4 Mar 2018

A third finger design iteration, made to look more aesthetically like a fictional humanoid finger. The design is based off of a ball jointed style of design for each joint, but using a hinged based system. Design has also been optimised for 3D printing, using the least amount of support possible whilst maintaining strength and aesthetic. The finger has similar benefits of previous designs but with the change of a single cord path to actuate the finger. The use of a single cord is fairly common within 3D printed prosthetic cord actuated designs, however, whilst it does allow for under actuation of each joint, it introduces uncertainty into the position and precision of the finger. In comparison to the previous V1 finger design,  V1 cord path allows for predictable and fixed angles when actuation, but at the cost of difficult assembly and issues with increase cord segments and attachments.

Features:
- Improved aesthetics
- Maintained printability
- Low support requirements
- Extremely durable design with low wear and high load bearing joints
- Basic material requirements, nylon string, elastic cord and nylon filament
- Tested in PLA and ABS

Specs:
- 25mm cord actuation
- 3 joint finger
- Print supports required only on the underside of the hinges
- Nylon hinges

Further Work:
- Better cord attachment method
- Method of improving precision
- Reduce exposed cords to reduce wear from use
- Use of better elastic, spring or other methods for opening actuation
- Possible changes to joint quantity for adapting to different design requirements
- General finger design improvements, e.g. better printability, improved assembly, etc.