A CASD CASM method for prosthetic socket fabrication using the FDM technology

As an application of the computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CAD CAM) technology in prosthetics, computer aided socket design and computer aided socket manufacturing (CASD CASM) is becoming an active field in the prosthetics research. In this paper, a CASD CASM method for prosthetic socket fabrication is described in detail. This is different from other fabrication methods in its novel combination of the CAD CAM technology with fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. Prosthetic sockets for volunteer amputees have been designed and fabricated in a FDM machine. In order to test the fabrication result, a final product was used to perform a clinical trial and some results are reported. In addition, the deficiency of the long fabrication time is addressed and some feasible solutions are discussed.