Fully Printable Tank Tread Assembly

What's the love child of the Customizable MakerBelt and Emmet's Gear Bearing? A fully printable tank tread assembly! It's not only fully printed (no screws or bolts) it's printed assembled, ready to use! Note that the belt is printed in place around toothed bearings, and the bearings are printed in place attached to a frame. Just remove from the build plate, rotate the belt and bearing pieces to make sure everything's free, and it should roll! How cool is that!

Instructions

Print, pop off your print bed, and spin the bearings and tread until they're loose. After that, it should roll freely over rough terrain!

Print two, and make a robot or tank!

I plan to:

• Make it cleanly parametric (there are some 'magic numbers' right now, which need to be turned into proper trigonometry so that it's customizable. With a little work, you should be able to change the gear sizes, add more wheels, etc.
• Add a drive gear, which will be driven by a stepper motor, and which will also serve as a 'tensioner'.
• And build a robot body for mounting an arduino and a few sensors.

Category: Robotics