Turbine blower (with planetary gear crank)

Hi there. I'd like to present my latest project. Turbine hand cranked blower. it uses planetary gear with 1:6 ratio so for every crank turn the blades of turbine performs full six revolutions. It's great for barbecue and just for fan.

All parts are 3d printed - no additional hardware needed. If you want a bigger one - feel free to scale it up. 

Also check my newest version with two planetary gears here.

How to print

I recommend setting Seam location to Random (just to avoid bumps in single spot and make the rotation even)

Also make sure to set  Slice gap closing radius to ‘0’  - some parts are pretty close to each other - we don't want them to fuse together

Besides that just print it with the settings that works for you.

PS. you can divide the print into several pieces, but remember that whole geared part is designed to be printed-in-place. You cannot print gears separately and then assemble it afterwards.

After print 

The planetary gear after printing can have parts fused together a bit. Just wiggle them back and forth carefully until they rotate smoothly. Adding a bit of grease can help a lot.

Here are the places when you can add a drop of lubricant (even cooking oil should work)

How to assemble

Step 1. Take the gear part and insert small joints into the slots (8 pieces)

Step 2. Insert the core piece into the hexagonal hole

Step 3. Add the round spacer

Step 4. Place the rotor on the core part

Step 5. Insert the handle in the slot

Step 6. Place cover on top and make sure all the joints are in the right place

Step 7. push firmly the cover to snap in. And that's it.

After project thoughts

I am no aerodynamics expert. I designed the turbine the way I think it should work. The air flow is pretty decent, but I am sure this can be tweaked to work even better. If you have any thoughts - let me know.

Update Log:

23.06.2025: I've fixed small joints size (download new files or scale joints in your current file to 80%). I've also added nozzle for betted airflow and to keep top part of the blower together

22.06.2025: You can now choose left-handed  or right-handed version. L - crank on the left side (like on all the pictures here) R - crank on the right side.