e-NABLE Devices Catalog

I am working on a new project, an adaptation of the Phoenix Reborn hand (also would work with the Phoenix v2) to a fully parametric model, in which the hand size is scaled independently of the connector holes. This will permit us to use commonly available metal pins (or even stainless steel finishing nails), or 3mm metric screws, and plastic (Delrin or PTFE) tubing to make high-quality bearings for the joints. have been experimenting with these joints, and they can be made with very low wobble, while still moving freely. The parametric design also allows the with of the tabs on the phalanges to be adjusted independently from the scale of the hand, so that the hands do not get looser as they scale up in size. The estimated materials cost for the metal and plastic components is about $1, and most of these should be able to be found in any locale. The plastic tubing isn’t strictly necessary, either. If one gets smooth nails or machinists pins, they are already pretty slippery, and make good joints. This is all carried out by importing the (somewhat cleaned up to get rid of mesh errors) into an OpenSCAD script, which fills in the old holes for the joints, scales the hand, and then re-drills holes of the size for standard connectors. I am attaching a couple images of the parametric fingers, one set drilled for 1/16” steel pins, the other for 3mm metric screw and Delrin tubings. The screws probably do require the plastic tubing, since I think the threading may result in too much friction otherwise. I will (soon) post the files needed to do this, either to GitHub or Thingiverse. I need to do some more serious testing, first. The purpose of this project is really to convert the hand design into a toolkit of variants, using OpenSCAD to make all the needed modification. This will, for example, allow independent adjustment of the width and height of a hand, without messing up the connecting bits. I’m still trying to decide whether to call this new project the paraglider (since it is parametric) or the Flexible Flyer, since it is intended to give a lot more flexibility to the designs, and the flyer part is consistent with the bird-names used for hands. (To those of you who were not raised in snow-sledding country, Flexible Flyer is a company that makes sleds). Votes?