Jul 13, 2017 | By Benedict
Using a DeltaWASP 4070 3D printer, Italian orthopedic company Porzio has created a 3D printed leg prosthesis for championship surfer Fabio Secci. The multidisciplinary athlete recently completed a triathlon using the 3D printed prosthesis.
Even if having a prosthesis doesn’t restrict your lifestyle in any way—and that’s certainly something that athlete Fabio Secci, the first Sardinian to represent Italy in the stand category at the ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship, can claim—it’s still great to be able to make that prosthesis your own.
Secci, whose appearance at the 2016 Championship in California was just one example of his incredible sporting life, has recently received a 3D printed prosthesis that he describes as an “artwork.” The prosthetic leg is customized in terms of fit, color, and shape.
Printed on a DeltaWASP 4070 3D printer by Italian orthopedic company Porzio, the 3D printed prosthesis weighs less than 800 grams, and has delighted both its creator and its wearer. The prosthesis took around 18 hours to print.
“I am totally satisfied with the result,” said Marco Avaro of WASPmedical, the medical 3D printing arm of WASP. "It took less than 18 hours to achieve an absolutely perfect extension, characterized by extreme sturdiness thanks to a new conception filament.”
Avaro has been involved in the 3D printed prosthetics game for several years. We wrote about his technique for 3D printing prostheses on a DeltaWASP 3D printer way back in February 2015.
Secci has already put this latest 3D printed prosthesis through its paces, having competed in a triathlon held at Buckinghamshire’s Dorney Lake on May 29. The race involved 400 meters of swimming, 10 km of cycling, and 2.5 km of running, all of which the 3D printed leg prosthesis was able to handle.
And the multidisciplinary athlete isn’t planning to stop there. Upcoming competitions include an obstacle-filled “tough mudder” race and a hurdles race.
Now living in London, Secci is currently a wakeboarding instructor at Wakeplus and WakeUpDocklands. He also founded the organization F-Yourlimit, which encourages people with missing limbs to take up adaptive water sports.
The DeltaWASP 4070 is an FDM 3D printer with a build volume of 300 x 300 x 600 mm. It has an XY resolution of 12 microns, a minimum layer height of 100 microns, and a printing speed of 200 mm/s.
WASP, the Italian 3D printing company behind the DeltaWASP, launched three new 3D printers and two new extruders earlier this year.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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