Week 8: Larynx Model Progress

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog. 

Introduction: 

This week, I worked on the model of the larynx and vocal cords. I was able to successfully print both, and I will attach pictures throughout the rest of the blog. 

Larynx: 

Figure 1: Printed Larynx 

The larynx was printed with PLA. Although I had considered printing and inverse mold and casting the larynx with silicone, I ultimately decided against it for a few reasons. First, I needed the larynx to separate so that vocal cords could be replaced, and a silicone larynx would not work. Secondly, I could not find a way to cast each half into an inverse mold, as that would involve PVA getting stuck in many places. Thus, I chose to print the larynx with PLA, and use silicone vocal cords. 

Vocal Cords:

Figure 2: Inverse mold of vocal cord and vocal cord with papilloma 

I printed another version of the vocal cord and the papilloma. I had to reprint the inverse mold because the pegs fell off (oops!). If I have more time at the end of the project, I would try to print a vocal cord with a larger papilloma. 

Larynx with Vocal Cord and Future Goals:  

Figure 3: Larynx with the Vocal Cord 

Above is an image of the vocal cord put into the groove of the larynx. After testing this, a few issues came up. First, some PVA was left in the grooves because of the design feature, so I have to fix that next week. Next, the groove was too small to properly fit the vocal cord, so I will have change the model and reprint the larynx. Hopefully, next week I will have a better model. Until then, see you all! 

-Derrick