A 13-Year-Old 3D-Printed a Wheelchair for a Toddler in 300 Hours

The Project

Zac Waters, a 13-year-old from Lehi, Utah, spent roughly 300 hours this summer designing, 3D printing, testing, and assembling a custom wheelchair for a 21-month-old girl. The project was completed through MakeGood (makegood.design), a nonprofit that designs and produces 3D-printed assistive devices for people with disabilities around the world.

Waters got started after watching a YouTube channel about 3D printing. He found the MakeGood design library, recognized that his skills could actually help someone, and spent the rest of his summer break building the chair. The full build cycle ran from initial design through final assembly.

What He Built

The finished wheelchair has features that go well beyond a basic frame. Pink accents dominate the design, chosen because that is the girl's favorite color. A removable cupholder and tray table are integrated into the front. The back of the chair includes a dedicated space for heavier medical equipment that the child needs to carry. The footrest and headrest are both adjustable, so the chair grows with her.

The straps are made from soft, flexible material to keep things comfortable. The adjustment points mean the chair should remain usable for years rather than months. That is a meaningful detail: most custom 3D-printed assistive devices are one-off builds, and durability often suffers when the child outgrows them.

What It Takes to Pull Off a Build Like This

Waters said his favorite part of 3D printing is putting the pieces together, and this project gave him plenty of opportunity. The 300-hour estimate covers design iterations, failed prints, fit testing, and final assembly. That is roughly seven and a half full-time weeks of work for a teenager during summer break. The result is not a prototype. It is a functional, personalized mobility device.

The MakeGood design library provides open-source blueprints for assistive devices, which means Waters was not starting from scratch. But translating a design file into a working product still requires problem-solving skills, printer calibration, and the patience to iterate when parts do not fit. He credited his family for keeping him on track and bouncing ideas around throughout the process.

The Bigger Picture

What stands out about this story is not the novelty of 3D printing a wheelchair. It is that a 13-year-old with an entry-level printer and a freely available design library can produce a device that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars through conventional channels. Assistive devices are notoriously expensive and often require custom sizing that mass production cannot accommodate well.

MakeGood and similar nonprofits are closing that gap by open-sourcing designs and letting local builders produce devices on demand. Waters's grandmother put it plainly: "His age does not define his ability to make a difference. His character does."

For anyone sitting on an unused 3D printer wondering what to print next, this is a useful reminder that there are open design libraries for actual mobility aids, not just bottle openers and planters.