Prosthetic Leg Made From PVC Pipes With a 3-D Design

A group of three friends and I made a prosthetic leg that works with light walking or movement or in my case, part of a Halloween costume. Mine is kind of old and worn down as I made it two years ago but it still gets the job done. I made the digital model for the leg using Tinkercad myself. The leg can be used to allow those who are in need of a prosthetic a temporary solution until they are able to get the help that they need. It is also good because of how cost friendly it is as a good portion of the supplies you may have lying around and the others are relatively cheap.

Supplies:

1. Extra large square sponge
2. One old shoe (make sure it matches the foot of the leg you are replacing)
3. Duct tape
4. 6 foot PVC pipe
5. Three 3-way tee fitting
6. Six curved PVC connectors (90 degrees)
7. One regular PVC connector (Maybe)
8. One Velcro strap or belt
9. One willing volunteer (or use yourself)

(All of my pipes were 1/2 inch)

Tools:

1. Saw that can cut PVC pipe
2. Printables.com
3. Tinkercad.com

1. Go to tinkercad.com
2. Create a new 3-D design
3. Go to printables.com (or use the links that I provided in supplies)
4. Download all of the stl's (shoe, 90 degree connector, tee-fitting connector)

1. Take a cylinder
2. Copy the color "fafafa"
3. Set the diameter to 4
4. The lengths will vary depending on the step

1. Take two PVC pipes and put them into a three-way connector
2. Add a 90 degree connector on both open ends of the pipes
3. Repeat this process another time
4. Have the 90 degree connectors facing each other
5. Use two more PVC pipes in order to fill in the gaps in the 90 degree connectors

1. Take two PVC pipes and make sure that one is longer than the other (the lengths don't matter but mine were 25 and 38)
2. Attach them to the openings on your three way connectors from the rectangular platform
3. Take two three-way connectors
4. Attach them to the ends of your pipes and have them facing each other like shown in the picture
5. Take another PVC pipe and use it to fill in the gap between the two connectors

1. Take a 90 degree connector and attach it to the end of your longer pipe from the previous step
2. Make sure that the connector is facing the open area of your shoe
3. Use a PVC pipe to fill in any remaining space in the shoe
4. Make any adjustments needed to the shoe so that way the PVC pipe/connector don't stick out of the shoe (other than the top of the connector that connecting to the midsection

1. Take a box
2. Give it the color "ffdd1a"
3. Make it a 34 x 18 x 7
4. Attach it on top of your rectangular platform but make sure it is just touching and not actually in it.

1. Congrats!!! Your 3D design should look similar to the images above or slightly different depending on if you changed some lengths around
2. You now have a digital model for your new shoe but there is still more to go.

1. Measure from the bottom of the knee to the top of the ankle
2. Cut that length in PVC
3. Either take half of that length and cut two PVC pipes from that or cut another pipe the same length as the first
4. Measure the length of your sponge
5. Take half of that and cut four pipes of that length
6. Measure the width of your sponge
7. Cut two pipes equal to the width
8. Measure the length of your shoe
9. Cut a pipe that is an inch or two less than that (it is okay if you mess up as you can always extend it with a connector or cut off more

(There will be one more part where you have to cut so don't put these materials away)

(Make sure to wear goggles and be safe while doing this)

1. Take all of your sponge related PVC pipes, 2 of your three-way connectors, and four curved connectors
2. Connect two PVC pipes that are half the length of your sponge with the three-way connector then do it with the other set
3. Attach all of the curved connectors to the ends of your new pipes
4. Take your width length pipes and put the ends in the connectors
5. It should look like a rectangle with curved edges

1. Take your long PVC pipe and attach it to a three-way connector
2. Take your other long PVC pipe or two medium and connect it to the other three-way connector
3. Take a curved connector and attach it to one of your legs
4. Face the other end other the connector towards your other leg
5. One the other leg attach another three-way connector with the double sided part going in and the extra connector facing you other open connector on the open leg
6. Get ready to cut more PVC
7. Cut to pipe that fits in the gap between your two open connectors

1. Cut another PVC pipe that goes into your only open connector down into the shoe that you are using
2. Take a curved connector and add it to the pipe so it faces the rest of the open area in the shoe
3. Cut a PVC pipe to fill in the rest of the volume of the shoe (If you have too much open area around the toes then use the connector I said you might need to fill it in)
4. Tie the shoes as tight as you physically can

1. Take your large sponge and place it on top of the rectangular platform on top of your leg
2. Use duct tape to secure the sponge to the platform

1. Grab your duct tape (you might need a lot of it)
2. Go around your new leg and see if there are any unstable areas
3. If there are then use duct tape to secure certain parts to each other
4. Take your Velcro strap/belt and use it to attach yourself to your new leg
5. Congrats on your new leg!!!
6. Have fun testing it out and seeing how far it can get you or whoever you choose to give it to and make their life a little(or a lot) better