Anatomically Correct Human Skeleton

thingiverse

UPDATE: 22/07/24File RR10.stl has an error, use RR10_fix.stl instead.This is a nearly perfectly anatomically correct full size model of a human skeleton. It is an enormous print, taking hundreds of hours of non stop printing. It uses several kilograms of filament to make, and a few metres of 2mm stainless steel wire to connect everything together. This model is great for teaching, given almost all individual bones are printed separately, so it is easy to distinguish between bones. If printing the whole 1.6 metre tall model is too daunting, individual sections can be made such as just Skull (1).stl and Mandible.stl for a halloween decoration, or the arm and hand bones to teach students about anatomy and joints. The assembly of the whole model is difficult, as no attachment points have been added to keep each bone the exact anatomical shape. To assemble it, each joint between bones has a small length of 2mm stainless steel wire connecting them together. To do this I drilled 2mm holes in the bones at the approximate locations that they touch their neighbouring bone, and pushed the wire in as far as I could into each connecting bone, before applying a small amount of cyanoacrylate glue to help it stay together. This glue is certainly no the best for this application, but I have not researched others, so feel free to experiment. I made sure to leave a few millimetres between bones to mimic where cartilage and other connective tissue would be, and to allow movement of the individual joints to allow for repositioning of the whole skeleton.The whole model is divided into 12 major sections, with some having subsections of more parts. Details of printing and assembly of each section are detailed below.To find out positions of the bones I recommend using a medical website or just look up the area you're putting together and scroll through google images. I have also left a .f3d file that should let you see the bones in the right places if you have fusion 360.