Palm Pen Holder

Palm Pen Holder - open-source assistive technology product by the Makers Making Change community

About this project

The Palm Pen Holder is a writing aid designed to fit comfortably in the user's hand and can hold a variety of different writing utensils. This device helps the user with grip and control while writing, drawing, or painting. Palm Pen Holder was designed by Makers Making Change. To learn more, visit their website at https://makersmakingchange.com/

The challenge

The Palm Pen Holder is designed to address the difficultly in gripping and controlling writing utensils for those who have a variety of finger or hand limitations.

Who it helps

Makers Making Change is an initiative of the Neil Squire Society, a Canadian non-profit that helps people with disabilities. We are committed to creating a network of volunteer makers who support people with disabilities in their communities through 3D printing assistive devices. Check out their library of free, open-source assistive technologies with parts and build instructions at https://makersmakingchange.com/

How it works

The Palm Pen Holder is designed as a writing aid for people who may have trouble gripping, holding, or controlling a writing utensil on their own.

Writing is an important part of daily life and is often vital for communication. However, writing utensils are thin and can be difficult to grasp or control for people with limited hand/finger mobility.

The Palm Pen Holder is a customizable (parametric) 3D printable writing aid. The Palm Pen Holder makes it easier to grip a pen, pencil, or other writing utensil and may be useful for someone who has difficulty holding a pen or pencil directly. It can be printed in a variety of sizes or even customized to the user’s hand.

The device is able to be slid onto the hand of the user or gripped in various positions. A pen or pencil is inserted through the Palm Pen Holder pen hole and is fixed in place by tightening a set screw to allow for different writing utensil sizes. The device can be gripped in multiple ways and also gently squeezes the hand for stability when writing. With different sizing available, this device works well with narrow writing utensils like paintbrushes or wider ones like sharpie markers. In addition, the device itself has alternate sizing to provide options for the user.

Tools Needed:

3D Printer

Screwdriver

Bill of Materials:

Please see BOM and printing models in the downloadable product file.

Estimated Time to Make:

2-4 hours of machine time (size-dependent)

5 minutes of assembly time

Project details

The build files for Palm Pen Holder are free to download from this page - open source, shared by TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers.

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