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I just had to make another one of these things, because they're just so cool!  But this time, it's an assembly.  Okay, it's an assembly of print-in-place gears :P  You'll recognise this basic structure from the experiment I posted recently, but now the "hinges" move by rotating a planetary gear.  I love those things, they're just so much fun.  Actually, I have a box experiment that uses that kind of gear sitting there waiting to be printed... but I digress!

So!  You'll need to print:

* 6 body pieces

* 12 bolts.  

The bolts thread in from either side, and hold the middle gear to the arms of the adjacent body.  Those multiple colours in my photos are simply a filament change, not some fancy multiple extrusion thing.

This is a much easier print than the other kaleidocycle with its crazy angles and silly bed adhesion.  This one has no such silliness.  It does have some pretty tight tolerances on those gears, though.  I'd recommend printing one body as a test, and making sure you can get the gears moving.  Mine all took a little persuasion to begin rotating, and I had to make sure there was no debris in the way, but once they were moving, they were great.

I made sure to test this one on my most poorly-calibrated printer, and it worked just fine, so I have high hopes that it'll be reasonably printable for everyone.  That said, if anyone has any big issues getting the body gears going, let me know, and I can always try increasing the tolerances, but that will of course make things looser, too.   

Meanwhile, I have some boxes to print and a video to edit...

Enjoy!

(Creative Printer supporters, you'll find this model on Dropbox already, under Planetary Kaleidoycle)

Files

Comments

Anonymous

Damn guy. This thing is now almost growing like it's got a mind of it's own. This movement and motion is just crazy, and beautiful, and just so mesmerising. But you speak of some sort of silliness that was supposedly present in some previous iteration of this concept, I know of no such silliness. That model has it's merits, and it has it's place and purpose. The intent is not to put pressure on you, it is really just to show you to what high standard we hold your models. GREAT work!!! Best I've ever seen or had the privilege to print. These are so awesome and addictive, and SOO fantastically educational.

Anonymous

No problem getting the gears going, but they do fall out pretty easily. Prusa MK3s at 0.2 rez

clockspring3D

Haha, thanks Anton - you'll make me blush! 😁

clockspring3D

That's really interesting, Jerry - I was worried about things being too tight, not too loose! That Prusa is clearly very precise... 😍

Cathy O'Malley

I am going to do a 150% scale up test because the original size had some weak parts.

Anonymous

Mr. Clockspring, I too Have this issue of printing them and it all falling apart. I have my extrusion dialed in really accurately. I even tried to over extrude a little with no luck.

clockspring3D

Hmm, sounds like we need a redesign of those gears! I'm having a related problem with a new design, but rather than falling out, they're slipping and getting out of sync with each other. Redesign time! 😁

clockspring3D

New design is up! :) The file "planetary 4.stl" is a coarser gear profile with fewer teeth, though the overall size of the design is still the same. So, the bolts are still the same, and you could even mix and match the old and new designs (if you really wanted to). Also, in addition to enlarging the teeth I've added bevels to the cogs to hold them in place, so they really shouldn't be able to go anywhere now :)