January 5, 2026
Description
I saw the idea of the hypocycloidal clamp on Robert Murray-Smith YouTube channel, who has now sadly passed away, he was such an inspiration.
The hypocycloidal gears Make great reduces, in this case 20/1, in my first version I had 72 to one, a little too much.
I recommend assembling it all first without glue (in fact you don't need to glue), ensure it all fits and rotates, it may need a bit of easing in and working in.
When assembling make sure you put the four leaf side of the central cog with the five pin case cover, the five leaf side should be with the six pin case cover. There should be enough tolerance to allow the cog to rotate as it oscillate. I used silicon gel to lubricate it.
Place the two axle haves together, make sure you align them the right way around, one end is slightly shorter than the other.
Place the central cog over the axle, use lubricant between the two, it should easily turn around the axle
Push the Axel through the appropriate case side, remember four leaves go with five pins, it should
click in place, again lubricate around the central cog.
As you turn the axle you should see the four leaf cog slowly turn as the leaves interact with the
pins.
Clip the 6 pin case side on, again in showing the axle is free to turn. ensure you align it correctly, the xle should be free to turn and the outter case should turn as well, When happy click the case inplace. You may need you a little force to click the two sides of the case onto the axle, I used adjustable pipe grips to apply pressure, you should hear it click into place.
Finally fit the knob and cap and on to the axle ends, the knob goes on the slightly longer side.
For the base and arm print as many linkages and knobs as required.
I used M4 x 20mm nuts and bolts. the heads and nuts will fit nicely into the knobs.
I used Sunlu PLA 2+ for the print.
0.2mm layers
6 wall loops
6 base and top layers
40% infill.
Good luck
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution
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