My awesome wife went to a garage sale the other day, and bought something for me. It was a vintage steel Coca-Cola snack tray. It was a bit banged up and had some dents etc. in it… but that made me happy as I therefore wouldn’t feel bad about cutting it apart.

It now has a new life as a piece of armor:


For the post apocalyptic lady who thirsts for adventure.


And has a bubbly personality


Only Coca-Cola will do!

 
….. am I the only one who finds the dead fox draped across the lady’s shoulders a tad weird? It looks like it’s trying to bite her finger. Seek vengeance, Mr. Fox, VENGEANCE!!!

First off, I apologize for the horrendous pun. My buddy Rich and I often can't help ourselves with hand/arm jokes as we create these devices. Rich is a finger amputee, and he often tells me that he's "short handed".

With that taken care of, please let me introduce you folks to our little friend, Liam, and his "Robohand":
http://youtu.be/kB53-D_N8Uc

Rich and I designed and fabricated Liam's robohand in our garages on opposite sides of the world. His device is part of our open-source prosthetics project and was received by Liam at no cost to his family.



I'm coming here to the Crafting For Good board to see if you folks can help us with something? Now that we have a completed device, we need help in making it easier for people like Liam to find us so that we can adapt this technology for use by others in need.



Anyone can help by sharing information about our project on social media sites they are members of. The more the project is shared, the higher the chances become of a person in need of a "helping hand" hearing about us. Moderators, please let me know if this request is in any way out-of-line and I will happily modify or remove it I didn't come across anything in the policies.

Thank you!

Hello all!

Another update on the finger prosthesis project. Richard, the co-creator and designer of what we've been calling "Robohand", now has a more refined version of the prosthetic which has a new tip that allows him to perform precise tasks like....

Typing: http://youtu.be/DF4wUQKkx10

One of the best aspects of this current design is that much of it was constructed from things one can find at a hardware store. The main lever arm & mounting arm for the tip were made from a brass door hinge. The control ring was made from a plumbing fitting. The grip-pad on the finger tip was made from a pad that you can buy to stick underneath table legs. The sleeve to provide padding for his stump is a finger-grip that office workers use when sifting through stacks of paper.


Here are a few images of the latest device:


The only specialty components involved in this design are the orthopedic plastic used to create the hand-mount (usually obtained via a doctor or physical therapist) and the tiny ball-joints (the little ball joints are used in RC cars and can be obtained via a hobby shop or online store).




Within the next week, for those who are interested, we'll be sharing more detailed information on how the prosthetic devices are constructed on our blog: http://comingupshorthanded.com/2013/01/04/celebrating-our-first-year/

A while back I posted on this board sharing an open-source prosthetic project I'm involved in. I just got back from a trip where my design partner and I got to work together in-person for the first time. An exciting new development: we were able to start developing a design for a little boy who was born without fingers on his right hand. In line with the goals of our project, Liam (the awesome little fellow) is receiving what we come up with free of charge.

6 days, 20,000 miles of traveling, many hours of work... it was excellent. There is an unbelievable amount to share, but I'm too worn out at this point. Hopefully the images and video will help to give a picture of the process and results.

Here is a video telling the story of our work this week: http://youtu.be/cyC6_LY7oq0

And here are more photos of both Richard's prosthesis and Liam's prosthesis:












Thank you to everyone in the Craftster Community who has been so supportive and encouraging!

(the photos have censor-bars across them because I removed a web link from the photo to comply with our community's policies My wife was the photographer and she kindly gave me permission to remove the web-link)

I recently made this for a client of mine. He wanted me to make a re-imagined version of the Pip-Boy from the Fallout games. So, what I constructed is what I imagined the Pip-Boy would end up looking like after a decade or so in the wastes: Rough, gritty, almost all of its' components replaced with scavenged bits of tech as the original pieces, one by one, either broke down or were smashed in fights with mutants.


The control panel and speaker grill were stripped off a vintage CB radio (manufactured in the early 70's). The screen housing was also taken from a piece of 70's tech: an old 35mm film editing machine. To prepare the bits of the CB radio, I dismantled it, removed the face plate  (which was that plastic, fake wood pattern ever-so-popularly used in the 70's) and repainted it with a flat grey primer. The screen housing was easier, I just had to cut it off of the film editor. The little gizmo on the top is a gear mechanism for advancing the 35mm film. When you spin the large wheel, the little wheel spins rapidly. It serves no purpose but is very fun.


There is a compartment below the screen housing into which a smart phone can be inserted. The flap then is wrapped back around to cover the edge of the phone (the phone used as an example is larger than my client's, hence it sticks out a bit.) I left the screen housing open by removing it's old screen cover. That way, one can interact with the smart phone inside.


The entire back of the Pip-Boy is covered in black leather. Every piece of post-apocalyptic wear is better with leather. And sports equipment. LOTS of sports equipment. Tina Turner's guards in bartertown would've been in a bad place without their sports equipment. But I digress.....  the Pip-Boy is attached to the forearm with stretchy & comfortable broad elastic straps.


As you can see from the status of all of the limbs... this vault-dweller is a-okay!

I know... The subject line of this post is a mouthful! There just isn't any other way to reasonably describe this thing

I've built a large number of unusual things. This is, however, the most unusual, fun and important project that I've been a part of. In December of 2011, a man by the name of Richard Van As who saw one of my Youtube videos sent me an email with these pictures in it:





He very simply asked if would consider partnering with him to build a mechanical replacement for his missing digits. I was excited to jump in and figure it out with him! The catch: he and I live 10,000 miles away from each other. What ensued was a lot of emails, pictures and drawings sent back and forth, and Skype sessions. Now, after a lot of tinkering, we have our first truly functional prototype:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PkmHfT_rDf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We aren't patenting the design; instead we're giving the knowledge away for free. I thought Craftster might be a good place to share some info on the construction of this device.

Here's a rundown of the parts of our prototype:

The hand mount (A) is made from rigid material and formed to the amputee's hand. The lever arm (D) is attached to the hand mount with an axle at position (I). The passive tension system is attached to the hand at position (F)
The artificial finger is made up of a rigid lever arm (D) to which pulleys (C), a form fitting sleeve (B), hinge (E) and Finger tip with grip pad (G) are attached. A cable runs from the finger tip (G) through the pulleys and  attaches to the hand mount at position (H)

We don't have photos of the complete process yet (mostly because we haven't perfected all the steps, lol ) but I would like to share with you, at least, the wonders of an amazing material called "thermoplastic"!!!!

To start things off, Rich sent me an exact copy of his hand so that I could have an in-person version of it when building models of our designs on my side of the globe:

It's cast from plastic and very durable (so that when I'm clumsy it doesn't break!)

Thermoplastic, I'm fairly certain, has been imbued with magical properties by some sort of ancient race of mythical creatures. It's more likely that it's just a marvel of modern chemistry.... but imagining it being created magically is more exciting.

This is the first time I've worked with it and it's indescribably useful. You cut out your pattern and then immerse the piece of plastic in boiling water for about 20 or 30 seconds. It then turns into a clear, completely flexible material that can stretch and it even adheres to itself! The amazing part, you can take it straight from boiling water, shake off the excess droplets and then handle it without it burning you. It's not even uncomfortably hot. For some reason it's a terrible conductor of heat, but I digress.


After preparing the thermoplastic, I use the model of Richard's hand to create whichever part of the mounting system I'm experimenting with. Here you can see me forming it to fit around his index finger stump. The flaps at the top are later bent together and then the thermoplastic fuses to itself.


Here I am fusing the flaps at the tip. In front of me is my electric kettle, a measuring cup to hold the boiling water, and a bowl full of ice water. After the part is formed, I immerse the part into the ice water. This cools it rapidly and turns the plastic back into its' high-strength, rigid form.

After the hand-mounts are made, then it's a matter of mounting the other hardware and components to the device & sharing what we've made with each other on our Skype brainstorming sessions. Here's a link to a story on our blog that shows both how we communicate with each other on the project as well as an exciting development! Richard's mind is starting to sort of "feel" with the prosthesis!
http://comingupshorthanded.com/2012/08/24/feeling-things/

On 11/17/12 I will be flying over to South Africa to meet Richard in person for the first time and work to finalize our design! For those that are interested, we will be posting video updates on our progress on the fine-tuned version on the site that I linked to above.

*!update!*
November has come and gone, and my visit with Rich went very well! Here's a video that summarizes what we did together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyC6_LY7oq0

So I know this very cool guy by the name of Alfred Norris. I met him, electronically at least, when he contacted me about commissioning a set of hand mechanics from me. When he told me what said mechanics were for... I can't tell you how excited I was to start the project! Al and I designed the hands together and I just finished fabricating them last night.


Al is making an 8 foot tall hulk costume. I've seen the concept art etc. and it's going to be amazing. When he has finished it, I'll see if I can either get him to post something on Crafster or I'll share it on his behalf. For now, there's a video of the "Skeleton" of the Hulk in action at the end of this post. Hulk's head is going to be located above the head of the "Puppeteer" and his shoulders above where the Puppeteer's elbows are in the video.

Without knowing how tall I am, it's probably hard for folks to get a sense of the scale of these giant mitts. Here's a picture that should help a bit (photo was taken before the hand's were 100% complete)


I'm just shy of 6 feet, so with these on my arm-span is increased to approximately 9.5 feet (Hulk's arms are proportionally larger than a human's when compared to his height... more like a Gorilla than a man).






While this post is *technically* about a costume that's currently in production, my portion of it (the hand skeletons) is complete

So, my wife had to go to the doctor today because she hyper-extended her wrist a few days ago. As it turns out, she strained her tendons pretty bad and the doc gave her a brace that she has to wear for the next two weeks. When she got home from the doctor's, she asked me if I would like to decorate it for her. Needless to say, I was very excited to do so!

Here's how the brace looked to begin with (with the first bits of sharpie drawing on the thumb piece):




And, after more black sharpie and a bit of chainmaile:




I decided after it was finished that it was no longer a wrist-brace. Far from it. It has now become a futuristic battle-gauntlet that prevents her wrist from snapping back when she fires her super compact, hand-held Railgun. She fires the Railgun with her off-hand, of course, because her dominant hand needs to be free to wield her Tesla Sword!

My wife sent me a modified picture with her thoughts on the subject:


And now she'll happily follow her doctors instructions and actually wear the brace for the full two weeks

Mission accomplished!

I made this outfit for one my 12 year old's christmas presents this year. When he moves his thumb in just the right direction, it triggers a spring release and daggers shoot out of the sleeves! Then, when he wants to retract the blades, he raises his arms and cables hidden inside his sleeves attached to a belt pull the blades back into their "loaded" position.

Since I didn't think it would be a very good idea to give sharpened, spring loaded, concealed daggers to a 12 year old... I made the blades out of aluminum and was sure to leave them completely dull

Here's a video of the blades in action:
http://youtu.be/9dqPmivcsdU

Now I'll need to be careful to check every dark corner when I walk around our house at night......

Some of you may remember this little guy. Back in September, he was strapped to my daughter's torso while she was fighting zombies:


And at the time I had made him a little helmet. My daughter loved the helmet so much that for Christmas this year I thought I'd go a step further and create an entire suit of armor for her favorite teddy bear. She's had the Bear since she was born and it's one of her most cherished possessions. To create the armor, I had to sneak into her room at night and borrow the bear. To put on the finishing touches tonight, I said I had to borrow him to wash him (now I have to actually wash him otherwise she'll know something's up).

And so, I present to you, Lord Bearington:


His chainmaile is made from 16 gauge, 5/16" Stainless Steel rings woven in a European 4-1 pattern. It includes flaps for the shoulders to support the spaulders(Shoulderplates).


Like the chainmaile, his Spaulders are also made from stainless steel. These are a scale model of a modified style of medieval spaulder and include tiny straps and rivets on the inside for articulation. They are attached to the chainmaile shirt via 2 rings. [after forming the plates, I carefully rounded all of the edges with a fine metal file for safety's sake ]


The trim of his shirt is made from stamped, nickle-plated mild steel scales.


His simple, warrior's circlet(crown) is made from the same material as the spaulders; a strip of stainless steel.


His greaves(shin guards) are made from chunks of a leather belt held together with rivets. (I put my hands in this picture so that you could get a sense of the scale of the bear )


Finally, when his Lordship grows tired of the burden of his armor, he can remove it and stow it for future use!

*a special note* the bear's real name, as given by my daughter, is actually Jinx (formerly just "Bear"). Lord Bearington just felt like a more appropriate thing to call him as I pieced together his armor.