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Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

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Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#1

Post by i_am_good »

Hello HN,

I would like to 3D print my skeleton to observe bone structure/features.

1. What kind of medical scanning would be appropriate for this case? Where can I get such a scan and pay (out of pocket) for it? Are there any dangers, and if serious, is it worth the fun of replicating your own skeleton?

2. What kind of medical scanning hardware would best suit my need? Does it support exporting imaging data for later 3D printing?

3. What's the best 3D printer (or printing service company) and material to print the imaging data from the scanning?

Thanks for your assistance!

Re: Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#3

Post by tlb »

Simply remove your skeleton from its packaging and place it in a 3D scanner.

Seriously, where it gets tricky is that there is a lot of stuff (cartilage) in the gray area between bone and flesh. It shows up dimly in CT scans or other X-ray based imaging. If you omit all of it, the skeleton will seem disjointed. If you include all of it, it'll seem fused together.

BTW, you can buy actual human skeletons for around $5k. https://www.boneroom.com/store/c46/Human_Skeletons.html

Re: Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#5

Post by gaze »

MRI may work... I think there's a skeletal MRI. That will be extremely expensive. CT scan probably would work, but I don't think they'll let you dose yourself with that many X-Rays for fun. Most of these scanners give you voxel data, which you can then threshold some way and generate a water-tight surface which can be turned into an STL and 3D printed

The best 3D printer probably uses a stereolithography process. They give the highest detail at the expense of some mechanical properties. An objet might work well, too.

Re: Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#8

Post by i_am_good »

tlb wrote: post #3

Simply remove your skeleton from its packaging and place it in a 3D scanner. Seriously, where it gets tricky is that there is a lot of stuff (cartilage) in the gray area between bone and flesh. It shows up dimly in CT scans or other X-ray based imaging. If you omit all of it, the skeleton will seem disjointed. If you include all of it, it'll seem fused together. BTW, you can buy actual human skeletons for around $5k.…

Thanks for the insight!

Although there are readily available skeletons for purchase, I want to print my own skeleton for "profiling and debugging" purposes :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#9

Post by hprotagonist »

CT scanners usually speak DICOM. You'll have to make a 3D model from those dicom stacks with, e.g., AMIRA[0], then fiddle the facets with Maya or similar, and then you should be able to export to STL from there.

[0]https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/industrial/electron-...

Re: Ask HN: How can I 3D print my skeleton for research?

#10

Post by crooked-v »

i_am_good wrote: post #8
tlb wrote: post #3

Simply remove your skeleton from its packaging and place it in a 3D scanner. Seriously, where it gets tricky is that there is a lot of stuff (cartilage) in the gray area between bone and flesh. It shows up dimly in CT scans or other X-ray based imaging. If you omit all of it, the skeleton will seem disjointed. If you include all of it, it'll seem fused together. BTW, you can buy actual human skeletons for around $5k.…

Thanks for the insight! Although there are readily available skeletons for purchase, I want to print my own skeleton for "profiling and debugging" purposes :)

You could buy a skeleton, scan and print a copy, and then sell the skeleton to someone else.

Of course, if you do that you could get an accurate anatomical model (like those ones that show up in high school bio classrooms) for $200-$400 instead.

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