A device for automated PEG tube feeding. Reliable, affordable, 3D-printed.
PEG tube feeding requires regular, precisely dosed nutrition delivery. Commercial medical syringe pumps are expensive and often impractical for home use. The goal of this project was to build a reliable, open-source alternative that anyone with a workbench and a 3D printer can put together.
Caring for my child who can’t eat through his mouth due to swallowing difficulties is a challenging journey. After undergoing surgery, he now relies on a PEG (Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) tube that delivers nourishment directly to his stomach. We meticulously feed him 200 ml of food and 120 ml of water four times a day using 60 ml syringes. It feels overwhelming to manage all that “pumping” throughout the day. Each feeding requires our careful attention, ensuring it’s administered slowly enough to avoid discomfort yet quick enough that he feels like he’s having an actual meal and not just a drawn-out snack. As parents, my wife and I often find ourselves feeling stressed during these feeding times. Additionally, we face the challenge of thick foods and sometimes struggle to push them through the syringe, which adds to our anxiety.
I first made a hand cranked pump to mitigate the problem with thick food, but it looked too industrial, and my wife didn’t approve of it. Also, it didn’t solve the timing problem.
So I started to think about a motorized version with dosage control. There is a lot of syringe pumps out on the internet, but most of them are ugly beasts that are at least twice times a size of syringe and would definitly not get through wife filter. There are also a comertial one I tried to use all off the shelf parts and no coding or soldering. Almost did it. 🙂 For pushing and pulling, I used a mini linear actuator and build a 3d model around it. I wanted it to be portable, not cumbersome and look professional (or not like it would hurt somebody) with configurable timing dosage. End up using 3x 18650 batteries in series with protection and equalizer, USB-C charger, 555 timer and some switches.
I designed a 3D body in Onshape, as I use it regularly. It took some iterations: the first one didn’t even see the light of day; the second was a monobloc, but good enough for testing; and the third was an optimized version for printing, with improvements discovered during testing. Typical product phases, I would say.
Building blocks of the tool:
- Two linear actuators, 5mm/s, 100mm length and 150 Nm torque.
- NE555 timer, modified with 100k multiturn potentiometer and 10k multiturn potentiometer for duty cycle. I boosted the output with mosfet transistor, which I soldered directly to the board. Original 555 output is not capable of driving two linear actuators.
- Switch for power
- Switch for changing the direction of the actuators
- Battery holder for 3 batteries
- 3S battery protection and balancing circuit
- 3S 1A USBC charger
- Tactile button for “priming”
- Short M4 rod and nuts
- Some dupont cables and/or basing soldering
- 3D printed body
