FIDIM 2 AFO Leg Brace

thingiverse

FIDIM - "Fine, I'll do it myself" Since I have had so many issues with manufactured braces breaking and/or being entirely too expensive. This is an evolution of a brace design that I have been working on for some time. The older versions used a steel hinge that had to be fabricated, making them less accesible for people that need them. This one has a somewhat better fit (for me) uses slightly less material (900 grams per brace) and uses a flexible TPU "hinge" instead of a fabricated steel one. I wear these every day, and walk up to 5 miles/8km per day over level, even flooring. After 5 months, one of the flexihinges finally broke. They won't last as long if you're walking over unlevel ground such as hiking, but I think 5 months isn't bad at all for what I do. I was worried that they wouldn't last long at all. I printed a replacement and was back in action in about 4 hours. Go ahead and have a few spares on hand if you rely on these. I used Duramic TPU with a shore hardness of 95A for the flexihinges and the rear bumper. Other brands/flexible material may be more or less durable, and I am interested in what you come up with if you try any. Please write in if you do. These can be modified to fit with Blender's sculpting mode, and they can be shaped after printing using a heat gun. I am a 100kg man with Charcot Marie Tooth Disease, have high arches and significantly atrophied calves. I wear a US Size 10 shoe. I hope that I can help someone else that needs AFOs, but can't get them for whatever reason. I went without them for years (far too expensive) and they have vastly improved my quality of life now that I have them. Please do not commercialize this design beyond what it takes to cover the cost of materials. There are numerous commercial braces already on the market, and I want this one to be free for all. I highly recommend using Overture's "Easy Nylon" filament. It is as tough as nails, and hasn't let me down yet. I printed these with that filament at 260C for good layer adhesion. I'm running a Creality CR-10 V2 that's upgraded with an E3D Hemera, though a stock CR-10 may work just fine. The Flexihinges and bumpers should be printed in TPU with a shore hardness of roughly 95A. I used Duramic brand TPU. Other brands may be more or less durable. PETG or PLA+ may be appropriate for these. Neither material has the mechanical strength of Nylon, so the braces may not be durable if you try one of those. Standard PLA would in all likelihood be too brittle for though. I have never printed anything in ABS, so I can't say one way or another with that. If you do try any other materials, please share your results here so that others can learn from them. Making these easier to print would be greatly beneficial to those that need them. For Fitting: These can be scaled for a child, and will in that case of course use far less material. Remember to scale the fexihinges and bumpers by the same proportion if you do. I recommend that you load these into Tinkercad, measure your leg in several places, and make similarly sized objects in Tinkercad to see if they fit. There is also a measuring function if you prefer. (Tinkercad is free and pretty easy) Once you have something roughly the right scale, print a hollow version with the cheapest PLA that you can find and then try it on. Blender (also free) is considerably more complicated than Tinkercad, but has a sculpting mode. I used that to make these, and it can be used to modify them if you're feeling adventurous. If not, then you can use a heat gun (they're cheap) to get these hot enough to shape the old-fashioned way. There are tutorials on how to use both Tinkercad and Blender on YouTube.