assembling
remember to take pictures during the assembly process!
what to buyBefore assembling your freshly-printed hand, you'll need a few supplies.
Super quick easy version: If you think you'll just be doing the one hand, or if you want to make life super easy, you can buy this kit, which has everything you need. They offer a discount since we're doing this for a charitable cause, you need to email them (instructions on the product page linked above). Print-a-lot version: If you intend to print more than one of these, buying kits isn't sustainable and can be costly. Here are the sources I use for the materials, bringing the per-hand cost down drastically. Velcro - Hookandloop.com Tensioner Screws - Boltdepot.com - #6 x 3/4 (I usually buy the box of 100) Velcro Screws - Boltdepot.com - #4 x 1/4 (again, buy the box of 100) Fingertips - Amazon.com - optional but a nice touch (buy two boxes) Padding - Patterson Medical Stretchy Cord - Hobby Lobby (we use 1.5mm normally, sometimes 2mm) Non-stretchy cord - Amazon (65 or 100 lb test Dyneema braided fishing line) |
getting startedOk, you've printed the hand successfully and you procured all the supplies you need? Great! Let's get everything prepared so that we can start assembling.
Remember, these sizes are for the file we've linked. If you scale the file up to print a bigger hand or scale down to print a smaller one, you'll need to adjust these numbers accordingly. First, we need to prepare the raw supplies. If you bought the super quick easy kit, you can skip this part. If you bought the supplies in bulk, keep reading. 1. Cut the Velcro into strips, you need one of each length (in inches) - 9, 8, 5 2. Cut the non-stretchy cord (fishing line) into 10 inch lengths, you'll need 5. 3. Cut the stretchy cord into 6 inch lengths, you'll need 5. 4. Grab 5 tensioner screws and set them aside. 5. Cut the padding into a 1.5 inch wide strip (assuming 5 inches tall padding). You really don't need much padding, you'll see that once you get to that step in the videos. |
Can't see or access the YouTube videos below? Here they all are a public Google Drive folder or a Dropbox public folder. Need them a different way? Let us know!
ATENCIÓN: Nuestros videos ya están disponibles en español! Haz clic aqui para verlos.
step 1 - laying out the partsstep 3 - wrist and gauntletstep 5 - tensioner pinsstep 7 - beginning to stringstep 9 - more stringingstep 11 - tensioner screwsstep 13 - parts checkstep 15 - velcro part 1step 17 - final checks |
step 2 - finger assemblystep 4 - connecting fingersstep 6 - Assembly checkstep 8 - stringing continuedstep 10 - fishing linestep 12 - final string checkstep 14 - paddingstep 16 - velcro part 2That's it!
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You can find all of our Hand Challenge Assembly Videos in our YouTube Playlist.