- Melbourne dad Mat Bowtell has been making 3D printed limbs for two years now
- He sends them to kids in Australia and overseas who don’t have fingers or arms
- A traditional prosthetic can cost upwards of $30,000; Mr Bowtell’s cost $1
- Generous people have donated $33,000 to help him pay for postage
Matilda Rudd For Daily Mail Australia
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Mat Bowtell is a regular Australian dad and engineer, who in his spare time makes 3D printed fingers and hands for children in need.
But whilst some prosthetic limbs can cost upwards of $30,000, Mr Bowtell gives his creations to kids and their eager families completely free.
‘It’s a gesture of love rather than labour. It’s a special thing to give away something for free,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Kalani, three, (pictured left) was given a purple and blue printed hand by Mat Bowtell, (right) when he visited the family in Wollongong.
Mr Bowtell makes hands just like Kalani’s (pictured) and gives them to children who don’t have their limbs for free
HOW DOES 3D PRINTING WORK?
According to the blog i.materialise, there are several 3D printing technologies and they all work very differently.
Designs can be ‘printed’ using substances such as powder, plastic filaments and liquid polymer.
What all the technologies have in common is that they are additive.
This means that they build up an object layer by layer and require a 3D file of the design you wish to print.
The idea spawned when the Melbourne-based dad, who studied engineering at Monash University, was offered a scholarship to go over to Japan.
He dabbled in robotics whilst there and specifically played with a bionic arm worth more than $1 million.
‘I thought to myself this is amazing technology but how can the average person have this? There has to be a cheaper way to make this thing,’ Mr Bowtell said.
With this in mind, the engineer purchased a 3D printer with $5,000 of his own money and spent a year fashioning a ‘kinetic finger’, which has the ability to manoeuvre like a regular finger would.
The Australian dad fitting a new hand on to 12-year-old Lilli for the first time
Lilli, 12, hopes to take on the same job Mr Bowtell is doing when she gets older
And they only cost $1 for him to make.
‘The most expensive part is the velcro on the wrist strap. But the posting was my main issue. I just sent an arm to a 17-year-old girl over in Iraq and it cost $86,’ he said.
Friends and workmates of Mr Bowtell wanted to see the project succeed so convinced him to start up a My Cause page to raise money for postage.
He was hoping to fundraise $7,000 for upcoming projects but the public were so moved by his mission that even once he reached that mark people continued donating.
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The kinetic finger was designed by Mr Bowtell, and can be downloaded off the internet
Zachary, six, from Auckland was gifted an ‘iron man hand’ from Mr Bowtell
‘One man, Tony Nelson, gave us $10,000 because he was so impressed. I’m hoping to meet up with him later in the week to thank him in person,’ Mr Bowtell said.
Normally Mr Bowtell will send the limbs via post but recently he made the trip from Melbourne to Wollonging in order to hand-deliver some.
Lilli, 12, and Kalani, three, were born without fingers, a condition that effects around 600 people in Australia.
Mr Bowtell gave both girls a new lease on life with their fully functional printed hands. Lilli hopes to follow in his footsteps when she’s older.
‘The kids get to be part of the design process. They get to choose the final colour of the hands so it suits their personality,’ he said.
Lilli, 12, hopes to be able to stand up paddle board now that she has the full use of both hands
‘It was really emotional meeting them. To see the kids with so much confidence and able to throw a ball or pick up a glass is just heartwarming,’ he said.
With the newly raised $33,000 from crowdfunding, Mr Bowtell will be able to make more limbs than ever before and begin his next project.
‘I want to make legs for landmine victims in Columbia and Syria. I can also purchase better quality 3D printers and show other Aussies how to make them so there are more being produced,’ he said.
‘We need more than just myself on the project. One arm takes about 20 hours to tune and another 20 to print.
‘I tend to print the limbs while I’m asleep. So I wake up in the morning with a new finger or arm in the house.’
Kalani, three, was overjoyed to receive her new hand: Mr Bowtell described the experience as ’emotional’
With more volunteers on board and newer developments in the technology Mr Bowtell hopes to help people with Parkinson’s eat soup without spilling it by building a stabiliser.
The time-consuming work Mr Bowtell does isn’t even his full-time job. The dad works at Toyota’s Altona plant and makes new limbs after he has ‘tucked the kids in at night’.
‘My wife’s a patient person,’ he joked.
‘But I think everyone should consider the skills they have and put them to good use.
‘We’re driven by money nowadays but it doesn’t give us any real satisfaction. To be able to help someone for free is total happiness,’ he said.
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