The 3D printers at Salt Spring’s public library are humming along with fresh purpose, according to staff, as the fabulous FabLab has expanded its programming into fabricating assistive devices — free of charge, and even delivered.
From playing card holders to writing supports and pill pack openers — and even some 3D-printed prosthetics — the FabLab has begun taking orders from community members in person, over the phone and through a new “menu” of available devices published on its website.
And if there’s something islanders need but don’t see there, staff at the FabLab will go looking for it. FabLab administrator Ryan Shepard said creators worldwide are designing new devices every day for virtually any disability or challenge, and uploading and sharing their plans so anyone with a printer can make them.
“A lot of our devices right now are around helping with grip strength,” said Shepard. “We’ve got typing aids, devices that help people write. We’re just three years into having the FabLab, and I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of how we can help the community.”
Over those years, Shepard said, islanders have gradually discovered ways to use the printers. Thanks to funding from the Wilding Foundation, all printing materials are provided at no cost, he said, and right away there were kids making toys and hobbyists making home decor. Next came parts; Shepard said they’ve memorably kept a few appliances with out-of-production parts from landfills by 3D printing the missing pieces.
What eventually became the FabLab’s assistive device offering “clicked” in part thanks to a woman who asked librarians whether they had games to check out for visually impaired people — and they didn’t have much, Shepard said.
“The request was from a woman for her mother,” said Shepard. “As we were talking she said her mother liked Scrabble, and we said, ‘Hold on, let’s look online — maybe we can make you something!’”
Moments later the FabLab had an open-source Braille-and-raised-letter version of the game in its work queue. Shepard said the team had noticed there was a huge online movement of people designing assistive devices for anyone to access.
“It was kind of a great moment,” he said. “This is exactly what we want the program to be — for people to be able to come in and say they need something, and we’ll just make it.”
The turnaround time from ordering something online to it being finished is about two weeks, he said, and they’re still well within their capacity to take on more. Islanders can choose to pick up the items or, if it’s easier for them, they can be delivered — much as a book might — through the library’s existing Visiting Library Services program.
“We have volunteers that will bring our books to people bound to home, and pick up and return ones they’ve finished,” said Shepard. “These devices can go out the same way — anywhere on Salt Spring Island, in about 14 days it’ll appear on your doorstep.”
For information about the program, to see a sample list of assistive devices available or to place an order, visit saltspring.bc.libraries.coop/programs/fablab/fablab-accessibility-support.
Dec. 3 is the International Day of Persons With Disabilities.