Design guidelines for 3D-printed corsets

CAD Guidelines

Recommended corset wall thickness

For PP Corsets
Set a general thickness of 4.5 mm with +/- 0.5 mm of tolerance.

For TPU Flex Corsets
Set a general thickness of 4.0 mm with +/- 0.5 mm of tolerance

 If the wall thickness deviates from the standard thickness of the corset, it might impact the stiffness in that zone. 

Edges

Try to avoid adding sharp edges to the design, specially in the sections that are in contact with the skin, or have any type of possible contact with the body.

For a 4,5 mm thickness corset, the radius on the edges should be between 1,2mm and 2,25 mm on each edge.

In most cases the corset design is made with a non parametric CAD software, to generate this type of edge using in Autodesk Meshmixer, you can find the video guide (1 - Smooth edges) on this link:  Design guidelines

Defect on the edges

To remove defects on edges you can use the following video guide (2 - Imperfection on the edges)

Thicken the edges

To thicken thin edges/ main thickness,  you can use the following video guide  (3 - How to increase thickness of the edges)

Hole Structure

If holes have to be added to the model, those have to be circular or vertical ellipses, ovals or slots.

Avoid horizontal ellipses, ovals and slots, if possible. This would increase the use of support on the print and the need for post-processing.   

Avoid custom holes like stars, hearts, squares, crosses, etc. 

Design blisters or structural ribs

The region of the corset that holds itself to the chest, usually it’s a peninsula close to the clavicle that needs to be fixed in place(for Kyphosis). In some cases increasing the stiffness on the CAM might not be enough, so the suggestion in that case consists of adding a design blister or a structural rib that would provide the necessary stiffness. 

Overhang in flexible regions

There are some regions of the corset that the user might use a flexible configuration in the corset

Preparation for CAM

Stiffness map

There are 4 types of stiffness zones that can be partially or totally applied on the corset.

In the pictures below you can see an example of a stiffness map of a corset:

Model and modifiers

The model to be printed needs to be imported in (.stl), (.ply), (.obj) or (.off) formats.

If the model to be printed only use one stiffness zone, the model of the corset and the desired stiffness would be enough to produce it. If there’s no specification Medium will be applied on it. 

If the corset to be produced has requirements of different stiffness, modifiers will be needed.

Modifier

A modifier is a geometrical shape that will define the stiffness region by being overlapped with the model, as it’s shown in the picture below:

 

To generate a Modifier in Autodesk Meshmixer you can find a step-by-step video here: How to create modifiers in Meshmixer

The modifiers should be sent with the main model in (.stl), (.ply), (.obj) or (.off) formats, together with the main model.