Dustin Headley
Assistant Professor
Kansas State University
Dustin Headley is an assistant professor in the Interior Architecture and Product Design Department at Kansas State. He has taught design studios, digital applications and fabrication methods as well as advised and aided in the prototyping of several thesis projects. Headley’s students have collaborated with both community and industry partners to design and build full-scale prototypes with immersive learning- and technology-based research outcomes. His research examines digital fabrication and design technology as a medium for connecting and augmenting other industries as well as a means to improving the efficacy of teaching methods.
Engaging Empathy and Making: 3D Printed Prosthetic Skins
Dustin Headley will cover the development and fabrication of an array of prosthetic skins for 6 patients with leg amputations at Kansas State University. 27 students were divided into 7 teams and subsequently assigned a patient. This project represented the students’ introduction into 3D modeling and fabrication processes, including 3D scanning, laser cutting, CNC milling and 3D printing. Students engaged the patients via interview and later presented the developed designs to them. The instructor used 3D scanning technology to scan both the patient’s intact limb and prosthesis to enable the mirroring of the geometry in the computer and the mapping of connection details between the skin and prosthesis. A diversity of materials and connection details were explored in the process. The resulting knowledge from the project informs fabrication techniques and tolerances associated with the identified fabrication methods.
3D Modeling of CT Scans for 3D Printing
Dustin Headley will introduce participants to methods and practices to convert medical CT (computed tomography) scans into editable 3D mesh geometries and refine them into 3D printable geometries.
Digital design development will be executed in Rhinoceros 3D, showing how to clean, trim, heal and close the mesh for 3D printing. Headley also will also provide an introduction to relevant 3D printing technologies, how to work with tolerances within specific prototyping machines and how to repair/setup geometry for 3D printing.
Results will be ready for deployment on 3D printing equipment for participants to take back to work, or for deployment via online resources.
