want to make a difference. The rapidly growing e-NABLE community now boasts over 5500 members and has created upwards of 1500 hands.Hand kits allows eNABLE to provide hands to those in the remotest parts of the world. Since these hands are assembled by groups through assembly events, additional lives are also enriched through the realization that what is created will impact the life of another individual in a meaningful way.
“With the help of the larger 3d printing community, we hope to provide several thousand hands over the next two years and reach those in the remote areas that need them most. No contribution is too large or too small, together we can change the world,” said Melina Brown, Director of Operations at eNABLE.
Anyone who prints a hand is encouraged to post it to social media with the hashtag: #enablethefuture
