FAQs

Unfortunately we don’t use bottle caps to make our devices. The main 3D printed parts of our devices are made from a bioplastic called PLA (polylactic acid). It is derived from cornstarch and is a biodegradable polymer which will break down under industrial composting conditions. It is non-toxic to humans and the environment, skin safe and lends itself extremely well to 3D printing applications. It is inexpensive due to the ready availability of its source materials and requires less energy to produce than petrol-based polymers.

Lids4Kids Australia is a grass-roots 100% volunteer run project which rescues plastic bottle caps from landfill and repurposes them into sustainable recycled plastic products to benefit kids. They are forwarded onto companies who then recycle the plastics and into a range of useful products, such as plastic bricks, picnic plates, jenga blocks and more. They operate volunteer groups around the country who coordinate drop-off points, cleaning and distribution. For information about collection in your area, please head to their Lids4Kids Volunteer Facebook page.

We offer tours to community groups who are supporting us with fundraising efforts but unfortunately having people visit throughout the work day is too disruptive as we are a very small team. We conducted a very successful Community Open Day earlier this year and we are thinking that this may be something that we do more regularly so that individuals who are interested can come and see what we do. We will post details of our Open Day on our Facebook page when we decide on a workable format.

No, we have no plans to make legs. Legs are complicated to make using our technology because of the load bearing requirements and require specialist fitment. There are also many other organisations developing this technology, and we find that upper limb devices are in more need of innovation at this stage. They are generally easier to obtain funding for in countries with disability support services.

Currently we only make body powered devices that require controlled and voluntary movement. We would love to offer a solution for people with complete but non-functioning hands/arms however the design process will take many years. We may consider such devices in the future and any progress will be shared on our Facebook page.

Our charity is called Free 3D Hands because our devices are completely free to the recipient. We even pay the postage. We have kind and generous donors who cover the costs of producing our assistive devices and the postage to send them to their new homes.

We wish that we could support making devices for pets, but we are currently inundated with humans needing support.