enabling the future

Enabling the Future 3D Printing Challenge: Win an Ultimaker 2+ 3D Printer

 “There is no end to how many ways you can practice Random Acts of Kindness by using your 3D printer to help someone else.” “Think local. Think global.” – Jen…

3D Printing in STEM Education: Hacking the Raptor Reloaded to Create the Grab-Tor

When I was a kid, eons ago, I got a toy that was a plastic grabber on the end of a stick, controlled by squeezing or releasing a whole hand…

e-NABLE Works to Create New Fundraising Opportunities and Design Challenges for Growing Community of Global Volunteers

We always enjoy writing about the vast network of volunteers that make up the global e-NABLE community, who collaborate to make free 3D printed prosthetic hands available to the people…

10-Year-Old Business Owner Does a Lot of Good With Self-Built 3D Printer

There’s no doubt about it, kids these days really seem to enjoy 3D printing. Lots of new 3D printers on the market are kid-friendly and pretty easy to use, like…

New e-NABLE Community Sponsorship Program from MatterHackers: Support the Volunteers Who 3D Print Prosthetics

You know the old adage – “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” e-NABLE, a…

Embracing the Weird to Build a Culture of Making: Father, Daughter, e-NABLE and a TED Talk

Ten-year-old Torrae Owen has received a priceless gift from her father. It is one that was handed down to him by his father and that she hopes to one day pass…

3D Printed Frozen-Inspired Prosthetic Arm Brings a Big Smile to a Little Girl’s Face

If you have a nine-year-old girl in your life, you’ve probably seen Frozen. Actually, if you have a nine-year-old girl in your life, you’ve not only seen the movie, you’ve…

AIO Robotics and 3D For Everyone Team Up to Make 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand for Playing Basketball

Unfortunately there are no prosthetic limbs that can completely replicate the functionality of a real limb, so depending on the person it really isn’t uncommon for people missing limbs to…

The Bionic Glove Project Is Giving a Sierra Leone Civil War Survivor a New 3D Printed Hand

Chad Coarsey was born with symbrachydactyly of the left hand, which left him without most of his hand but with a functional wrist. When he was approached by a classmate…

UWM Students Complete Coursework & Win Competition While Making 3D Printed Prosthetic Leg Coverings for Veterans

After years of helping those in need around the world, providing a bountiful supply of 3D printed hands and arms, e-NABLE volunteers are branching out even further. Whether limbs have…

e-NABLE Ghana Provides Free 3D Printed Prosthetic Hands

Sometimes a small act of kindness can lead to unexpected benefits for both the recipient and the good Samaritan, and can change their lives forever. When I was barely a…

Design a Star Wars Themed e-NABLE Prosthetic Arm and Win an Ultimaker 2+

Over the years e-NABLE has created thousands of 3D printed prosthetic arms for children and adults all over the world. While many of the lucky recipients of e-NABLE devices have…

Three Year Old Gets His Own Iron Man e-NABLE Prosthetic Hand

While superheros are often dismissed as adolescent power fantasies or childish wastes of time, for many of us who grew up reading comic books we knew that they were so…

e-NABLE Steps in to Help Young Girl When All Other Solutions Fail

One of the most horrifying things an adult who works with machinery can experience is the loss of a limb in a workplace accident. It happens, though, on farms, in…

Editor’s Choice: 15 of the Coolest 3D Printing Stories of 2015

2015 has been quite a year. Personally, I’ve loved it; I got married, bought a house, hit a milestone birthday, and became editor-in-chief of this great site. I’m almost sad…

e-NABLE Looks Back on a Successful Two Years of 3D Printed Prosthetics, Introduces Several New Designs

Since its beginnings in 2013, e-NABLE has grown from a small community of about 100 makers into a giant network of around 7,000. Roughly 2,000 prosthetic devices have been created, benefiting…

Giving to the World through 3D Printing for Work and Family at NRCC

It’s not enough just to have a fancy makerspace, it only becomes something powerful as a result of the people who are participating in it. The New River Valley Community College (NRCC)…

Stormtroopers Assemble: Voodoo Manufacturing & e-NABLE Announce Partnership, Largest Donation of 3D Printed Hands

Some things just go together: peanut butter and jelly, the Doctor and a sonic screwdriver (and/or sunglasses), Stormtroopers and 3D printed prosthetic hands, Voodoo Manufacturing and the Enable Community Foundation….

Hands for Ziti: Teacher & Students from International School of Aruba Team Up to 3D Print e-NABLE Prosthetics

While many around the globe dream of visiting Aruba, situated west of the Lesser Antilles in the Southern Caribbean sea, they dream of white sandy beaches, long naps, and fru-fru…

Yu-Lia Gains a 3D Printed Hand Prosthetic; e-NABLE Volunteer Successfully Takes on Challenging Pinching Design

Projects regarding e-NABLE and 3D printed prosthetics are undoubtedly some of our favorites to write about.  Using 3D printing to all its benefit, this is an organization that does massive…

3D Printed e-NABLE Hands Inspire Po Paraguay

In the States, the e-NABLE model is pretty straightforward: people who need hand prostheses ask for help, and e-NABLE asks their network of volunteer 3D printers to deliver them their…

Engineer in Brazil 3D Prints & Personally Delivers e-NABLE Hand Prosthetics to Children

When we talk about helping, making a difference, or donating money or things–most promises and efforts seem to pale in comparison with the assistance e-NABLE programs provide–and the impacts they are…

Even e-NABLE Needs a Helping Hand Once in Awhile–Including in Malaysia

When Ew Chee Guan entered a 3D design and printing contest being thrown by office product reseller Ricoh Malaysia he was hoping to just win enough money to continue to…

Five Year Old With 3D Printed Hand Throws Out First Pitch for the Baltimore Orioles

While watching five-year-old Hailey Dawson stride out to the Baltimore Orioles pitcher’s mound you can’t help but notice how nonchalant she is about the whole experience. After effortly tossing out the…