Toenail Springs

Description

How about an assistive technical fix for the common problem of ingrown toenails.

Toenail Springs -
-Small spring steel strips of differing strength
-Unobtrusive, flat profile
-Etched hole pattern ensures good adhesion
-Flexible superglue with disappearing dye for easy application
-Superglue accelerator pads pre-attached to the spring clips
-Removable with acetone nail polish remover

The idea is to relieve tension on the nail and gently reshape to a flatter profile.

Project Logs

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Preparing bond accelerator pads
oneohm • 10/02/2016 at 22:44 • 0 comments

The idea here is to pre-treat some small fabric/microfiber pads with something that will trigger the glue to cure instantly. I tried some Zip-Kicker, but the results were underwhelming - perhaps the active ingredient evaporated? There are other - even reasonably non-toxic substances that will rapidly cure cyanoacrylates. Baking soda seems to be the best option. Next time I will try to work some baking soda into the pads.
Joined spring assembly
oneohm • 10/02/2016 at 22:37 • 0 comments

A special flexible superglue (octyl/butyl cyanoacrylate blend) allows for a slightly flexible bond preventing the spring from breaking apart as the nail naturally flexes.
https://www.amazon.com/Abbott-Laboratories-GLUture-Topical-Adhesive/dp/B00IJVQVO6
Trimmed and Ready to Join
oneohm • 10/02/2016 at 22:31 • 0 comments

Rounded corners might be nice - perhaps in the next revision...
Rough cut spring strips
oneohm • 10/02/2016 at 22:29 • 0 comments

Here are the rough cut spring segments - with similar width.
Preparing the springs
oneohm • 10/02/2016 at 22:24 • 0 comments

Starting with a sheet of etched screen mesh from E-Fab http://www.efabsales.com/screen-mesh/ I cut some small strips of different widths that included the border. I then trimmed these and glued them together with the border overlapping. The mesh acting as small attachment points on either end.