Local men build 3D printed hand for 8-year-old boy

By Fay Choban, Contributing Writer:

Last fall, a group of local, retired men with backgrounds in science, manufacturing and engineering got together and decided to purchase a 3D printer. 

The men — Reid Becker, Bob Choban, Tom Crocker, Wendell Peterson, Tony Caruso and Dan Ruck, all from the Travelers Rest and Greenville area — were introduced to a worldwide group of volunteers that create prosthetic hands for free on 3D printers, and soon the men were working on a creation of their own.

Working with e-NABLING (enablingthefuture.org), the men were matched up with an 8-year-old boy in Kansas City, Kansas.

After a lot of trial and error, the hand was completed and sent on Jan. 2, and now the boy's mother, school nurse and a physical therapist will take the next steps to get the hand in use.  

{gallery}3D Printed Hand{/gallery}

"It's been a project filled with satisfaction over we've learned and even more over what we have been able to provide," said Bob Choban, adding that the group is looking forward to building many more hands.

In 2014, more than 700 hands were created by e-NABLING volunteers around the globe.