As a young duckling, Dudley sadly lost his right foot and part of his leg. He was initially placed in an enclosure with some chickens at the K9-1-1 Animal and Rescue Services in Sicamous, British Columbia. The aggressive chickens attacked Dudley and his brother. His brother died and Dudley's leg was badly damaged---so damaged that it had to be amputated. Terence Loring, a 32-year old mechanical engineer and architect, who had recently founded his own design company--3 Pillar designs, decided to help Dudley when he heard about what had happened to the little duck---he had previously heard about Buttercup the duck's 3D-printed foot, and thought that he would create a prosthetic leg for the duckling.
Getting Started
Loring called the project, "Project Robo-Duck." In order to begin the design process, Loring needed to obtain the dimensions of Dudley's leg, so he measured his good leg. Once he had that information, he put it into SolidWorks software, which he used to actually design the leg. The design took several attempts with trial and error.
The Design of Dudley's New Limb
The first limb Loring designed did not work. When it was put on Dudley, the limb broke and Dudley fell over. It had used jointed construction and was fully 3D-printed in plastic by Proto3000 in Canada, who had kindly offered to print the limb free of charge for the little duckling. Loring's second design used a one-piece model with no joints, and changed the material to a more softer plastic material. This new design, once fitted on Dudley, was for the most part a success---Dudley started walking straight away with no hesitation. The only draw back was that unfortunately, the plastic material caused friction sores. This was also a problem found in the design of the limb for Buttercup, which was fixed with the use of a silicone sock and prosthetic gel liner.
After being fitted with his new leg, Dudley was able to move around again. He was adopted by Debbie Fortin, who is now Dudley's owner and caretaker. Dudley now lives out his life in a happy home and his best friend is a pot bellied pig called Elsie, who pushes him around.
About 3 Pillar Designs
3 Pillar Designs specializes in 3D-printing architectural prototypes.
About Proto3000
Proto3000 provides professional 3D Printing Services, Rapid Prototyping Services, Stratasys 3D Printers, 3D Laser Scanning services, and 3D Laser Scanners.
Website: proto3000.com
Facebook Page: @Proto3000
