Blair Oaks eighth-grade students 3-D printed two prosthetic hands that will be donated through Enabling the Future, an organization that has already donated approximately 70,000 hands to people in 45 countries.
Each hand took 30 hours to print and assemble. They worked with two small 3-D printers that melt a thread of plastic at 424 degrees Fahrenheit, layering the material vertically to create each piece. An inch-by-inch piece of the hand takes two hours to print, said computer technology teacher Jill Versleus.
The end product is simple to use. Someone with an amputated hand slips their wrist through the straps, and when they bend their wrist, the hand flexes to grasp an object.
At the beginning of the trimester, Verslues' two classes watched a video about children in Sudan - where there are 80,000 amputees - who lost their hands and feet during the country's civil war. Enabling the Future donates hands and has set up 3-D printers in countries around the world so people can begin printing hands themselves, she said.
"I think this is cool because they feel like they're part of something bigger," Verslues said. "I would say this (project) is one of the most frustrating things as a teacher. I wasn't going to do it again, but they've brought their hands out into the hallway and other students are asking me if they'll get do make the hands, too."
This year was the first time her class has done a project of this magnitude. Before, they made desk organizers and pencil holders for the middle school teachers.
The students watched 20-30 videos that explained step-by-step the design of the hands, but the reality of the work was much harder than the videos made it seem.
Each hand has more than 25 individual pieces that were printed or metal screws to hold the pieces together. The wires that thread into each finger are made from 100-pound fishing wire and jewelry wire. The pieces didn't always fit together as seamlessly as the instructions made it look, and there were a couple times a printer came off its track, requiring the students to start over with one of the pieces.
Even though it was difficult to complete, the students agreed this has been a rewarding project.
"We got to help people, and our frustration was worth it," said eighth-grader Samantha Brooks.