I. A Digital Workflow

What Are All the Pieces of a Digital Process?

1. Scanning: Use the Design Studio Scanner iPad app to take a scan of a patient’s limb.
2. CAD: Standard Cyborg’s Design Studio has all the tools to make your modifications to the model, similar to how you’d do it with plaster, only faster. When you’re done with your modifications, you can choose a socket thickness and create a new shape, the shape of your socket. Even include a lock cavity if you want!
3. Slicing: After you’ve exported the 3D model if your socket, you need to create a “toolpath” for the machine to know where to move to place plastic. Your computer does this with a two-dimensional printer as well. For each line down the page, the ink-head moves back and forth depositing ink. The computer translates your page of text into lines of code telling the printer whether to deposit ink or not on each pass across the width of the paper. In our case, the slicing software creates what is called g-code.
4. Printing: Once you’ve created your g-code, you can load that onto your 3D-printer and start creating your socket!
5. Finishing: Often, you’ll need to clean up your printed part by sanding or polishing in order to have a device that is ready to put on a patient.

We’ll dig into Slicing, Printing, and Finishing each a bit more in-depth to-follow.

Note: This guide is focused on printing lower extremity prostheses, but general principles apply to other applications like upper extremity prostheses and lower extremity orthotics as well.