The Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast
The Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast is a deep dive into what 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing mean for prosthetics and orthotics. We’re Brent and Joris both passionate about 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing. We’re on a journey together to explore the digitization of prostheses and orthoses together. Join us! Have a question, suggestion or guest for us? Reach out. Or have a listen to the podcast here. The Prosthetic and Orthotic field is experiencing a revolution where manufacturing is being digitized. 3D scanning, CAD software, machine learning, automation software, apps, the internet, new materials and Additive Manufacturing are all impactful in and of themselves. These developments are now, in concert, collectively reshaping orthotics and prosthetics right now. We want to be on the cutting edge of these developments and understand them as they happen. We’ve decided to do a podcast to learn, understand and explore the revolution in prosthetics and orthotics.
The Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast
Design, High Flow, High Volume...Daily with Diego Suarez
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We’re delighted to introduce Diego Suarez from Bionic Prosthetics and Orthotics, whose extraordinary journey from a sports injury to an inspiring career helping those with physical challenges will leave you motivated and full of appreciation for the impact of resilience.
Ever wondered how cutting-edge 3D printing technology is revolutionizing prosthetic fabrication? Discover the detailed workflow of a central lab that serves multiple clinics, utilizing tools like Omega Willowood, MeshMixer, and a variety of slicers such as Simplify 3D, PrusaSlicer, and SuperSlicer. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each software and provide insights into optimizing material usage with different printing modes. This is a treasure trove of technical knowledge for anyone passionate about the future of prosthetics.
Innovation doesn’t stop at technology; it extends to materials too. Explore the advancements in prosthetic materials with us, featuring polycarbonate, TPU, and varioshore. Diego Suarez shares his excitement about MJF printing technology and its potential for creating complex structures. For those new to 3D printing, Diego offers invaluable advice on starting with affordable direct extruder printers and mastering design tools like MeshMixer and Fusion 360. This episode is full of expert tips, personal experiences, and practical guidance to push your prosthetic and orthotic skills to the next level.
Brought to you by Advanced 3D and Comb.
Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast Season Opener
Speaker 1Welcome to Season 9 of the Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast. This is where we chat with experts in the field, patients who use these devices, physical therapists and the vendors who make it all happen. Our goal To share stories, tips and insights that ultimately help our patients get the best possible outcomes. Tune in and join the conversation. We are thrilled you are here and hope it is the highlight of your day.
Speaker 2Hello everyone, my name is Joris Peebles and this is another edition of the Prosthetics and Orthotics podcast with Brent Wright. How you doing, brent?
Speaker 1Hey, joris, I'm doing well. Man, we are rock and rolling in full throws for AOPA. Man, rock and rolling in full throws for.
Speaker 2AOPA man.
Speaker 1So we're going to have to get some times on your schedule because I think we're going to have some people kind of signing up and hopefully you can make a few of those interviews.
Speaker 2Oh, that would be really awesome, dude. I think it's a really cool idea. I'm still a little bit kind of worried about the technical part of that, but I think it's a really wonderful idea. Anyway, hey, I can't't. Yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 1You just don't have faith in me, do you? You know?
Speaker 2no, I know, I just. I just think it's just a lot more complicated than what we're doing now.
Speaker 1You know actually, um, I don't think it's going to be that bad. I've been practicing with a couple of um the road go wireless, two mics and it's. So it's a, it'll be. I'll be able to be on a separate track and the guests will be on a separate track and then we'll have you in on this platform here and I think we're going to be good to go, and then we'll run um a video off of, uh, a camera. I but I don't think I actually am probably going to have less equipment there than I do right now. Okay, all right, all right, that sounds really, really exciting. So do we have a sponsor for this episode? Whether you want to learn to scan, design definitive sockets, test sockets, wherever you want to be, we want to help you out on that journey.
Speaker 2Okay, that sounds really cool. Man, that sounds really really nice. And how about Comb? Are they still sponsoring us?
Speaker 1Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2Yeah, so Comb is really cool, right? So Comb is a scanning product that you could use, or your customers could use, and you could use just your iPhone, or use, and you could use just your iphone or your phone to do it, and, um, I don't know, it works. I've tried it out, I've tested it, you've tested it as well.
Speaker 1And uh, yeah, I'm a huge fan yeah, well, and I think they do, uh do a great job on having it scan wherever you are, you know, resident on your phone and, and I just really like that. They are, I say, for clinicians, by clinicians, and I think that does make a big difference.
Speaker 2Totally. We really notice that when we interview people that there is a really big difference if someone is actually a practitioner and they take that knowledge and those needs and they transform it into a tool or a product. So, yeah, I do think that's one of the reasons why comb is such a good thing. So, um, who's on the show today? Right?
Speaker 1yeah, well, we don't have a long suffering guest like we did. Uh, we put ben right through the last time. Man, we, we went into the weeds with some of the the printing stuff.
Speaker 1But you know I think that was very cool. But I'm really looking forward to having uh diearez on the podcast today. He is with Bionic and pretty much anything that gets made. He that goes from Bionic he's probably touched in some way and you know we've had Tony and Sagar on very early on in the podcast. So I'm really looking forward to hearing from the kind of the technical side and hearing Diego's journey as he got into the field. I think our listeners are going to get a lot out of it.
Speaker 3Super cool. So welcome to the show, diego, thank you. Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here. It's an honor.
Speaker 2Okay, calm down. No.
Speaker 3This podcast is awesome.
Speaker 2So how did you get involved with OMP Diego?
Speaker 3So I always wanted to study. Well, it's a whole little story there. I always wanted to be an engineer, since my parents were engineers and my older brother was also studying engineering, but I wasn't sure in which specific field I wanted to be Till my last part of my senior year of high school, when I broke, or I tore my ACL. I was a lot into sports and competitive basketball at that time, and injuries are part of it, like or not. Every day that this happened. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my future. And well, that day I was in so much pain, obviously, but above all, I was very frustrated because college was approaching and my hopes to play college basketball was falling apart at that moment. But something unexpected happened. After my appointment with the doctor, I had my first contact with an amputee. I was very bad. I was so sad that day when, suddenly, this person approached and lifted my spirit I'll never forget. With a big smile and confidence, he told me that difficult times are part of life, but at the end, you know, things happen and it's upon us to get up, enjoy life and see the positive. You know the positive side, and I was shocked. That day I was like this guy is missing his whole leg and living with such a positive attitude, positive energy. Then I knew I wanted to give back that positive fire feeling that I had at that moment to these people with physical difficulties or an amputation. And yeah, people with physical difficulties or you know, an amputation and yep.
Speaker 3But the problem is well, I am from Mexico, so we didn't have that's not a problem. But in Mexico there's not a prosthetics and orthotics program there. So, searching among my careers or you know like opportunities that I had, I found out like biomedical engineer could have been the closest thing to OMP. So I went ahead and apply. I got accepted. I really enjoy my bachelor's. The only problem is that I did not learn anything about prosthetics or orthotics at all until I did my thesis project because I really wanted it. So I did my thesis project in this regard and yep, now here we uh, working for an awesome company and, little by little, making my my way through the prosthetic and orthotic field so wait, you said there's no, there's no degree for orthotics, prosthetics, nothing like that in mexico it's like now they are, they just have one, we have one, um, but I was already like in uh, the my eighth semester.
Speaker 3So I was already in my eighth semester, so I was already finishing my semester, and even though right now it's not certified by ISPO or anything like that yet, at least from what I know probably they are fighting for certification internationally, but at least from what I read about this program, they were still making their way through the program as well.
Speaker 2And do you think as a biomechanical engineer, do you have a different approach? Do you think them prosthetists and orthopedists? Do you think you have a really different way of looking at a problem?
Speaker 3I guess we have our advantages. You see a lot more on the I don't know patient care, you know like relationship with patients in general, because all you get during your bachelor's or your degree is contact with machines in general. So that's something good, but at the same time, at least for this field, it's not the best. You're not having any exposure to creating relationships and really speaking with other than your colleagues around. So I think that's the disadvantage, but it does have some advantages. Well, at least I went a lot through the uh, digital side, designing side a little bit and, uh, you know, finite element analysis and all that thing, uh, that I feel like at some point can help, um, you know, on on the material science and all that stuff, um, I feel that that's our advantage and there's good ways that can be um, or good things that can be used there okay, that's cool.
Speaker 2And then, and did you also then quite quickly find 3d printing then, because you're, you've got this digital workflow stuff found, uh, set up so, yeah, um, I didn't want to go to a hospital after my college degree.
Speaker 3As a resident, I try to avoid hospitals at all costs, and I applied to all the O&P clinics, all the mom and pop clinics around my city, even in different cities in Mexico, but I couldn't get an opportunity. So I ended up in a company that focused on reverse engineering, solid works they do a lot of solid work courses and 3D printing and I started my journey there because I was like, well, I really like prosthetics and orthotics. Right now I don't have any opportunity there, but I definitely will be able to lever a little bit from the designing side and I mean it worked.
Speaker 2And in your daily, like working, life. How important is 3D printing for you? Is it like every day, every day, all the time, or is it something you use a lot?
Speaker 3So, yeah, I'll day every day, all the time. Or is it just something you use a lot? Or um, so yeah, I, I'll say every day, every time? Um, here in bionic we, we use, you know this beautiful high flow machines from um film innovations all the time. Uh, obviously I didn't start it with all this. I started with the Yandere 3, as most I've heard in this podcast, and then I went through some Prusa machines and I was starting to do like my own.
Speaker 3You know, first prints there in Mexico, but now I feel like it's a day-to-day thing. We print check sockets every single day. Or sometimes we print we call them fill-in lamps, that is like a thinner check socket just to print the mold, and we save the time of shipping and sometimes even the cost will be less than shipping the mold and all that. So I feel like we use a lot of traditional too here. But 3D printing is part of the whole process. Sometimes we also do some definitives now out of CPX or Pyramax. Yeah, I think I get a little bit of 3D printing and a little bit of traditional all the time. So I still get dirty, but not as much as just traditional.
Speaker 2Okay, and what's your feeling about 3D printing? Is it just like you know, it's just a technology, or it's the future of everything? Or what's your feeling about, like, how applicable they are to our arena?
3D Printing Workflow and Materials
Speaker 3outside. My feelings towards 3D printing are like I don't know. I feel like everything is going to move towards there. I enjoy it so much. I see so many advantages on the 3D printing side. I'm not saying that traditional is not good, but there's a lot more steps involved. Whenever you have the proper equipment, the proper knowledge and the proper personnel to run a 3D printing lab, it can definitely take over most of the traditional. So my feelings are great about 3D printing. I love 3D printing and I mean let's let's embrace, embrace the change little by little. Okay.
Speaker 2And then and talk a little bit about your workflow. You saw, so mostly you use filament innovations, so mostly FDM kind of big, large, high flow, but also some desktop type machines and stuff.
Speaker 3So stuff, so so what's your workflow? What kind of software do you use for, for for the stuff you do? So we use, um, obviously some phone, um scanners to get um. Well, let's say, first we work, uh, I work here in the central fab and we work for around 50 clinics, um Bionic and a couple externals. So they send the digital data and we start our prosthetic journey with Omega Willowood most of the times Because I feel like, even though it takes away the colors which I do appreciate colors in the scan, I feel like it's a pretty straightforward software and Hume Bionic they've been using it for a long time and once you get it, it's easy, very powerful to clean the mesh and do clinical modifications. So we started the clinical modifications there and then we move on to MeshMixer. I've been using MeshMixer for I don't know six years probably Calm down, joris, calm down.
Speaker 2MeshMixer is the best.
Speaker 1Yeah, oh, my goodness, the whole business industry drives mesh mixer.
Speaker 2The digitization effort of the whole industry is mesh mixer, Honestly.
Speaker 3I mean you can even do most of the modification of the clinical modifications there. It's quite hard to get you know circumferential measurements from the molds there, but there's ways you can get it. It's just going to take a lot more time. That's why we go to Omega, because you have all those measurements there. But you can honestly do it all in Measure Mixer if you know how to use it. Obviously it's going to take some more time. So we pretty much use MechMixer just to design the shell of the socket and connect it to the if it's a pinlock, to the pinlock dummy or the suspension systems there. But yeah, mechmixer, great, I can. I won't deny it is. It's great, it's free, um, yeah awesome and what else?
Speaker 2anything any other software like? Do you use cad as well or not, really, or?
Speaker 3yeah, like we use fusion 360 every now and then. We print all our cosmetic covers on the Desco printers and they are designed in a way we just put two measurements the greater cuff circumference from the socket and the height, and I decided in a way where the shape it will just adjust. So we use for that Desco, you know, artillery printers most of the time, or Neptune illegal printers for those big covers, but for sockets, obviously we use the filament innovations and we use most of the time Simplify 3D software for slicing. I think it's pretty straightforward, unless we need to do something more specialized. I'll say more than specialized, different. I use PrusaSlicer SuperSlicer for some other projects. I love PrusaSlicer SuperSlicer. I'll say they are even I like them more than Simplify. But I try to be honest with myself and you know like, use the software where I feel like it's gonna be just easier, um to use at the time. But I definitely, I definitely love to use also the prusa slicer super slicer for for the other printers okay, and then and super slash.
Speaker 2I'm not really familiar with that, I think. Why do you like it? Why do you like that one? Because it's a bit of a new one, for me at least.
Speaker 3Well, I think it's. I think it doesn't need to go to SuperSlicer. Most of the times I stay on PrusaSlicer, which they are super similar Like. Everything is so alike. Prusaslicer sorry, superslicer will give you just a couple more settings or controls than PrusaSlicer. But I'll say it's very hard to really get to those very specific ones. But I did a couple of my settings from some printers on PrusaSlicer so I just use it, but I never really touch much those you know like very specific settings, maybe every now and then, but not really. So I say they are like pretty much the same. Honestly, at least in this field we don't use those specialized different settings from SuperSlicer.
Speaker 2Okay, yeah, and SuperFile was really weird Because I remember I was doing a competitive analysis on them in the beginning and it was like, yeah, it's like Cura, but you pay, you pay for it and I guess the interface is a bit more better for if you're a cam person, you know. And then at one point they started adding features and it didn't become quite powerful and, like you know, being dialing your support kind of, you know putting your support particular areas, was really nice feature. Then they kind of like stopped adding it. You, they stopped improving it for like a really long time. It was like, what are you doing? Are you hibernating or something? Do you still recognize? Like, would you still recommend like Simplify, or are you like, well, we have it, so we use it, it's fine.
Speaker 3So I feel processes. I feel like it makes it so easy to split process. So I do, I love to do base mode, uh, you know like the conical shape the conical professional and like base mode, Yoris the peanut gallery, at least those two.
Speaker 3Base mode works perfect there. But what I like to do is go base mode till my trim line starts. So I print my bottom layers with the pin lock holes and all that. But then I turn into base mode and then whenever I get to my first trim line I turn the layer by layer. You know, I turn off the base mode and I print the trim lines already there.
Speaker 3So sometimes we go all the way base mode and we just trim it by hand and you know, grind it down, buff it down and grind it down, buff it down. But when you combine or split process you can save around one quarter of the material and one quarter of the time pretty much printing. Because that wall that is going to be trimmed takes like if it's an AK, for example, it takes a long time to print because it goes to the same speed as the other. You know walls of the entire socket and it's a huge bunch of material that you're going to cut. So for AKs it's like having those small or fast detours without printing material. It just makes it so much faster and you save a lot of material as well.
Speaker 2And how about materials? You mentioned a couple. What kind of materials do you guys use?
Speaker 3So, on 3D printing, we mainly ptg all the time. Uh, we use uh cpx or this copoly um carbon max, which is pretty much cpx with some carbon fiber reinforced uh, but we also use tpu for. So we also do a lot of TPU definitives like 3D printed flexible inners with 3D print, and then we go traditional and we laminate over that. But it saves you the whole modification on plaster because we modify everything on CAD and you have a flexible inner with the same thickness pretty much all over the surface instead of, you know, thermoforming traditionally, which it's also good, but it's, you know, you can't control the thickness all the way. So we do a lot of that, so we print a lot of TPU for those.
Speaker 3We also print every now and then virus shore. We just finished one cool project that Brent was involved there, designing a high foot, high heel foot, sorry for a Siamese prosthesis and we did the Various Shore shell of that food and I mean we have printed also some inner sockets with virus shore. So we also do virus shore every now and then and I guess that's pretty much it Like.
Speaker 2Sometimes we have used, you know, um, polycarbonate, um, but it's not something that we use with, you know every single day, even pla or any other like you know materials, but that's not on our daily basis stuff so if you look at the zvara shore right where if um, where you can change the shore hardness by changing the temperature, just for people listening, so you can get a different kind of thing, and also TPU, where you can do something similar but then you'd have to design structures that change the shore and how it responds, are you very excited about these inners and making these inner type touching the person surfaces more advanced through these flexible materials, surfaces more advanced through these flexible materials, because there's a lot you could do there right To really change the way they feel and change the way they operate in connection with the leg or the arm or whatever?
Speaker 3Definitely. I love like that. I love Barrier Shore. I love the way you can control the properties of it depending on your settings With the TPU and also Barrier Shore, if you really want to create some air pockets or anything like that.
Speaker 3We cannot go high flow or, you know, like base mode and you know. So that's pretty much one of the limitations of, you know, high flow. You pretty much are putting the same hardness on the whole socket. On that regard, you'll need to use traditional small layers and multiple perimeters and infill. So you can control a little bit more of that, which we do it too, but again, it's not on the daily basis, it's more like very specific patients that will need that, that need that, uh. But we also print very short um base mode. So it's pretty much, you know, sealed or the whole layers or the whole print is the same thickness and if you have um, your settings right and your temperatures like around 230 degrees or 240, depending on, I think it depends on where you are and like the environment you're praying to.
Speaker 3But all that you can control and it's a lot more cushioning than a regular 98A short harness TPU. But I mean depending on on the, on the patient, well, or the practitioner um request, we we make our decision there, but normally for just a inner socket, uh, we do vase mode or we try to go vase mode or also when it's like overhanging a lot vase mode, you know won't help much. So on that we also do regular print mode with supports every now and then. But we're really focusing on providing care, or you know, these devices to a lot of of practitioners. That we go high flow to speed up things and um, you know all the daily, daily basis work is it doesn't really require, uh, to control like or to have air pockets or you know soft um areas. With that they they pretty much can do cutouts on the rigid shelf so that will give it a little bit more room to make it softer in, I don't know, fibula, head or the tibia or whatever. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2And I think maybe people don't understand the high flow as opposed to just having regular material extrusion FDM printers. It's a huge difference. We're talking like print something in an hour that would take eight or three or four. It's a really, really dramatic difference from a, you know, as a business perspective, or also just getting something done within the shift perspective or getting it to your customer within that day or within that timeframe. It's a big, big difference, right.
Speaker 3It is huge, like a regular size bk will take uh, less than an hour on ptg, maybe two hours on flexible uh and the same size socket on on um, on a. You know, layer by layer will take, I don't know, nine, ten, 10, 12, 24.
Speaker 1You know a lot of hours depending on what they request or the size of it. So, Yoris, another cool fun fact about Diego is he went to Guatemala with me.
Speaker 2That's super cool, dude. That's super cool. Did Brent teach you lots of Spanish to get there?
Speaker 3and interact with everyone. Yeah, he surprised me. I thought he didn't speak Spanish.
Speaker 2I don't know We've never spoken Spanish. He does. Well, we could have done this whole podcast in Spanish, apart from me. I think kind of, but Brent's a little bit further than Yomiyama, right.
Speaker 3I'll be cool if you want to turn into spanish, I feel that I'm gonna be a lot more fluid we've got, uh, the the key words right banyo and una cerveza cada mano. Right, you speak way better than that. Don't lie to us um yeah, guatemala was a highlight, definitely yeah.
Speaker 2Have you ever been there? Have you ever been there Like before in Guatemala or that kind of area or?
Speaker 3not Chiapas, mexico, maybe that's the closest, okay, okay, and I crossed the border, walking, just like visiting there, but it was just like visiting a little market that is right on the border, that's it. That that's the further south I went, but this time I went a little southern, southern with with brent and the team, uh, the life enabled team, and it was awesome. I mean, um, I haven't, so what did you?
Speaker 3sorry, well, sorry, go on yeah, that I haven haven't been like into the clinical side much. So that was one of the very first approach to it and I really enjoyed it and I'm still managing or, you know, like seeing the way I can manage or make my clinical side as well At some point. I wanted to study the master's. At this time. I don't you know like how crazy the school is here in the United States and the United States is the only place that they accept people that doesn't have a prosthetic orthotic degree, you know, into prosthetics and orthotic masters, so you can become a clinician there. So I'm still managing that. But Guatemala was a great example that I really want to be involved with some of the clinical side as well at some point.
Speaker 2Okay, cool. And what was it like? Being kind of? You know you're not in your lab, you're not with a whole bunch of people around you. It's more improvised, right like as an environment. What was that like?
Speaker 3Oh, that was crazy. I was getting ready to laminate and to. I knew it was going to be a lot more traditional than 3D printing and such, which I don't mind, I also have good skills on the traditional side. But I was not expecting just plastic and I know it was probably like dumb of me not expecting that, because in Mexico it's like that as well. Dumb of me not expecting that because in Mexico it's like that as well, like there's companies doing, you know, final laminations and such, but most of the people can only afford, you know, like polypropylene sockets and you know basic componentries and such.
Speaker 3And in Guatemala it's the same and I don same and I know I've never I was never involved in anything like that. So also I really enjoyed to see that and how things are in, you know, countries like mine and Guatemala. So I enjoyed to to have that exposure. But, as I say, I wasn't really expecting that and like there's not much time to check sockets, so also, pretty much it fits, or it fits at the first one. And that's something that I was amazed with. Brent and I think Brent have also mentioned Audrey and Sophie and the whole team there. They were awesome, they were making the devices fit somehow and just learning that part it was amazing and being involved of pushing out the devices as soon as possible, because time is limited there and resources too. I mean I think it was like one of the best experiences in my young OMP career so far. So it was so great.
Speaker 1Well, and Diego's pretty humble about it. So we did some 3d printing projects. Uh, he actually uh did a arm for a little girl. That was. It was pretty awesome. So it allowed her to do a um uh like hold a pencil. It had kind of this it was all built out of tpu so it had this like split finger type of thing that, um, she could jam stuff in if she wanted to, like papers or tools or whatever. So that was one of the cool projects.
Speaker 1And then we also had another one where a family donated an electric bike to a kid that has cerebral palsy no spina bifida and so it allows him to get around. It's a three-wheeled, I say bike, it's a tricycle, three-wheeled tricycle but battery powered. And but one of the things was it was hard for him to keep his feet on the pedals, and so Diego whipped up some pedal platforms that we actually attached to the pedals. So those were some pretty cool projects. We had a bamboo, uh a1 down there and uh, I mean it really performed well. So there's just a lot of room for 3d printing in those kind of specialized things where you wouldn't be able to traditionally fabricate that stuff, and it'd be very good that's cool and and what do you think?
Speaker 2I mean, I think we're always talking about, like ways of helping and stuff and what actually works and stuff and did you get any insight about, like what would actually allow you to, let's say, you know, offer kind of a life-enabled type service to more people? Is it more printers, more people? What would you guys need to do this, you know, more often and make this much bigger?
Speaker 3The way they do things have a lot of sense. They don't want to go to parts of Guatemala where other prosthetists are there and taking business out of there. But still there's people that can't really or that doesn't live like very close to Petén Is it San Benito Petén? But they still go and travel like there, because they need the care and there's still not nobody over there like they can't provide that care and and obviously most of the people won't want to afford it. So I guess 3d print will definitely be a great aid. So I mean people like brand Brent can design from here and not actually need it to be there all the time and somebody can just feed the patient, probably having also the clinician on the video call or something it's go to. To go definitive, um, they can do probably a term of term of uh, just just like the term of forming plastics that they do for for definitive there, that they might be a little strong, a little more stronger, unless you take a you know a bigger or you know a more specialized printer there that can print uh, more stronger materials in general. That that will be even even more helpful because you can go from all the way to definitive from a 3D printer.
Speaker 3And then this technician or someone I mean Brent also have some people there that I mean I was also amazed how much knowledge they had on the prosthetic side. Forgot his name, marlon, right, yeah, like he lives close by, but he's been with Brent for some years or many years already and even though he's not like a clinician or anything like that, he knows the basics and if someone can just help him, you know, live online doing some extra tweaking, I feel like there's not a need to be there, especially if it's like follow-up meetings and such. But the way they do things and they do all the meetings on a single week, you can really see a lot of patients on that week and I feel like that's also important and I feel like that's also important having the clinician going at least every now and then. But 3D printing will definitely help to see a lot more patients on a regular basis, not just once or twice a year.
Getting Started With 3D Printing
Speaker 2That's very cool, diego. I'm happy about you that you're so enthusiastic about the digital side of things and stuff like that. Once or twice a year, that's very cool, diego. And then I'm happy about you that you're so enthusiastic about the digital side of things and stuff like that. I mean, I think if you look to the future, do you think you're going to be looking? You know there's MGF and sintering powder bed fusion stuff. Are you you know, are you going to explore that? Or are you really into like more and more FDM and faster, better FDM, uh or material extrusion type technology?
Speaker 3I I'll definitely will be down to try um, mjf and all that. I feel like the things that you can accomplish like, especially like, for example, the TPUs, uh, inner sockets, uh, all the lattices, the signs and um, I don't know, all that is very cool and I, I've seen it from brand, I've seen it for for many other uh practitioners. I mean the outcomes are great and um, I, I look forward to that at some point. Obviously it's not as easy just to jump to mjf, uh, you know, from one day to another uh, but definitely is something that, um, that I am personally uh down to try and and I mean, I mean I'll be amazed, you know, to be able to.
Speaker 3I feel like a lot of the limitations that FDM have are not longer limitations there. So definitely it's not just that I'm thinking of MJF, oh, fdm, sorry, which you know it has a lot of advantages as well. So probably choosing, like having your catalog and being able to decide on which one to use on the specific circumstances, will be the most beneficial part. Not just going all the way to MGF or FDM. I feel like having those or even sometimes uh resin you know resin printing uh for like very cosmetic, you know like upper limb extremity, or you know like fingers and such, can also be very beneficial. So I feel like just 3D printing in general and all these technologies have something to give for, for the to give for the field, and if you are capable and knowledgeable enough to know which one to use on the specific circumstances will be the best.
Speaker 1So, diego, we have a lot of listeners that you know. They listen and they think what we. You know, the 3D printing stuff is cool, but then they go back to the lab, they get busy and life goes on right. It's like you want to start but you don't know how to start. Can you give our listeners just some basics on? Hey, this is a great place to start, whether it's a resource, whether it's like a scanning, ipod scanning or whatever it is, how do you get going? And then you know, kind of map out a journey, maybe that at least gets people moving in the right direction, where it doesn't tie up a whole bunch of time.
Speaker 3Okay, yeah a whole bunch of time. Okay, yeah, I'll say, getting connected with people doing it and don't be afraid to get your first cheap 3D printer. I mean, you don't really need to think of buying the super cool high-flow printer at that stage. So just buy one little printer, If possible a direct extruder, so you can print multiple. So that's something I will change. Instead of buying the Endertree Abodin system, I will definitely go directly to a cheap, direct one. So I definitely will encourage them to buy a cheap one with a direct extruder printer.
Speaker 3Start, you know, tweaking the slicer. Like there are like a lot of information on the internet where you can start with profiles and it doesn't matter if your printer, your print, is going to take a couple days to finish. Then you'll get to um, uh, starting you know changing like nozzles and stuff like that. Uh, just to make your, your prints faster. I definitely will encourage that. But at the same time, you obviously um and probably even more important um, you know, starting with your designing skills. Um, I mean, I think this will be like the 50 time that somebody says this in this podcast. But start with mesh mixeresh. Mixer is great. Scan your own leg or whatever there's free. Maybe not as specialized or accurate scanners for the iPhone like Scandi Pro, and all this, honestly, is not my idea. Also go and follow Lehman Lattice and Derek. He's great on YouTube. He was a huge part of my starting journey, so also shout out to him and Lehman Lattice. So also go there and start with some designing with.
Speaker 3You know, Fusion oh sorry, Mesh Mixer and if you want to start doing some parametrical as well, I'll say Fusion. Fusion is great for starting Again, I've heard it many times in this podcast and but you know I back up that. Fusion is also great for for parametrical and also it has good, good um tools for some lattice and some um, you know, like surfaces. I did my socket, my PC socket, on solid works and brutal. You know it was a pain and like the thickness came out very bad. I don't know like, skip the SOLIDWORKS part and if you're going to just go to the and it's expensive, but as a student you have also some free license opportunities there. But I mean also Fusion. So I'll say, go for for fusion. It has very good uh advantages for for this field specifically all right, that's some some sage advice there, diego.
Speaker 2Hey, diego, thank you so much for being with us today and and sharing your experience with us today. Of course, thank you guys for having me and brent, thank you for being here as well. I know you enjoyed this oh, this was great.
Speaker 1Yeah and uh, if if you're not following Diego on LinkedIn, you need to be. He does some really cool stuff.
Speaker 3Appreciate it.
Speaker 2Well, you as well, and yeah, I hope you enjoyed listening to our podcast. This is an episode of the Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast. Have a great day.
Speaker 1Hey, and that wraps up another episode of the Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast. A big thank you to Diego Suarez for sharing his expertise and insights today. If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure you hit the subscribe button so you never miss out on future episodes. And a special thank you to our sponsors, ComScan and Advance3D. And thank you for listening. We'll catch you on the next time on the Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast.
