E-NABLE
e-NABLE is a global network of volunteers who 3D print hands and arms for people born without fingers or hands, or who lost them, at little or no cost.
What it does
A prosthetic hand from a clinic costs thousands, and a child outgrows one every year. e-NABLE hands are printed on ordinary desktop 3D printers and put together with cords and elastic. They strap to the forearm, and the fingers close when the wearer pulls on the cords.
The design files are free to download. A map lets someone who needs a hand find a volunteer nearby who owns a printer. That volunteer prints the hand, assembles it, fits it and gives it to the recipient, who pays nothing.
By its own count there are about 40,000 volunteers in over 100 countries, and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people have received a hand.
Who runs it
- It began when the artist Ivan Owen made a large mechanical hand for a costume party and put the video online. A carpenter in South Africa who had lost his fingers got in touch.
- They built a hand for a five-year-old boy and put the design file online in January 2013.
- Professor Jon Schull then set up the community and the distribution map.
- Today it is a network of volunteers. Its fiscal sponsor is Rochester e-NABLE Limited, a 501(c)(3) corporation in Rochester, New York.
Join or copy it
- If you need a hand, start at Learn more and get involved.
- To print and build, find a local group on the map of volunteers.
- Designs and community resources are on the e-NABLE Hub.
- The site also sells hand assembly kits and materials, and takes donations.
In LAN
- Precious Plastic / e-NABLE, LAN Issue 1, page 13. The article covers e-NABLE next to Precious Plastic.
See also
Sources
- e-NABLE home page, Enabling The Future
- LAN Issue 1, "Precious Plastic / e-NABLE", page 13, September 2026 (see Issue 1/Precious Plastic)