Learning Simple Skills to Improve Quality of Life

bnt83

bnt83

Final Approach
Joined
Dec 31, 2012
Messages
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Location
Lincoln NE
Display Name
Brian
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KLNK
Even though my prosthetics guys are great, great customer service and great attitudes the bottom line is that no one knows my feet better than me. After enduring pain for years I've set out to improve upon what I already had.

Added clay to the foam cushions from my shoes, ready to cast in plaster.




Reference marks on the bottom mold half, greased and ready to pour the top half.




Ready to drill vent/injection holes. Touched up the model with some 220 grit sand paper to smooth the plaster.





Drilled the injection/vent holes and taped the mold together and injected a platinum-cure two-part silicone with a hardness of shore 10A.




Silicone cushion after trimming the flash.



So far so good. I should be able tweak the model and silicone hardness to make the fit and comfort level even better.
 
Wont be that hard.
Just take it one step at a time.
 
youse guys should be kicked in the ass
 
There is something afoot here that just isn't right. :)
 
Take that thing to shark tank. You will be a shoe in for that one.
 
Glad to see you are pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.

.....
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Take that thing to shark tank. You will be a shoe in for that one.
Click to expand...

He certainly would have a leg up on the competition.

Seriously, I love learning new skills you never know when they might come in handy or footy.
 
Wow looked up that silicon gel that stuff while it isn't really expensive it's not cheap either. For the application I imagine that cost isn't a big factor when you are talking every day use and comfort. How long do you suspect one will last?

I wonder if once you got the mold exactly the way you want it if you could have a mold 3D printed?
 
Very cool and what I need. Marfans is causing my feet to not support me any longer. The connective tissues in my feet are giving me problems. Because of this when I step down my feet go flat. I loose the arch. This is causing all sorts of walking problems. I saw this happening a couple years ago and now I know why. It will do nothing but get worse.
Good work.

Tony
 
DFH65 said:
Wow looked up that silicon gel that stuff while it isn't really expensive it's not cheap either. For the application I imagine that cost isn't a big factor when you are talking every day use and comfort. How long do you suspect one will last?

I wonder if once you got the mold exactly the way you want it if you could have a mold 3D printed?
Click to expand...

I don't really know but I imagine at least 6 months. I can usually get a year out of the foam ones IF I cut and add something like a computer mouse pad under them at the 6 month mark. New foams are really hard to break-in and often suck for the first month.

Having them made for me costs a lot when added all together. Time away from work, driving across town then of course paying the bill :yikes:. All of the skills I've worked on this last year, fiberglassing, molding etc, could get me into building better stuff that was only ever intended to fit me. Right now my braces are "three sizes fits all". They buy whatever brace they think will work then trim them to fit whatever shoe is selected.

Here is what they (I have both left and right feet like this). That vertical strut rubs my right ankle a bit



I hope someday day I can build the brace and take a set of shoes off the store shelf and it work for me.
 
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