Microwave Door Opener

thingiverse

I worked with a client who had no useable fingers - one arm was amputated and the fingers on the other hand were fused. She could not open the microwave because her microwave had a button that had to be pushed in about an inch (a very common design) to open the door. She could not do this because she had no fingers. She had a pencil that she could hold and sometimes open the microwave, but this didn't work well - she also had severe vision loss (why the 3D printed part is bright green, BTW). She could get food out of her refrigerator and eat it by herself, but it was often cold because of the difficulty of using the microwave. This device creates a slider and a track (two tracks in the file - one screws into the countertop, one can be glued or secured with double-sided tape). The slider can be pushed with a forearm or a clubbed hand, and the slider pushes the microwave door button. The slider and track should be aligned with the microwave button so that the pusher makes full contact with the button. When the door is shut, the button pops back into place, pushing the slider back to the front of the track. This gave her the ability to easily open the microwave and heat up her food - by herself.