Printing TPU - Example

[mvdveer]

I am often asked what I use my printers for.

Thought I'd quickly share a recent project printed in TPU. We run weeklong workshops twice a year for rural doctors and one of the skills taught is surgical wedge resection of toenails. As most medical models are super expensive ($240AUD per toe), I decided to design and print a model for this purpose. 

I started with a model of a toe, did some Fusion magic and removed the nail, Now I needed to fit a replaceable nail and at the same time simulate the ingrown section of the nail. Some more Fusion magic.

       

As the toe itself would be dangerous to incise if not secured, a foot to receive the toe was designed and printed.

   

The toes are secured with a threaded 8mm printed shaft. (TPU 95A White) 

This is a result of it. (90xtoes, 4x feet and 150x toenails)

The toes and feet were printed in Flesh coloured Bambu Labs TPU 85A (The softest I could find) and the toenails in e-SUN PLA+ White.

Printer: Mercury 1 AWD with OrbitoolO2S board, Orbiter 2 extruder, orbiter filament runout sensor and Rapido v2 hotend. 

Tried and tested and working a treat.

 

 

[Jerazmus]

Now that’s what this printing thing is all about!! Awesomeness!!!

[billbrach]

A really cool and more importantly, useful project !! The most I've done with TPU is to design in OpenSCAD, and print, are snap-on lids for small wet cat food cans LOL  Not very Humanitarian like yours, but still useful.

Begs a question tho' - what do the doctors actually do with your models ??  Are these used to train a new doctor on how to incise a toenail, or are the white toenails used temporarily on a patients toe, after a nail is incised ??

[Jerazmus]

16 minutes ago, billbrach said:

A really cool and more importantly, useful project !! The most I've done with TPU is to design in OpenSCAD, and print, are snap-on lids for small wet cat food cans LOL  Not very Humanitarian like yours, but still useful.

Begs a question tho' - what do the doctors actually do with your models ??  Are these used to train a new doctor on how to incise a toenail, or are the white toenails used temporarily on a patients toe, after a nail is incised ??

I’m assuming the nail is showing the sides of the nail for an ingrown toenail and the nail bed. Probably a teaching tool for properly clipping and removing the ingrown part of the nail. Other than that, there’s no way to see what an ingrown toenail looks/feels like to train for unless you have a patient in front of you. That’s just my wild guess. Great use case. I’m impressed. I wonder if PETG would more closely mimic a real nail though with flexibility and the way it cuts as opposed to PLA though. Just a thought. They may not even be cutting the nail. Not sure. 

Edited March 5 by Jerazmus
Added more context.

[mvdveer]

7 hours ago, billbrach said:

Are these used to train a new doctor on how to incise a toenail, or are the white toenails used temporarily on a patients toe, after a nail is incised ??

These are models used to demonstrate the technique, then each doctor practices on the model on how to excise an ingrown toenail. These toes and nails will be cut up. This is only a training tool.

 

[mvdveer]

6 hours ago, Jerazmus said:

I wonder if PETG would more closely mimic a real nail though with flexibility and the way it cuts as opposed to PLA though.

Tried TPU 95A, PETG, ABS and PLA for the nails and found PLA inserted into the slots best and closely resembles the"real deal" In simulation, you can never get anything perfect. The initial cut with the scalpel is into the toe, the nail is then clipped and removed.

[PFarm]

@mvdveer Are doctors in your country in remote area and these are  travelling tools to train them in their local area?

[mvdveer]

23 minutes ago, PFarm said:

@mvdveer Are doctors in your country in remote area and these are  travelling tools to train them in their local area?

Yes, these are doctors training and working in very remote areas of Australia. They are part of a training scheme (Remote Vocational Training Scheme) and we all travel to one of two major cities for a workshop of 4 days twice a year. Next week the workshop will be in Sydney and in September will be in Brisbane. But these doctors come from all over remote Australia. There will be around 130 trainees this time around. These models will be used at the workshop - where they train under supervision.

[claudermilk]

Very cool example of practical applications of 3d printing.

First, I have never gotten TPU to print nearly that well, so super kudos for getting those great prints out of a difficult material. Second, I was squirming in sympathy to those diagrams.