Key Enablers towards Mature Company-community Collaboration in Open Source Hardware

Hassan, Mehera; Mies, Robert; Jochem, Roland

doi:10.3917/jie.pr1.0135

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Briefly, 3D printers have evolved from rapid prototypers into additive manufacturing (AM) devices that can be operated by local businesses [12][13][14], chain stores (e.g., shipping firms such as UPS or government-owned mail [15] and home improvement retailers [16]), makerspaces [17][18][19], fablabs [20], and libraries [21][22][23]. A particularly enriching approach is the do-it-together paradigm [24], where companies share opensource designs and manufacture locally [25,26]. This widespread use of 3D printing is already poised to disrupt global value chains [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open-Source Designs for Distributed Manufacturing of Low-Cost Customized Walkers

Reeves

Pearce

2023

Inventions

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To improve accessibility, this article describes a static, four-legged walker that can be constructed from materials and fasteners commonly available from hardware stores coupled by open-source 3D-printed joints. The designs are described in detail, shared under an open-source license, and fabricated with a low-cost open-source desktop 3D printer and hand tools. The resulting device is loaded to failure to determine the maximum load that the design can safely support in both vertical and horizontal failure modes. The experimental results showed that the average vertical failure load capacity was 3680 ± 694.3 N, equivalent to 375.3 ± 70.8 kg of applied weight with the fractured location at the wood dowel handlebars. The average horizontal load capacity was 315.6 ± 49.4 N, equivalent to 32.2 ± 5.1 kg. The maximum weight capacity of a user of 187.1 ± 29.3 kg was obtained, which indicates that the open-source walker design can withstand the weight requirements of all genders with a 95% confidence interval that includes a safety factor of 1.8 when considering the lowest deviation weight capacity. The design has a cost at the bottom of the range of commercial walkers and reduces the mass compared to a commercial walker by 0.5 kg (19% reduction). It can be concluded that this open-source walker design can aid accessibility in low-resource settings.

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