John Curran and Dean Rock took us behind the curtain of the “Hands” portion of the 3H Project on Friday with an intriguing presentation on the use of a 3D printer to create prosthetic hands. John also shared that this is a year of transition for the project with planned design changes and upgrades to the prosthetic. He also announced a planned expansion to the African country of Malawi and promised further details will come as the team searches for ways to sustain the project.
 
There is no question that the 3H project, initiated by Roger and Liz Fagan, has impacted many people in the Dominican Republic, but John’s stories of the emotions experienced by him and the team when seeing the responses of the recipients as they first received the prosthetic hands were quite moving. “I watched a mom tell her son, ‘you’re complete now,’ when he first used his hand,” John said. “I was instantly hooked.”
 
Dean Rock showed us how the 3D printer manufactures customized prosthetics and the steps involved to assemble the parts. Dean works with the eNABLE group that provides volunteers to create hands at no charge to the recipient. Their work is supported in part by a grant from Google. Dean’s workshop takes advantage of free CAD design software, and he has personally invested in several consumer grade 3D printers.

Dean noted that even though the hand design is simple, the process does create a significant amount of plastic waste caused by variations in temperature during the extruding process. Despite the number of hands, or other parts, he has created on his 3D printer, Dean still finds the process fascinating. “I have spent many hours just staring,” he said.
 
Asked about cost, Dean said that the average prosthetic requires about $30 in materials. His labor is free. “We need to train people in the Dominican Republic to make these hands, and perform maintenance on them,” he said. “This is a high-tech project for simple touch,” Dean remarked. “I really appreciate Rotary’s work in supporting this.”
 
For more information on prosthetic hands and eNABLE, go to: enablecommunityfoundation.org/