What is
the e-Nable Community?
E-NABLE is a growing group of over 8000 members who have come together from all over the World to help create and design 3D Printed assistive hand devices for those in need.
We are engineers, artists, makers, students, parents, occupational therapists, prosthetists, garage tinkerers, designers, teachers, creatives, philanthropists, writers and many others – who are devoting our “Free time” to the creation of open source designs for mechanical hand assistive devices that can be downloaded and 3D printed.
Anyone is free to download and print these hands and off course, according to his skills, he can improve the design and create new models of prosthetic hands. Needless to say that any new model of prosthetic hand, should be free to use by the whole community.
Where can I find the design files of the e-Nable hands?
Since E-Nable is about developing new designs, as much as it is distributing current ones, we do not have a singular “E-Nable hand” design. We currently have a variety of designs.
You can find the most current files to our “Devices” page or in the page “which design” of the global “Enabling the future”.
How much will one of these hands cost?
Our volunteers – makers print and assemble these devices at no cost to the end users. Each design is different and dependent on which materials you choose to use. On average – the costs run anywhere from about 20€-50€ in materials costs to produce one of our wrist powered devices and between 50€-150€ to create one of our elbow powered designs.
Are the devices medically tested and approved?
Our current designs have been approved for testing through Creighton University. We recommend careful observation while using these devices that involve your family physician’s input and guidance.
If any redness or discomfort occurs, please stop using the device you have created, until you can consult a licensed medical professional who can make an informed decision whether the device is appropriate for you and possibly help you improve the fit of your device with medical orthoplastic or padding.
This need for observation is why we discourage the use of these devices with exceptionally young children (<4) Young children do not always express when they are uncomfortable, so the possibility of injury is higher.
Please do not use these devices without consulting a physician prior to use and consult with them as to the best fit and use for you or the person you have created it for.
Can I make my own hand?
Absolutely. That is what E-Nable is all about! All you need is access to a 3d printer and a few hand tools. For help in locating a printer near you please contact us .
Please make sure you communicate with a licensed medical professional before you begin and consult with them as you begin to use the device.
What is the minimum age of use?
We do not recommend the use of our mechanical hand for children younger than 4 years old, because of the small parts that contain and the danger of drowning that may occur. Additionally, as already described, there are possible issues with the level of comfort for so young children when they use the devices.
What is a Robohand and do you make them?
Robohand is the name that was given to the original design that was created by Ivan Owen and Richard Van As in 2012 that was shared as an open source design so that others could use the files to create their own devices.
The E-nable group is not officially affiliated with the Robohand Project that continues with Richard and his team – We build off of the original files and the re-designs of those files by others.
E-Nable is focused on improving the design, creating solutions for problems with the current designs and enabling people to create them on their own with guidance from the group and we seek to come up with designs that cut costs as much as possible so that more people will have access to these devices.
Which device is suitable for me?
This devices work better for people with a functional wrist, with almost 30 degrees ability of movement or a functional elbow. The applied force by the wrist or elbow to the mechanical hand is the one that transformed into movement, allowing to the fingers of the mechanical hand to open and close. For more information about our devices visit our page “Devices”.