Alright guys, hopefully I don't catch a ton of shit for this.
Basically I am doing a Gofundme to afford the machinery and equipment necessary to make prosthetic limbs. The plan is to use the CNC mill and 3D printer to make other things I can sell to fund the creation of the custom prosthetics, so that I can give them away for free, or at least at a very low cost.
The problem being that I have had no luck getting any donations, despite trying to build up a social media following.
So I guess my question is where are some good places, or people I can talk to to get my campaign out there and funded?
>>912321
Donald Trump.
Fuck off.
>>912322
Well alrighty then.
>>912321
Have you made prosthetics before? If so post pics.
Study how to create a non-profit corporation so donors can get their donations tax-exempt. No one has any reason to throw money at you without that particular financial carrot. If you do it right you can make a good living (non-profits have employees) while producing very inexpensive prosthetics and doing some pro-bono work. You are going to need about fifty grand for a basic Haas milling center and about half that in tooling and support equipment. You will need a way to 3D scan stump castings and import that into your CAD/CAM software. You will need a facility with three-phase power or a CNC-rated phase converter and of course a printer. You will need tooling storage, measuring tools and more. The above is a short list so shoot for about a hundred thousand dollars startup capital.
>>912321
It doesn't seem like you've thought this through at all. you need to be making reliable, affordable prototype limbs before someone buys you a cnc mill and printer, both of which you can outsource at this stage.
in terms of funding, ask /biz/, but if you can make something genuinely good, i'm sure DARPA, and several hundred charites for the wounded or disabled would like to know
You will also need liability insurance.
Since you will have to test the mechanisms of your proposed limbs you need to find a reasonable way to prototype those. I suggest taking community college CAD and CNC courses which I'm doing for other reasons. You can usually get extra personal machine time by volunteering to help the instructor on projects, cleanup and so forth. College instructors are DELIGHTED to get students who are enthusiastic and motivated! Most of the herd are just there to learn the minimum. You need to learn about a variety of industrial processes. For example you may choose to get blanks for some metal parts laser cut to reduce finish machining time. You need to learn about jigs and fixtures. I'm doing all this for fun, and it IS fun. I don't have a personal CNC mill yet (I want an open knee mill since I'm not doing production and those are highly versatile) but do have a manual mill and lathe.
Most metal is not very expensive in small quantities. When buying metal get MULTIPLE quotes because metal prices vary almost randomly among suppliers. Make friends at local machine shops. One way is to drop by and explain what you want to do and ask to buy some scrap to practice on. They may give it to you but that's the courteous thing to do.
Research financial aid at your local community college. They don't get paid unless you get aid and many students turn a modest profit on Pell Grants plus Lottery money. My local CC teaches rapid prototyping along with CAD as some do. If you buy the consumables yours may let you make prosthetic limb prototype parts. Most schools have very small material budgets so bring your own consumables.
What you must learn to do what you want will make you a versatile human. Go for it, but go for it wisely.
Anon, you could help e-nable. Who does exactly this already.
http://enablingthefuture.org/tag/3d-printed-prosthetics/
>>912321
You're probably better of getting a cheapy 3d printer and printing the already available models for the e-nable project.
Creating the artificial limbs of today is work for engineers and doctors.
I highly appreciate the tips guys. It's given me a lot to think about and research.
>>912321
You may need to ask >>>/biz/ about how to best find funding for things like this. I'd suggest the technology fair circuit. Do some interviews. Make some product and presentation. Show it off.
Just remember the field is saturated with this stuff, but it is all high tech and expensive normally. So, you have to sell the fact that this will be a cheap tech that anyone can afford. Making a profit is most investors' motivation. If you want to find true altruistic people then I really wish you good luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLwTJMyoB8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wnnNk91EMs
If you start getting far in this, make sure you get a lawyer who can insulate you from all the retarded paperwork that is involved in fucking everything these days.
>>912321
if you were among the first, sure, you would get funded.
but what the fuck do you have to show for your work right now?
why trust you?
i would start with making a simple design, focus on below the elbow or knee limb replacement. get shit working there first.
i suggest figuring out how to make the long part of the leg and the foot, my idea would be the long part would be the cheap thing that's easily engineered to fit a body, while the foot would be the part that's more intricate, able to change size (for shoes) and how high you stand (fine adjustments for up to 2 inches... than with the 3d printer part, use that to make the outside custom made so it fits the leg with a bit of slop (for growth)
forearm and hand are also kind of self explanatory.
there is good you can do engineering and making these cheaper, but not as a one man operation.
