Tuesday, May 20, 2008

 

Shoe




I lost count of how much I spent on shoes when my daughter was growing up.

I just reprapped a left shoe. It cost me 30 pence...

And, should your child be as financially inconsiderate as mine, and also grow, a quick click on the scale transform in Art of Illusion solves that problem. And scaling by -1 in any single dimension turns left into right...

Here are the parts as they came off my RepRap machine; I used PCL:



I simply welded them together using a coffee cup full of hot water to melt the edges a bit. I'll post the design in the repository shortly when I've made a few final tweaks.

Now for the right foot...

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Comments:
LOL! You're really getting into this, Adrian! Fantastic work! :-D
 
Er, aren't these likely to melt to your daughter's feet the next time we get a warm summer's day, and she walks across a black parking lot or a sandy beach?
 
Yup. But it would be just as easy to make them from HDPE, which would be fine. I just happened to have PCL loaded in the machine at the time. And then there is the British Summer...
 
don't know if anyone's commented on this before - but is there a way to mash this stuff back up into raw 'cables' again to be reused? that way you can remake as she grows, just adding a little more for the extra volume :)
 
Almost - we're working on a granule extruder which will work with plastic pellets. Have RepRap make a shredder, and you have completely local recycling...
 
If only you had posted the design files earlier. I have just rewired my Y axis, because everything I printed came out mirrored. That would've been wonderful to print the right shoe ;)

Seriously, a software invert function would be nice!

I've thought of designing and printing shoes, I thought that they would look stupid, but this sandal design is actually similar to what you see in ordinary shops. I'm not sure whether I could print this, perhaps size 46 (EU) would fit in the reprap Darwin (diagonally?). At least I could print a pair for my girlfriend.
 
How about custom orthotics (shoe inserts for flat feet)? Those usually cost $300-$400. Just need a 3D scanner to digitize your foot.

An analog way might be to take a plaster mold of the sole of your foot for a negative mold, reprap a flat square on top of the plaster to make a positive mold, then reprap another flat square on the positive mold to make your final orthotic. I think that makes sense...

Also, I can't wait till we can RepRap custom Crocs!
 
As soon as I get Tommelise 2.0 running a 3D scanner is my next project.

http://www.3dreplicators.com/cgi-bin/cblog/index.php?/archives/365-Preliminary-measurements-on-the-Sharp-IR-distance-measurement-chip.html


:-)
 
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The weave-like fill was a brilliant way to make the straps! You might consider making the insole to this fill ratio, too, to make blisters a little less likely and for ventilation.

Even with the fill pattern, the mechanical properties of the plastics available would make me nervous about shoes like these. Clogs, designed according to accurate scans of feet, might be safer.
 
I don't think we're competing with W. S. Foster and Son of Jermyn Street*, we're competing with flip-flops.

Having said that, every dimension of a reprapped shoe is bespoke...


*Where, naturally, I rarely tread; they send their man down to the country to measure me for my personal lasts...
 
Fantastic. I have clubbed feet, which has resulted in one leg and foot shorter than the other.

To get normal looking shoes custom made I'm looking at £1300, so I manage with inner soles and pads that never quite do the job as I'd like.

To be able to make my own inner sole would rock!
 
Looks like it was made from ABS. If it were made from PLA would it be possible to make a more rubbery shoe? I am thinking a shore hardness of 60-70 would be about right....
 
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