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Gensole is Live - Hello World!

11/6/2016

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It has been a long time since my last post on 3D printed insoles or indeed any other subject, but there is good reason.

Over the past year I have taken all I know (insert joke here) on designing and 3D printing insoles and packaged that up into a mostly all-in-one piece of software called Gensole®​.

What is Gensole?

Gensole is a browser based tool which allows you to design insoles, optimised for 3D printing using the FDM process and Filaflex (TPE/TPU) type materials. It will ultimately export .AMF files for importing into Slic3r for 3D printer toolpath creation.

It is free for makers, and researchers for non-commercial use :
Picture

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My Adventures with 3D Printed Insoles - Part 4/4

2/1/2015

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Part 4 - Form Fitting Insole

...Continued from Part 3 - Variable Density Insole

Now it gets interesting. This post concentrates on the scanned data and image manipulation using Gimp, Inkscape and OpenSCAD, all of which are free and open source. However if further refinement of the 3D formed surface is required then Meshmixer is a great free tool (not opensource) for smoothing or twisting and pushing/pulling the mesh around.

I will show how to scan your foot and turn this into the CAD data used in the previous variable density insole to define the density zones, and also to create the surface data to fit the form of the sole of your foot. The form fitting surface is actually the easy part due to the new great import option in OpenSCAD which build a height map according to the brightness values in an imported digital photo. With a foot scanned on a simple document scanner the areas of the foot that are close to the scanning head, the brighter the image. The areas that are further away are darker. When the surface is built, the darker areas are thicker and the lighter areas are thinner, making a surface as shown :
Form Fitting Insole
Form Fitting Insole

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My Adventures with 3D Printed Insoles - Part 3/4

22/12/2014

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Part 3 - Variable Density Insole

...Continued from Part 2 - Open Core Mesh

It is now where we start to see a major advantage of 3D printing over existing insole technology. The traditional method to make a custom formed insole is to CNC machine the insole out of a solid block of a suitable chosen hardness of material. Post machining modifications can be implemented by added inserts in different materials etc. Any operation that requires multiple steps is adding to the complexity, inventory of different material stocks, skills and of course cost.

Here we can see that for a single use of material and machine (3D printer), a complex structure of insole can be created with differing grades of hardness according to the recipients needs.
Insole consisting of firm and soft areas
Insole consisting of firm and soft areas

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My Adventures with 3D Printed Insoles - Part 2/4

17/12/2014

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Part 2 - Open Core Mesh

...Continued from Part 1 - Introduction
When I printed my first insole I noticed it was extremely tough, rugged, and elastic, these were all great properties for long term durability. However I noticed that the insole was relatively watertight and so I thought this would be an issue for perspiration and therefore personal hygiene.
Closed Core (Top and Bottom Surfaces Printed)
Closed Core (Top and Bottom Surfaces Printed)
Open Core (Top and Bottom Surfaces Omitted)
Open Core (Top and Bottom Surfaces Omitted)

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My Adventures with 3D Printed Insoles - Part 1/4

12/12/2014

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Part 1 - Introduction

What I aim to show within the next few articles is how anyone without any qualifications, experience or knowledge in the podiatry field (that's me) can produce comfortable insoles using a completely free open source tool chain. There have been many 3D printed insoles before, certainly the more expensive multi-material printers have been showing off their exploits for a while now, however with this new democratised power of the maker movement, I would like to show and share some new found skills.

I am going to split this article into 3 further posts, each one focusing on 3 accumulative techniques that I have been experimenting with, each technique is not mutually exclusive, they can be mixed and matched with each other.

It can be assumed that I have produced all of my prints with Filaflex, the softest and most elastic material for FDM printers. If anyone wants an FDM printer recommendation for printing shoes/insoles then look no further than the Lewihe Sneaker printer, tested at 120mm/s printing of Filaflex and with a large build volume for shoes.

Here is a little overview of each post :

Part 1 - This Introduction

Part 2 - Open Core Mesh
Part 3 - Variable Density
Part 4 - Form Fitting
Rainbow Insole
Rainbow Insole

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How to 3D Print with Flexible Filaments

10/12/2014

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What is a Flexible Filament?

The saying, "You cannot push on a rope" remains as apt as ever when it comes to 3D printing with flexible filaments. Most printers will have some form of success straight out of the box with flexible filaments, but don't be greedy to begin with, turn the printing speed right down. Within this article I will try to explain as best as I can the problems, pitfalls to avoid and how to achieve success with pushing on a rope to achieve good print quality at acceptable speeds, in this case substituting the rope for flexible and elastic filaments for 3D printing such as Filaflex.
A flexible filament is generally a Polyurethane or Co-Polyester (not exclusively) Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) with a complex mix of additives/colourants to aid the 3D printing process. With good elastic properties and high co-efficient of friction means 3D printed designs in this filament expand the design possibilities. Effectively it is a soft stretchy grippy material.
A Bouncy Die
A Bouncy Die

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    Steve Wood

    CAD design engineer, builder and tinkerer.

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