Imagineering

for the
Uninitiated
3D Printing to Solve Problems
Human Beings as Problem Solving Machines
Every Problem is an Opportunity

In life we constantly encounter problems

We are irritated by them, wish they weren’t
there
We may transiently imagine “Wouldn’t it be
good if…”
We may even imagine a solution
We then stop imagining and move along
with life, and deal with other problems…
…..by ignoring them too.
Imagination is not Real?
Every one of us has a Built-in Virtual
Platform that has allowed humans to
become the leading species on planet.

Internal rehearsal process that recreates

situations, simulates responses, iterates
and generates outcomes without any risk
at all.
Getting to the point…
Today we have tools:
That represent imaginary structures
That can manipulate these structures
That can can transform them into physical objects
That are easy to use, cheap (or free).
NO EXCUSE to not harness your own intrinsic inventiveness
for fun, profit or to make the world a better place
Contents
● How to Get an Idea
○ Free your mind
● How to Design
○ Tools, skills, resources
● How to Print
○ Slicing and Configuring
● Examples
○ Clinical, non-clinical
How to start Inventing
It’s something you do anyway…do you need to learn it?
Observe - the results of human genius around us all
Recognise - the problems you accept as part of life
Deconstruct - the components of the problem, the
unacceptable solutions we put up with.
Imagineer a solution. A cyclical, iterative process that
you create in your mind, to start developing an idea.
Prototype - and expect failure is a step towards success
Observe
E.g. thingiverse.com
Recognise Problems
● Common problems,
○ Little paper cuts, that “could be better”.
● Unique Problems
○ Unlikely to affect everybody, personalised
solutions.
● Difficult Problems
○ Challenges that benefit form a spark,
thinking out-of-the-box
● Problems that no one knew were
problems.
CAD Tools

TinkerCAD:- Online, Free, Easy to use

Fusion 360:- Windows, Free for personal use,

Sophisticated

FreeCAD: - Multiplatform, Free, Clunky, but

powerful

Blender: - Very powerful Free 3D animation tool

And others…not so free.

Outputs
● 3D CAD Files
○ IGES, STEP, Proprietary files..contain
data to edit and decompose the objects
○ STL OBJ files can be displayed and
represent the actual solid structure
○ Neither can be read directly by 3D
printers
Slicing and Configuring

3D Printers are generally Robotic devices

Understand instructions called Gcode

Printing in layers (called slices)

Applications like Slic3r, and Cura will

generate the slices and convert them into
Gcode

They can be configured for layer thickness

speed infill etc
Types of 3D printers
● Fused Filament Deposition (FFD) £150-£600
○ Low cost
● Stereolithography (SLA, Resin photo-
polymerisation) (£200-£800)
○ Moderate cost
○ High accuracy
○ Small parts
● Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) (£2000-£30,000)
○ High cost
○ High accuracy
○ Large parts
Realisation of the Imaginary: 3D Printing
Definition: Conversion of a digital representation of an object
into a physical structure (additively).

How:

Requires a computer program to help generate the virtual

structure,

Requires a machine to produce a 3D Object

Requires a computer program to convert the virtual structure

to instructions for the machines,

Complicated? Expensive?
Dr Adrian Bowyer
(Replicating Rapid Prototyper)
Build your own 3D printer?
The RepRap Open source solution has driven down
costs of 3D printing
● Components are readily available.
● Cheaper to build from kits
● Commercial kits now cost effective as well
● Building one is initially painful and takes a
few hours
○ You learn how to fix it, service it
○ You can customise it
○ You learn engineering
Examples
 The Intra-Cavity BioMatrix Printer-(mechanism)
Origin of the
Use a 75cm2 Cullture flask as a
coordinate system
portable build and extended culture at the isthmus of
environment. the neck of flask

A needle inserted can

reach the 3D space
inside this cavity

Requires a Spherical
polar coordinate system,
Rho, Phi, Theta, instead
of cartesian X,Y,Z
Deconstruct Problems 8-legged robot

Suprapubic catheter exchange tube

A teaching model for placenta accreta

Patient Specific Instrumentation
● Planning as before.
● Create the jig
● Use features of the deformed bone
● Minimise bone loss
● Have extension that protect
vulnerable structures
● Print out the post osteotomy to pre
bend a plate before surgery
● Surgery that would normally take
over an hour, takes 30 minutes
Panning a radial osteotomy
-Malunited Colles-type
fracture.
-Loss of radial height and
inclination
-Reversed volar tilt
-But many patients with Axial sections on
malunions have reasonable CT show the Distal
radio ulnar joint is
function...this patient not congruent.
doesn’t This is not
apparent on plain
imaging
WHY?
Restoring normal alignment
Restoring height,
Inclination and volar tilt can
be simulated using a
virtual osteotomy, restoring
DRUJ congruity

The Axis of the corrective

osteotomy does not lie on
the surface of the
radius...a conventionial
osteotomy will fail
Conclusion
YOU are a genius

Your potential to imagine allows you to

solve problems

You have the tools to transform the

imaginary into physical

The obstacles to creating prototypes

(money, time, equipment, consumables) are
within easy reach.