Orthotic Insoles (Customizeable) by dsnettleton

Hey! This thing is still a Work in Progress. Files, instructions, and other stuff might change!

Orthotic Insoles (Customizeable)

dsnettleton

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Published on February 4, 2013

This thing can be customized with MakerBot Customizer! Open in Customizer

Description

Create customized orthotic insoles using the makerbot customizer. These provide arch support, and are designed to spring a bit when you step. They may have variable thicknesses, and can be modified to fit each foot separately.

Note: Fixed a problem with the mesh; customizer should work properly now.

Instructions

Measure your feet in millimeters and adjust accordingly. If your only measuring tape is in inches, you can convert by multiplying the number of inches by 25.4.
Customize these, print them out, and slip them under your shoe's insoles for solid, springy arch support. Typically, orthotic inserts such as these cost upwards of one hundred dollars. Per pair. With these customized inserts, you can print out a set that fits your feet, and create as many pairs as you need, nevermore having to switch out your inserts every time you switch shoes.
Print these out and try them. You won't want to go back!

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PurpleKerbie on February 5, 2013 said:

Wow, this is cool, and the first thing to really impress the wife. I'm not sure I got the right distances though. How does one with a foot as flat as mine figure out where the arch begins and ends? Anyone have a good link?

edmo on February 4, 2013 said:

This is very cool and could save people hundreds of dollars. I question whether people should be generating these on their own without the input of a specialist, though. Maybe a doctor should analyze your design and see if it is effective.

jpearce on February 4, 2013 said:

You could also measure one that you already have. I would love to see some open source design rules of thumb from a specialist.

jpearce on February 4, 2013 said:

It has been on our list for awhile, but you have done a spectacular job. Thank you - this is going to help a lot of people. Minor suggestions for improvement - consider adding the ability to both add additional heal height and change the tilt angle of the base to assist correcting over pronation and supination.

dsnettleton on February 5, 2013 said:

These are some really good ideas, but I'm not sure how to measure them. It's simple enough to find the height of my arch, but it can be tricky determining how much heel height should be added, or how much to alter the tilt angle. Any ideas?

laird on February 4, 2013 said:

A request: could you add an option (or copy) with the bottom flat? That way it could be printed with no support, and with a minimal info (10%? 5%)? it might still be springy.

I got kinda close with making it thick (thickness=20) and chopping off the bottom:

difference() {
translate([0, -endOfArch/2.0, 0]) {
if (whichFoot == 0) {
drawMesh();
}
else {
mirror([1,0,0]) { drawMesh(); }
}
}
translate([-200,-200,-25]) cube([400,400,40]);
}

but it had really weird artifacts around the edges and it didn't compile properly. So my 'hack' didn't work, so I am asking you.

Alzibiff on February 13, 2013 said:

Same request from me - I printed one of these using flexible/soft PLA and the results were very encouraging. Well done.

jpearce on February 4, 2013 said:

It is also possible to use a second extruder to give the springy effect -- see http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

laird on February 4, 2013 said:

Wow, this is amazing! Very clever how you pre-generated the meshes and scale them in OpenSCAD. I was trying to do the mesh generation dynamically in OpenSCAD to do something similar, and losing my mind!

dsnettleton on February 4, 2013 said:

Thanks. I actually made the mesh in Blender, put the vertices in groups according to the adjustments I wanted to make, and wrote an export script to generate the .scad file. I've made the flat-bottomed inserts you've requested, though they're untested. Let me know if I need to make any adjustments.