Cube Gears
Description
Instructions
Use a screw to tap threads into the center block first, because it makes it easier to assemble. No glue needed, the screws should stay tightly in the center block while the gears revolve. Attach the gears, making sure the edges of the cube connect them. If the gears are too tight to spin easily, just unscrew them all a millimeter or two.
The OpenSCAD file is highly parameterized to allow easy tweaking (for different proportions, screw sizes, etc.). You can also change the ratio of teeth on the gears, but you'll need to put the desired parameters into gearopt.m and run in Matlab (or Octave) and copy the result into the OpenSCAD file. This is necessary because I couldn't solve the geometry with anything but an iteration loop, which OpenSCAD doesn't handle so well. I used the MCAD library for Greg's involute gears github.com/elmom/MCAD.
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Really love this print! I wanted to let you know that my wife, who is a social worker, is going to use our first print in her office for patients. She thinks they will be very therapeutic for kids.
This thing is GREAT and is my new favorite thing to show people. Thanks for making it!
Hmm, I do have a question though:
How would one stop the gears from curling up during printing?? I mean, I have printed two and they work, I would just like it to look a little neater. Seem to curl up, which makes the layer beneath the current layer not be there, so then I have some hanging threa
ds and a lot of slop.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I've had some trouble with curling as well. First, I'd recommend printing on kapton tape (ABS sticks to it really well). Second, printing it hollow helps to reduce the warping stress that pulls up on the corners. If SkeinForge is putting in weird diaphragms, get the very latest version (not in RepG yet). It might also help to use Multiply to print four gears at once so there's more cooling time for the layers.
I finally made one on my Ultimaker, this is a really awesome item!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
You have the right to be seriously flattr'd 8-)
It has a very nice design, and is looks very good, but the gears don't fit together quite right which makes problems when spinning. But otherwise, it is quite nice. Maybe the smaller gears should be a bit bigger? Also the tightness of the screws is a bit finicky. But still, it's very good.
Looks like a good starting point for a Gear-Cube type puzzle. Gearing action is mesmerizing.
I would like to see some little pyramids added to this to glue on the corners so you can
1. hide the screws and
2. have a actual cube.
It looks great. Either way its on my print list.
That's a pretty serious overhang on gear1. Ended up needing to use a fan with it. Other than that, printed fine.
Yeah, the planar overhang isn't bad, but right at the tip it goes pretty far. I had trouble with warping even though it stuck perfectly to my paper/kapton belt. On the plus side, the warping tends to shrink the gears, so it often doesn't interfere with their meshing.
Printing one now. What kind of bolts/screws did you use? Probably going to just use what I can dig up, but thought I'd ask.
I got to see this first hand at our January Seattle Makerbot Meet-up. It was Pretty cool.... though I thought that one was printed in white?
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Great print! I had some troubles slicing the center with slicer but after esporting again the stl from de scad allways gone fine