Free 3D Hands in Cowes, Victoria | Charitable organisation

Free 3D Hands

Locality: Cowes, Victoria

Address: Factory 5, 26 The Concourse 3922 Cowes, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.free3dhands.org

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• Non-profit organisation
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25.01.2022 Our newest team member Anna packed an impressive record number of 123 face shields on Friday! Welcome to the team Anna! We continued to print another 200 over the weekend towards our new target of 6000 units. I'm so proud of our team. Thanks Ricky, Rebecca, Edelyn, Yuka, Angus and Anna! Mat xo

25.01.2022 We are absolutely delighted to see the smile on Baylee's face after receiving his Collingwood Football Club themed 3D hand. The colours match his school uniform too! Go the Pies! Mat xo

25.01.2022 Here is a genuine look of joy on my face. Phil from the local IGA COWES did a special order of 2000 zip lock bags for our face shields. He provided them at cost price from the supplier. He just wanted to help and be a part of it. Last week he got us through by putting the bags on the shelf "on special" until the order came in. It's going to be great not having to take any more from our supermarket shelves and getting looks from other customers. Phil, you are a bloody legend mate. Thanks for always supporting us and the whole community.

25.01.2022 I'm getting so excited as our new prototype Kinetic Hand takes shape. We have baked in all of the feedback from our previous design and the new software has allowed us to take our designs to a whole new level. I've been burning the midnight oil but we are almost there! Can't wait to share it with the world.

25.01.2022 Darth Vader gave us his opinion on Joey's new thumbless Kinetic Hand. The Force is strong with Joey, and clearly Darth is a bit intimidated....

25.01.2022 Apparently tonight's episode of Advancing Australia, Episode 3: Access for All has been postponed until next Saturday 17th April due to an extended 10 News Bulletin following the death of Prince Philip.

24.01.2022 How good do the staff at Wonthaggi Hospital's ED department look wearing their face shields! We would like to give a huge thank you to the community for supporting us to help those on the front line helping us. It is through your generous donations that has allowed us to respond quickly to the PPE shortages in Australia. We have manufactured about 700 face shields so far, sending them right across Australia. We are well on our way to our first 2000! Thank you so much for your support!

24.01.2022 I would like to introduce Rebecca. She is an amazing part of our team, helping to get these face shields out as quickly as we can. We packed our 1800th face shield today. One thing that has become very clear during this COVID-19 crisis is how amazing all of our team are through their dedication and commitment towards helping others. I am left speechless by their efforts. Keep up the amazing work Rebecca, we are so grateful to have you as part of our Free 3D Hands family. Mat X

24.01.2022 Cévin from Sweden shared this video of him throwing the ball to his service dog for the first time! Cévin has Poland Mobius syndrome, a complicated condition that means he has little use of his limbs. We sent him our Adaptive Cuff with the ball throwing attachment and he sent us this wonderful video. His service dog is learning to place the ball back into the attachment for him. Cévin partipates in wheelchair dancing and we just love it when we get an email from him...he even types them with his nose! Thanks for sharing Cévin, you're a legend!

24.01.2022 On our last work day before taking a break for Christmas, we received some feedback that literally brought us tears of joy. These photos were shared with us from THAI REACH, a charity in Thailand working within the hospital system making our Kinetic Hands for the Non Sombroon Leprosy Colony. Two recipients had lived without a hand for over 50 years. One recipient said "I will wear my new hand to the temple and show my gratitude toward my Lord Buddha with my complete 10 fingers.." I haven't been brought to tears in quite a while, but today my heart is full of gratitude and happiness. What a lovely way to end this very challenging year. Happy Holidays to you all, and thank you for all of your ongoing support. Mat and the team at Free 3D Hands xo

23.01.2022 What a special day with Em and her family visiting us on Phillip Island! She is growing up so fast! The day started at Clip n Climb before a tour through the factory. Em received a new midnight blue Kinetic Hand today and showed it off during lunch at the North Pier afterwards. I'm so glad she likes it!

23.01.2022 As we reach the end of the financial year we would like to say a huge THANK-YOU to everyone who has helped us 'manufacture joy'. Your donations have put this cheeky smile on Jurell's face. If you would like to continue to support us, please visit https://free3dhands.org/donate/

22.01.2022 Look what Mia found under the Xmas tree! Mia's hand difference makes it difficult to fit inside a traditional socket based prosthetic. We were able to modify our latest Kinetic Hand design to accommodate Mia's thumbThankyou to Mia and her family for being so patient while we worked through the design process together.

20.01.2022 In 2015, during a difficult time in my life, I decided to do something positive with my engineering skills and make "one hand for one kid". That kid was Eli, who was only four days older than my own daughter. I made him an "Iron Man" themed hand from an open source design. I thought it would put a smile on Eli's face, but I didn't quite imagine how seeing that smile would change my life forever. It was like a big bang moment- I then knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Today, Eli received our latest Kinetic Hand design in the mail. Actually, we sent him two because... well.. why not!? It is really special to see the smile on Eli's face and hear the giggles of joy from his beautiful family. Thank you for sharing this special moment with us, Eli. Love, Mat xo. https://youtu.be/GZBxWNhwwys

20.01.2022 UPDATE: Apparently tonight's episode has been postponed until next Saturday 17th April due to an extended 10 News Bulletin following the death of Prince Philip. We are honoured to be a part of an amazing new series called Advancing Australia, which celebrates innovation across Australia. We will be a part of Episode 3: Access for All which will air tomorrow evening (Sat 10th April) at 6PM on Channel 10. We would like to thank the series sponsor AGL Energy and Bengar Films for putting together such an amazing series and allowing us to be a part of it. We are very proud to have been able to represent the limb difference community by involving The Aussie Hands Foundation and Zac who is one of our recent 3D hand recipients.

20.01.2022 Did you know that we make hands for adults too? Cat said she had so much fun walking around the house picking up different objects with her son. Thanks for sharing this short video Cat! Another hand is coming your way soon, in hot pink of course! https://free3dhands.org/donate

20.01.2022 Exciting news! We have made the first working prototype of our low cost bionic arm! On Friday, our software engineer Lachie should be able to finalise the coding to make it a multi-grip hand controlled by muscles in the arm. In total, we expect it will cost just $60 in parts to make! (Batteries not included) We will give another update on Friday so stay tuned! https://free3dhands.org/donate/

18.01.2022 As the printers continued to run into the night, we took a moment to celebrate our 1,500th face shield with some pizza and a few cold beers. Well done team!!!!!

17.01.2022 Lovely Leah putting her Kinetic Hand to good use! The photos we receive showing the smiling faces of our recipients continually inspire our team.

17.01.2022 Today is a very exciting day. After almost three years of development, we are proud to announce that we have shared our new Kinetic Hand design with the world under an open-source license! It is available for free download from our website www.free3dhands.org, or at www.thingiverse.com/thing:4618922 We have also included a 99 page assembly manual, with supplementary documentation to assist with measurement, part scaling, 3D printing and silicone moulding. The manual has occu...pied most of my time for the last six months, putting all of my ideas and learnings down on paper, and I hope that it can be used as a resource for others to learn from. I would like to thank all of the recipients who have helped to test and validate the design. We would also like to thank all of the occupational therapists, prosthetists, biomedical engineers, university researchers, prosthetic and bionic arm developers, makers and limb-difference support groups for their open and transparent collaboration and constructive feedback during the design and development process. And thank you to all of the kind and generous supporters of our charity. Without your support we wouldn't be able to continue what we do. It is my hope that others will find ways to improve upon this design further, with a shared goal of helping others and making assistive technology accessible to all. With love, Mat. x See more

17.01.2022 Tonight we have been invited to talk about our COVID-19 face shield campaign in a free online session at 7:30PM AEST as part of PICAL's Isolation Nights Series. If you are interested in joining, you can register at the link in the blurb below.

17.01.2022 Today we packed our 2000th face shield, and I would like to give a huge shout out to some of the awesome locals that have supported, using their own 3d printers to increase our volume. Local retired engineer David Peck, family friend Josh Harris, Newhaven College teacher Travis Thompson and Cowes Primary School teacher Todd Cleeland. You helped us to hit our initial target of 2000 units in 30-40 days. Thank you all for your kind and generous support. We are very grateful.

17.01.2022 When I was an engineer at Toyota, I always looked forward to reading GoAuto on my breaks once a week. So, it was a real honour to be interviewed about how I have applied the skills that I acquired during this time towards making 3d hands, and more recently, face shields during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is probably the most in depth interview that I have done so far, also covering the importance of manufacturing in Australia. https://www.goauto.com.au//ex-toyota/2020-04-21/82485.html

16.01.2022 Izzy is one very happy little lady Mat. Thank you so much to you and the team at Free 3D Hands for your ongoing support of Izabella and our whole family. Your ...kindness, compassion, efficiency and innovation bring me to tears each time you gift Izzy with a hand. You make her life better in immeasurable ways. With all the other support we receive, you take kindness and care to a whole new level that we just don't encounter elsewhere. Thank you never seems enough, but this time you get it from Izzy and Minnie

15.01.2022 We are very excited to see the first photos of a recipient in Poland receiving our new Kinetic Hand after releasing it open-source three weeks ago. Well done to Dr. Krzysztof Grandys and E-Nable Polska for making Filip an awesome Pikachu themed hand! Over the last three weeks, our design has already been downloaded over 1650 times from all around the globe. Seeing these photos of Filip really highlights how much potential open-source sharing of ideas and knowledge has towards making assistive technology accessible to all.

15.01.2022 We're very excited to be a part of Advancing Australia tomorrow evening (Sat) at 6pm on Channel 10.

12.01.2022 Thank you for all of your support in helping us to make as many free face shields as we can for the heroes on our front line taking care of us. We are very grateful for all of your kindness and generosity over the last few days and we couldn't do it without all of you. Mat xo https://free3dhands.org/face-shields-covid-19/

12.01.2022 What a big weekend we had printing face shields. With 22 printers running, we managed to knock out another 284 units, which equates to about 710 print hours! Thanks Ricky for keeping the machines running into the night. This brings us close to 5000 face shields, with another 430 being delivered to Bass Coast Health today. Woohoo!

11.01.2022 Last week we released the Kinetic Hand to the world. It was very exciting to hit the "upload" button to share the last three years of work. It has been very emotional seeing almost 500 people from all over the world already downloading the design to make. We have already started receiving photos of it being made, from e-NABLE in the USA, THAI REACH in Thailand and e-NABLE in South Africa. THAI REACH are already in the process of making for someone with leprosy. I teared-up with joy hearing that... It made me realise how connected the world has become- we are one race, one species, one for all and all for one. Mat xo.

11.01.2022 If I had to choose a hand colour to match my infatuation with Michael Jordan, I think this would be it! Great choice, Caitlin!

10.01.2022 The best part of the day- writing letters to recipients with our volunteers before the hands go out in the mail.

10.01.2022 We are so delighted to see such a happy smile on gorgeous Alecia's face. We are glad that she likes her green to yellow thermo-chromatic Kinetic Hand with a white to violet glow in the dark cover! Very cool colour choice, don't you think!? I wonder what colours she will choose for her next hand? To see such joy on Alecia's face along with receiving a very kind letter and awesome feedback really made our day. Thanks Alecia! Love, Mat and the Free 3D Hands team xo

10.01.2022 A glimpse into the 3D printing room!

09.01.2022 We are very proud to have contributed towards making a positive impact on young Cassie in helping her to gain confidence in herself. Cassie has an amazing O/T named Niamh who has provided us with extremely valuable feedback to allow us to continuously improve our designs. We are very proud of you, Cassie. Reach for the stars! Mat xo

08.01.2022 THIS IS HOW WE ROLL A bin holding donated toilet rolls filled to the brim within 24 hours of the launch of Phillip Islands This is how we roll campaign. The ...community driven campaign is asking those who can spare a roll of toilet paper to drop it off in a specially marked red bin outside the Free 3D Hands factory in Cowes. Then anyone in desperate need of a toilet roll can come and grab one no questions asked. All the dropped off rolls are sprayed with 100 per cent isopropyl alcohol and put into a quarantine bin for 24 hours, to minimise the chance of COVID-19 transmission, before being placed in the green good to go bin. The inspiration for the campaign came from Mat Bowtell, but hes at pains to point out this is totally driven by the local community. I've never been prouder of my local community on Phillip Island, Mat said. After the first day of "This is how we roll!" we have received more rolls of toilet paper than have been taken by those in need. Those who have needed it have taken only one roll until they need more, and we had one donor empty an entire packet into the drop off bin. Mat said he hopes the honesty based system will be an opportunity to connect the community. Its time for us all to get together. We have a very unique community here and hard times are when we come together, he said. The campaign is about more than helping solve the toilet paper shortage. Its spreading love and compassion. People are feeling very vulnerable and panicked, Mat said. We are still a community and we are all here for each other. In a nutshell, if we start thinking about each other and all band together, we can get through this. This is how we roll bins are located at the door of the Free 3D Hands factory building where they can be easily accessed 24 hours a day. There is also a security camera in the area to ensure it is a safe environment. If people want to avoid social contact, they can simple pick up a roll. They dont have to explain or speak to anyone. Mat said other locations around Phillip Island and San Remo could start a similar system. This is not about one person, its about everyone coming together. If any other businesses wanted to jump on board, that would be great. The model could easily be adapted for other much needed items. To be part of the This is how we roll campaign, visit Free 3D Hands, 26 The Concourse, Cowes. Red bin drop off. Green bin good to go. This is how we roll is not part of the Free 3D Hands charity.

08.01.2022 Check out our first newsletter! A snapshot of our last 12 months - https://mailchi.mp//an-update-on-how-we-are-using-your-don

06.01.2022 Today, our two amazing volunteers, Caitlin and Simone from Newhaven College, assembled the first hand of our latest design for young Kalani. Well done girls! We are so grateful for all of your kindness and generosity through the countless hours you have given. This blue and glow in the dark violet hand is going out in the mail next week.

06.01.2022 Today, I met again with Bass Coast Health who took our latest face shield design after much improvement for their team to evaluate. The response was extremely positive and they are very relieved and grateful for all of YOUR support in helping fund us to keep them in supply. Power to the people! To support our heroes keeping us safe, please visit https://free3dhands.org/face-shields-covid-19/

06.01.2022 We are proud to announce that Free 3D Hands has gone green! All of our hands are made from a majority of compostible materials, using the energy from photons that have travelled 150 million kilometers through space to land on our factory roof! During the Covid-19 pandemic, RACV Solar has installed a 30kW solar and battery system, allowing our factory to run day and night from the power of the sun. Along with support from Tesla, Fronius, Trina Solar and Clenergy, as well as t...he Bass Coast Shire Council, Phillip Island RSL and local schools, RACV Solar has helped us to pave the way towards a sustainable future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQHyBs5iTno&feature=youtu.be

06.01.2022 In November, we invested in some expensive new design software to be able to better customise our devices to suit some of the very difficult cases. We have had a major breakthrough in being able to successfully modify our Kinetic Hand design to suit Nika in Georgia, who lost most of his hand in a blast, leaving just his little finger. Nika is an incredible man, representing Georgia as a Paralympic swimmer. We are very proud to be able to have provided such a simple solution t...o such a complicated condition, and we hope that our design encourages others to develop our low cost solutions further. Thanks to Nika for sharing these photos and videos. It is an honour and a privilege to have been able to provide him with a new hand. The biggest reward in doing what we do is seeing smiles on recipients faces. And to provide our devices completely free of charge brings an immense amount of joy and satisfaction to all of our team. For us, this new software has just paid for itself, one thousand times over just from seeing Nika's smile. We look forward to sending Nika many more hands over the years to come. Mat x See more

06.01.2022 Happy Star Wars Day, everyone! We have young Grogu giving us a hand today. May the fourth be with you, always.

06.01.2022 It's alive!!! Today we taught and stepped our prototype bionic arm through its paces. Watch this short video until the end to see our secret "bird mode".

05.01.2022 Our team celebrated a milestone today as we packed our 1,000th face shield! I'm so proud of our team.

05.01.2022 WE DID IT!!! Thanks to the amazing support we have received from the community, we have been able to raise $33,482.29 to support our COVID-19 face shield campaign. These funds will be used manufacture, package and distribute up to 4,000 face shields to essential service workers around Australia - for free! Along with the awareness that has been created by you, the public, we have received notification that we will be able to obtain government funding from this point forward. ... This means that we are now able to conclude our community fundraising campaign. As the government funding is limited to supporting Victorian Public Health and associated services, we are now able to continue to broaden our scope for supplying not only locally, but all around Australia, using the community funds raised through this campaign. Now we can not only supply health workers, but also provide to other essential services such as petrol stations, private nursing homes, allied health clinics, veterinary clinics, supermarkets, schools and kindergartens etc. The support we have received from the community has been overwhelming. We are humbled by the desire people have shown to help others during these hard times. We are already seeing how your contributions are offering reassurance to those on the front line of COVID-19. We will continue to post updates on this page. Please note that we have now concluded our fundraising campaign for COVID-19 face shields and any further donations to Free 3D Hands will be used to continue making hands and assistive devices for people around the world - for free!

04.01.2022 Tax time makes us want to eat chocolate too! Luckily any donations made before 30th June are tax deductible and help us to keep the calorie count up for kids like Ajaih! Click here to donate https://free3dhands.org/donate/

04.01.2022 We got some feedback from Zac who loves his new Kinetic Hand! He even took it to school to help out with everyday tasks. We don't get to meet many of our recipients in person so the photos we receive mean a lot to us. Thanks Zac and his family for making us smile. xo - #free3dhands

04.01.2022 Here is the interview on ABC News Breakfast from this morning to explain how we are supporting our front line workers through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are providing free face shields to those who are protecting us. Please visit https://free3dhands.org/face-shields-covid-19/ for details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN7eeINqP7o

04.01.2022 We fell in love with Mat Bowtell from Free 3D Hands last year when he shared his unique free 3D printed hands and assistive devices for children... and now Mat ...has stolen our hearts all over again. But this time he's making face shields for healthcare workers in Australia... See Mat's story here or find out more by heading to his website: https://free3dhands.org/ See more

04.01.2022 I am so excited from the results of our new design software to better customise our designs for the very difficult cases. We have made a hand for a man who lost all fingers except for his little finger in a blast. We used our new Freeform Plus software to carve and shape our existing design to accommodate for the little finger. And the result looks like a human cyborg combining man and machine. I hope that it gives him some confidence and mobility back, as well as looking like a total bad ass!

03.01.2022 Does your organisation need face shields? If you are based in Australia, please click this link to submit a request https://bit.ly/3cCkGs1 After supplying over 2000 free face shields we have fulfilled all requests and our obligations to local health services. We are continuing to manufacture as restrictions are being lifted. Please note that we can only supply to organisations not individuals

03.01.2022 It's always such a happy moment when we get our hands out in the mail.

03.01.2022 Well done to Rebecca and Edelyn for packing another 200 face shields today! The tower of tubs is taller than you both! We are so grateful to have this superstar couple on our team. Mat xo

02.01.2022 Please help us fund the manufacture of 2000+ 3D printed face shields so we can provide them for FREE to those working for us on the front line. Help us to cover the manufacturing costs for this much needed PPE and let's show how the Australian community can all come together in times of need. Click the link to our charity website to learn how we are already helping and donate if you can. We believe essential services shouldn't have to find room in their budgets for additional PPE during these extremely difficult times and that is why we want to provide them for free. Every day counts, and every bit helps! Thank you. https://free3dhands.org/face-shields-covid-19/

02.01.2022 We are so happy to see the joy on Kingston's face after receiving his black Kinetic Hand. What a cool dude he is! We have just sent him another silver and black hand so that he can keep one at home and one at school. You rock, Kingston! Mat xo

02.01.2022 It was an absolute honour and pleasure to give Susan Bannigan, Westpac Foundation CEO, a tour of our factory. Just weeks after I was made redundant in Oct 2017, Westpac flew me up to Sydney for an interview as a finalist for a Social Change Fellowship. I sat in my interview as an unemployed bloke in a $15 op-shop suit, sitting on the umpteenth floor of a skyscraper sharing my values and vision for my social initiative with a panel of senior bankers. I was told that I was a ve...ry unique individual, being the only one ever to ask for under half of what they were offering to support me with. When they asked why, I replied that it wasn't about the money- it was about the opportunity to engage with their network of change-makers. They decided to back the horse with the low odds, and gave me a once in a lifetime chance, helping to find more opportunities to fund me the full amount to travel the world visiting bionic arm developers and 3D printing experts across the globe. They believed in me when I doubted myself. They gave me courage to aim for the stars. Susan came all the way from Sydney to visit our factory, not for a publicity photograph, but to offer genuine, ongoing support from the Westpac team. We will be heading back to Sydney in the coming months to accept the invaluable support of their team. Susan is an extremely kind and intelligent person, and I'm so grateful for all for her continuing support of our vision of making assistive technology available to every person on this planet. See more

02.01.2022 The one that didn't get away! Neil lost his hand helping a stranger at the boat ramp 12 months ago. He had multiple surgeries to reattach it but has almost no movement. He came to see us with his wife and Mat worked on a solution for his 2 favourite hobbies; fishing & golf. Neil is using our Adaptive Cuff to hold his fishing rod and caught this whopper Murray Cod. Neil is an inspiration and all round great guy who maintains the most positive attitude and continues to devote himself fully to doing what he loves. P.S the fish was kissed and let go!