Journals
Journals are composed of my thoughts during the whole process of my project, it includes the problems that were arised, the solutions I was able to find and most of all my opinion of my decisions.
Journal #1 - FInding my Mentor and the e-Nable Community
August 20, 2014
Throughout the summer of 2014 I contacted various people in order to find a mentor. By the first week of July, I found a person whose background showed a fundamental side of my project and would be willing to profoundly help me and guide me. Ralph Suastegui. After various emails and calls we finally set up a date for a meeting, but unfortunately in various occasion he had to cancel. Although on July 28, we finally had our first meeting. We discussed the project and my goals and what I was hoping that he could help me with. He was all up for it, and told me he would help me in any way possible. We exchanged out contact information so we could set up the next meeting.
Until now I was feeling really enthusiastic, at first I was a little presumptuous about the project because I really did not know what I was setting myself into, but now that I have someone who can guide and introduced me to such matter I feel more relaxed and less concerned. He did point out that I won’t be able to completely make the model, since in order for me to do that I would need years of experience. So he recommended that I learn the basics and change some visual material aspects of the prosthetic.
As the weeks went by prior on starting my senior year, I focused on researching more about my topic. I consulted one of the place Ralph suggested me to settle myself into called, Enabling the Future. I put myself as a volunteer as part of their community service around the world. Through this group I have been able to find vital information, in not only the daily technological breakthroughs of prosthetic, but people who have been through this experience or are in need of a hand.
Now that I have started classes I’m going to take into priority my research paper in order to solely focus on that and do well-done senior paper.
Journal #2 - Problems with my Mentor and Working on Senior Research Paper
October 24, 2014
After successfully finding a mentor I felt eager about my project, I was more than ready to start, but first I had to focus on the senior research paper. Through the weeks of September I started working on my paper and meeting with my Advisor so she could help me with the outline and note cards. I wanted to meet with Ralph, my mentor, again in order to establish our calendars and dates for the projects. By the first week of October I set another meeting with Ralph and we planned out the whole project and due dates. It was all going very smoothly and I felt incredibly confident in my project. He also was going to find a tutor for me in order to learn how to use the programs and an interview with the person who brought 3D printing to South America. After this meeting I was once again relieved from all the stress, but still a little skeptical whether he was going to be a promising mentor because his lack of communication and busy schedule.
Unfortunately, Ralph again was not responding my messages or email. Even though, they appeared to be read by him, he still didn't respond. I stopped writing him for a couple of days, he did warn me that he was very busy and that this might happen, but as the days went by I started to become more preoccupied. I set myself to find a solution so I contacted Mrs. Aguirre. She called him and still no answer, so we had to find another mentor. With her help I found a new mentor, but in Cuenca. He was coming to Guayaquil that Friday so I set up a meeting with him, took him out for breakfast and then met in the school with Mrs. Aguirre. He seemed more interested and my project and was willing to help me in anyway, the only problem was that he lives in Cuenca and either all the meetings would have to be via Skype or I would have to go to Cuenca.
On the bright side, I have been working on my Senior Research Paper and even finished one week prior its due date. I feel really confident with my research paper and am extremely glad that I didn’t leave it for the last moment.
Journal #3 - Problems with learning how to design and Computer Compatibility
December 17, 2014
Even though I have already established some next steps, I have encountered a major problem for my project. In order to learn how to design and learn the program needed for the prosthetic I need a better computer. The computer that I currently use is falling apart and its capacity is not enough for the program. I have tried contacting the IT department to see if they could help, but the school does not have strong enough computers as well. I am really concerned that I wont be able to find a computer. This has created a delay in the learning process with the program.
On the other side, I have found a place where I can do my community service with the help of Ms. Piedad Salomon. She gave me the phone number of a physical therapist which has a consulting office. I contacted her and she was more than glad offering me a position in her office as an internship. I went to personally meet her a couple days ago, and because she is leaving for vacation for December, I will begin the internship in January. In this internship I will be able to learn a lot from Dr. Campozano, and also help out people who have gone through surgeries and now need physical help.
Also I have contacted David, the guy who is going to teach my how to design using Autodesk Inventor Professional 2015, but because I have yet to find a computer capable enough to handle the program, I have not been able to begin the classes. As of for now, I am concerned that I won’t be able to fully learn how to use the program, but my goal is to at least know the basics in order to accomplish the design of my proposed prosthetic.
Now that I am leaving for Winter Break, my plan is to organize my ideas and prepare for January, which will be a big month, because I need to settle start my community service and start learning how to design.
Journal #4 - Problems with my Community Service and finding a recipient
January 15, 2015
I have started my community service, which in the previous Journal I stated that I would be going to a Physical Therapy consulting office and helping out people who have gone through surgeries and need physical therapy. After having had gone a couple of times, I have not been able to learn anything, and even worse help out in any way. The minute I arrive the Doctor puts me in the office and makes me work like a secretary. I am concerned that this will be all I will do here. I feel like I am treated with disdain and they don’t really care, but I really want to help the patients and learn their needs. I am not sure if staying here will be the right decision.
After talking to Ms. Yangali and Mrs. Aguirre, I have decided to leave this consulting office and try to search for another place to do my service project. I told them my concerns that I was feeling useless and that I wasn’t learning anything, to they told me that it would be better if I went somewhere else.
I talked to my mentor, Ralph, to see if he knew about a foundation, in which I could help on, he recommended SERLI, which is a “hospital” for the impoverished in which they have a focus on prosthetics. He wasn’t so sure that they would allow me to volunteer, since its run by the government, but I was still going to go and try.
A week later I had the time to go and visit SERLI, I talked to the secretary and they said they would gladly help me so I can help them as well. The only requirement was that I needed a letter from the school. My concern was the schedule, their work hours are during school hours, and on Saturday they don’t work too much.
Journal #5 - Design is harder than I expected/starting to use the program
January 20, 2015
Learning how to design is going to be more complicated than I anticipated. This knowledge not only takes years in order to master but involves, mathematical and physic skills in which I have yet received or gained. I have spoken and had Skype meetings with David, and he has given me some instructions. We have decided that I will only be learning the basics, for example learning how to change the measurements and some esthetic changes. When the time comes to donating the hand, I will measure the circumference and make the changes to an already predestined design.
He has also told me that he would no longer teach me using Autodesk Inventor Professional 2015, since it is a bit more complicated, but we will being Autodesk Fusion 360. This program has a simpler user interface and will be easier to understand. Also it has less compatibility issues with laptops, since the program is not as heavy duty as Inventor. Although, it is still pretty heavy for my own personal computer, so I will be working on my brother’s Mac.
During these few meetings, he has taught me first how to build simple shapes, such as squares and circles. I have also learned how to perform conic sections and do a non-regular shapes. Lastly, up until now he has taught me also how to import and export the prosthetic files that can be found online. These files are STL. I will be soon starting to “play” around with the prosthetic designs and implementing some of my own ideas
Journal #6 - Testing 3D printing materials - Time issues
January 27, 2015
I have met with Ralph was again, this time he was able to give me some 3D printer material, consisting of different material that can be used to print with, for example, ABS. He gave me other materials as well, and although they have already been tested, I would like to test them myself in order to see the reactions. He advised me to test them through some kind of acid, water, and fire. Which are three important determinants that can really affect a prosthetic. My next step is to contact Ms. Heater and ask for permission to use the lab in order to do these tests and trials.
I also start to research some background information that I also included in my research paper. This information is vital and important since it will be part of my presentation. I am also going to develop some kind of graph where I divide the materials with the different substances and record what I see, based on this information I will conclude which is the best material and for what circumstances.
Up until know, I am only concerned about time, I don’t know if I have enough time to fully understand and redesign a prosthetic. I have come across many factors that depend on the prosthetic. Changing and deciding what to change involves a lot of knowledge. I hope that with the help of Ralph I will be able to develop a new prosthetic design and be able to successfully print it.
Journal #7 - Technology Week and Finding Recipient
February 11, 2015
Technology Week is but a month away, so I talked to Mr. Sarmiento in including my research and presentation as well. He gladly accepted my proposal and added me in the Schedule. I also mentioned that my mentor Ralph is a provider of 3D printers, he asked for his information so I gave it to him. Mr. Sarmiento wants to invite him to the Technology Week as well so he can exhibit the printers and give a presentation. After finally finding a date to present my research, I had to find a person to whom I would donate the hand too. I talked to Mr. Nonnekamp in order to get some ideas on how I could contact the IAA community. He was concerned that many parents would approach and I would only have to chose one and let all the other parents down. After a couple a days, I got an email from a parent from the school detailing that she had a worker who had no hand. After a couple weeks passed, I decided to go ahead and design a hand to this sir, Juan Andres Lopez.
Journal #8 - Scaling and Printing the Hand
February 27, 2015
Technology Week is approximating fast so I have to start printing the hand and testing it. This will be my first time printing the design and assembling, so this will be the prototype. I started designing, scaling, and putting all the pieces together in Autodesk Fusion 360. I was pretty happy with my results, I felt like I have learn a lot during these months. Even though it is true that I was unable to do a major innovation or desgin the hand from scratch, I still feel that I wouldn't have been able to do this in the past, it is not easy to be able to control the program and specially scale it. If you make one mistake than the whole design can go wrong and a lot of time can be wasted by printing something that is wrong. Not only time, but material as well. In the next few week I hope to be able to fully print all the parts and assemble, although I am concerned about time, becuase Ralph will be leaving for two weeks, which leaves me limited time to print the hand.
Journal #9 - Printing and Assembling the Hand Prosthetic Protoype
March 20, 2015
Ralph has come back from his business trip and we have printed all the parts of the hand prosthetic. Including, the palm, the gauntlet, and the fingers. This whole printing process took about 13 hours to print. When printing the palm I noticed that the wholes for the "tendons" (the strings that connec the gauntlet with the fingers) where not printed correct. I knew that this would become a problem when it was time to assemble the hand. I couldn't do anything at this time since my time was very limited, but I knew that when I will print the final one which I will donate it too, I would have to use the printing software and place various more layers in order to print the palm more precisely. Until now, I am glad that I was able to print all the parts in time, although apparently, the prosthetic hand came smaller than I expected. I think I might have made a mistake when scaling it, something I will have to be more careful next time. Also the tensioner (which holds the tendon cords in the gauntlet) printed a little to big, so I had to sand paper in ordero to reduce their size. All these problems and mistakes help me to become better and learn from theme when the time comes to print the final one, which is going to happen two weeks from now.
Another problem arised, after talking to Ralph he told me that unfortunately he didn't have the necessary screws so I had to go all over town to search for these "Chicago Screws" which are used in various parts of the hand prosthetic, for the fingers, gauntlet, and most of all the velcro. Unfortunately, I couldn't find these screws so I had to buy other screws in order to atleast put all the pieces together, even though the functionality was not going to be at the best. In result, I was able to assemble the hand, atleast to be able to show it in my presentation. I ordered the screws from the United States so they can arrive for when I will print the final hand prosthetic, fixing my assembly problem. Furthermore, this experience was very rewarding because I was able to find problems that I could have encountered in the future, I also found a problem with a velcro and though of a new way to improve the sustainability and enforcement with the hand. I will do all these fixes and improvement in the following weeks, in not only the design but also when assembling the hand.
Journal #10 - Overview of Presentation and Next Steps
March 27, 2015
On March 25, I finally presented my research and the 3D printed hand to the audience. I was included in the schedule of Technology Week and was named one of the best presentations. Many people complimented me for my presentation and research. I was very grateful and most of all proud that I was able to do this project succesfully. Even though my project is still not completely done, I am still very proud of myself. Now what is left is to print the final hand with all the fixes and changes, contact Sr. Lopez and give him the hand. He must first try it out for a couple of days too see the wearing and fix anything if needed. To overview the presentation I think I was able to cover all the aspects that needed to be covered. I did not only present an introduction to 3D printers and characteristics of their filaments, but I also detailed the whole process of designing, printing, and assembling the 3D printed hand prosthetic. Including as well a video representing the whole purpose of my trajectory, which is to donate the hand to someone in need, and how science, technology, and medicine come together for one sole goal. To bring children and adults an opportunity for happiness and to experience a life without limitations.