Non-Assembly Additive Manufacturing of Medical Devices

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, offers a new paradigm for the way functional products are designed, manufactured, and assembled. Its additive nature provides the ability to create complex-shaped parts, without an increase in production time or costs, which would be difficult to produce with conventional manufacturing. In addition,...

3D printer-driven design of a non-assembly titanium surgical instrument using compliant lattice flexures

Metal additive manufacturing is a promising technology for the production of functional medical products, due to its high shape complexity and resolution, and ability to withstand sterilization temperatures. This study explores the possibility of designing a completely non-assembly steerable surgical instrument using Selective Laser Melting....

Exploring High-Precision Non-Assembly Mechanisms: Design of a Vitrectome Mechanism for Eye Surgery

A vitrectome is a commonly used instrument in eye surgery, which is used to cut and aspirate the vitreous body out of the eye. The mechanism of the vitrectome consists of miniature components that need to be assembled by hand due to their size. Non-assembly 3D printing, in which fully functional mechanisms can be produced in a single production...

3D Printed driving mechanism design for a high-speed reciprocating needle used during vitrectomy

Vitrectomy is an often performed procedure during eye surgery and requires a high-precision vitreous cutter. The production of these precise and lightweight vitreous cutters sets high demands on the manufacturing process. Trained technicians must assemble the device step by step and continuously check and validate the manufacturing process....

Design of a Non-Assembly Articulating Neuroendoscopic Forceps

Minimally invasive surgery has some major benefits over traditional open surgery for the patient, but makes surgery more complex for the surgeon. Articulating instruments can regain some of the manoeuvrability that is lost by using a small incision. However, in endoscopic neurosurgery such articulating devices do currently not exist, due to...

Design of non-assembly mechanisms: A state-of-the-art review

Additive Manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing has enabled the production of increasingly complex parts that are difficult to produce with conventional manufacturing methods. Its additive nature has made it possible to create interlocking parts in a single production step. This creates opportunities for new ways of designing and producing...

A Fully 3D-Printed Steerable Instrument for Minimally Invasive Surgery

In the field of medical instruments, additive manufacturing allows for a drastic reduction in the number of components while improving the functionalities of the final design. In addition, modifications for users’ needs or specific procedures become possible by enabling the production of single customized items. In this work, we present the...

Additive manufacturing of non-assembly deployable mechanisms for the treatment of large bony defects

Porous biomaterials are often used to treat large bony defects or fractured vertebras. Most of such biomaterials are made of metals and their alloys and have a pre-defined, fixed shape. Due to their predefined fixed shape, however, they are not suitable for implantation through minimally invasive surgical procedures. To overcome this problem,...

Development of a non-assembly 3D printed driving mechanism for a vitreous cutter

During a vitrectomy procedure vitreous is removed from the eye with a vitreous cutter, called a vitrectome. This instrument is comprised of two needles that move to cut the vitreous into small pieces before aspirating them. Vitreous cutters are complex instruments that are light and small in size to increase their accuracy. Because of their...

MonoFlex: A 3D-Printed Non-Assembly Steerable Instrument

The DragonFlex, world’s first 3D-printed steerable Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) instrument, showing promising results for the medical field, is made by means of 3D-printing, and features simple assembly, while exhibiting high bending stiffness. In this research, the possibilities with additive manufacturing are explored even further, by...

Additive manufacturing of non-assembly mechanisms

Fabrication of complex and multi-articulated mechanisms is often seen as a time consuming and demanding process. The development of functional multi-articulated mechanisms that could be fabricated in a single step without the need for post-manufacturing assembly is therefore very attractive. Additive manufacturing (AM) has been pointed out as...

Ten guidelines for the design of non-assembly mechanisms: The case of 3D-printed prosthetic hands

In developing countries, prosthetic workshops are limited, difficult to reach, or even non-existent. Especially, fabrication of active, multi-articulated, and personalized hand prosthetic devices is often seen as a time-consuming and demanding process. An active prosthetic hand made through the fused deposition modelling technology and fully...