Makers around the world are 3D printing medical gear for Venezuela(printforhelp.org)
2 pointsby random3an hour ago2 comments
  • TacticalCoderan hour ago
    I'm into 3D printing at home. One of the first thing I learned (maybe wrongly?) was that parts 3D printed at home weren't good for anything touching water/sweat for there are tiny holes and liquid finds its way inside the parts and it's a fertile ground for bacteria.

    For example I'm 3D printing a self-designed "anti-ant" cat food thing, where the food "floats" above water (so the ants simply cannot reach the food). The problem is it cannot be used for more than a month or so before bacteria develops. Something like that.

    Is a splint for, say, a broken leg in which the person is going to sweat in PLA or PETG really that good of an idea?

    • random3an hour ago
      These are mostly splints that were developed by two medical companies in Venezuela and which have open sourced their models so that they can get more to help with the effort.

      https://printforhelp.org/parts

      The splints are printed flat with PLA which allows thermoforming - putting them in hot water allows doctors to mold based on each patient's arm