Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg projectPictured, from left, are Stephen Lindridge, Technology and Manufacturing CTE Course instructor at Candor High; Owen Huizinga; Ava Fernando; Lydia Kunte; Patrick Tubbs; and Tracy Reynolds. (Photo by Wendy Post)

Stephen Lindridge’s Manufacturing CTE Course has just gone a step further in their course curriculum with the assembly of prosthetic legs. Working with a Life Changer Manufacturing organization, found at https://skyyouth.org/life-changer-prosthetics, and with a portion funded by Harbor Freight Tools For Schools, Candor, N.Y. was selected as one of 12 schools to participate in the project.

According to the project’s website, statistics reveal that 80% of all amputees live in developing countries. Many working class citizens in these countries are fortunate to earn five dollars a day, with modern prosthetic legs costing $60,000 making them unattainable for most amputees around the world. 

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

The class in Alabama, and their instructors, assembled for a photo upon completion of a prosthetic leg. Photo credit: Chris Teribury.

From April 30-May 2, Lindridge’s Manufacturing Class traveled to Chickasaw High School in Alabama, a school where students partnered with Dr. Albert Allen “Lord of Crofton” to help change lives.

During their trip to Alabama, Lindridge and the six students that he accompanied were able to help assemble a finished leg alongside Brian Copes, high school Manufacturing teacher at Chickasaw High School.

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Ava Fernando and Lydia Kunte are pictured in Alabama. Photo credit:
Chris Teribury.

Lindridge, of the cost, stated that the normal cost of a prosthetic leg could be upwards of $60,000; the costs for their manufactured legs are approximately $800.  

Once the legs are assembled, they are delivered and fitted.

The website added that last year Chickasaw students traveled with Dr. Albert Allen to El Salvador and Honduras where they fit over 20 amputees. This school year the students will be traveling to and fitting legs on amputees in Mexico, Guatemala, and Columbia. 

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Tracy Reynolds is pictured in the Alabama classroom with the assembled prosthetic leg. Photo credit: Chris Teribury.

“These students are Changing the lives of others around the world as their own lives are being changed, and as they learn to serve and help others,” the website stated.

“Life Changer Manufacturing”, the project’s moniker, uses a modern additive manufacturing technique to 3/D print the prosthetic legs in the classroom.  Once printed and fabricated, the students’ travel to an area where they change the lives of needy amputees, providing them with a life of fulfilled normalcy.

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Pictured are project members Ava Fernando, Lydia Kunte, and Nicola Soper; here they machine a shin bone that will be assembled into a prosthetic leg. (Photo by Wendy Post)

For their part of the collaborative effort in Alabama, Lindridge’s class made 206 ankle pins that are 3/8-inch aluminum with a 1/4-20 thread. Currently, he added, they are making shin bones.

Collectively there are 30 students working on the prosthetic leg project, and six traveled with Lindridge to Alabama – Tracy Reynolds, Ava Fernando and Lydia Kunte, all freshmen; Owen Huizinga, a junior; Neena Kurtz, a senior; and Patrick Tubbs, a sophomore.

For Owen Huizinga, his favorite part of the project is helping others.

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Stephen Lindridge, Technology and Manufacturing CTE Course instructor, holds the shin bone currently being manufactured in his classroom. (Photo by Wendy Post)

Patrick Tubbs enjoyed every aspect of the Alabama experience, as well as the knowledge he is gaining through the project.

Living and working on a farm, Tubbs made special note of the flight coming home, and how in Alabama the roads appeared to go for miles. At one point, he added, he saw a heart shaped field, from high in the sky.

Aspiring to be a crane operator and study theology, Tubbs summed his thoughts up, stating, “We are doing God’s work.”

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Stephen Lindridge, Technology and Manufacturing CTE Course instructor, holds an ankle pin his class manufactured for assembly into a prosthetic leg. (Photo by Wendy Post)

Having an uncle that served in the military that now has a prosthetic leg, Tubbs also knows the personal freedom associated with the ability to walk.

“I know the positive impact of giving someone the ability to walk,” Tubbs added.

Tracy Reynolds was very interested in seeing how things would come together for the prosthetic leg, their offering being the ankle pin.

“It’s nice to be able to help people,” said Reynolds.

Steps in Manufacturing; Candor students take part in prosthetic leg project

Stephen Lindridge, Technology and Manufacturing CTE Course instructor, is pictured next to one of the assembled prosthetic legs. (Photo by Wendy Post)

Lydia Kunte talked of assembling two prosthetic legs on her three-day trip, and noted that it took about 45-minutes to assemble each leg, once all of the manufactured parts were brought together as a finished product.

Nichole Soper participates in the project, but was unable to go on the three-day trip to Alabama. She noted, however, that she is enjoying working on the manufactured parts back home, as she knows she is making a contribution.

Of the process for making the ankle pins and now the shin bones, Ava Fernando stated that getting everything lined up is key to the assembly. If things don’t fit, they either find another part or come up with a workaround, she added.

She also noted that they are using spot drilling for the shin bone, and as she offered a demonstration. The end product is amazingly light, weighing in at two to three pounds.

Aaron Hunt, a junior at Candor High that is part of the program but did not go to Alabama, was preparing to interview for an internship in Lockheed Martin’s Machine Shop last week, and noted that he was proud to be a part of the prosthetic leg project.

“It’s a good opportunity to have at school…. to actually contribute,” said Hunt.

In Alabama, the students were able to take in a bit of history around the area as well, visiting the U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Memorial Park and seeing the U.S.S. Drum; and were able to take a tour of the assembly building where the Airbus A321 is manufactured while visiting Flight Works.

It is most notable that a portion of the funding for the school’s manufacturing class to participate in this project came from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, and through a grant called a Pilot Project Grant. You can learn more at https://harborfreighttoolsforschools.org/.

To learn more about Life Changer Manufacturing, visit https://skyyouth.org/life-changer-prosthetics.

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