My nephew Sam has a birthday coming up, so I designed and made him this gear toy. This set has gears of multiple sizes and lets you stack gears together so you can make different gear ratios. For the base you can either print out the included base, or use a sheet of pegboard from the hardware store to go really big.
Instructions
Print as many of the parts as you like, in whatever colors you like. Assemble.
All parts print without support.
The available parts are:
- Gears: 1, 2, 3, and 4 inch diameters. Each diameter has a different design, and the gears can stack and lock together vertically.
- Plates: 2 and 4 inch square plates serve as the base for building. Plates lock together to make larger layouts. You can also use commercial pegboard from the hardware store, but note that pegboard has holes spaced at 1" intervals instead of 1/2", so pegboard won't allow even-sized gears to mesh with odd-sized gears.
- Pegs: 1, 2, 3, and 4 cm length pegs serve as the axles for the gears. The split end of the peg fits into the base plate, and gears stack onto the solid end
- Spacers: Spacers are like gears without any teeth, and let you stack gears without meshing with a neighboring gear. The Spacer With Pegs locks onto the gear above so all the gears in a stack turn together; the Spacer No Pegs lets you build a stack of gears which can turn independently.
- Crank: The crank fits on top of a gear (3" and 4" work best) to give you a handle to turn it with.
UPDATED 9/24: I've added simplified versions of the two plates which should slice and print significantly faster. I left the original versions in place in case you like the aesthetics of the exposed ribs.
Category: Mechanical Toys
Peter L
