clockspring3D
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The Dice-O-Matic Geared Dice Roller!
🕑 Added 2021-01-29 14:17:07 +0000 UTCHey there, wonderful people!
Dice rolling got you down? Need to add some excitement, dynamism and, well, gears?! Then this is the model for you! Load your dice into the top hopper, turn the side handle and hear the dice fall into a lower scoop. Now turn the handle back the other way and behold as the dice rattle forth into the tray in a display of glorious randomness!
Yes, it's a dice tower/roller/thingy that incorporates all sorts of moving parts! Two separate scoops are connected to a central handle in a 2:1 gear ratio so that a half turn of the handle imparts a quarter turn to the scoops. The scoops in turn are oriented out of phase with each other so that when the upper scoop begins to spill the dice into the innards of the Dice-O-Matic, the lower scoop approaches a horizontal position to catch them. Turning the handle back the other way returns the upper scoop to the ready position once more while simultaneously delivering the dice from the lower scoop into an angled tray at the front of the whole thing.
And, of course, it all prints assembled, with no supports required :D
This is one of those models that went on forever with prototypes (I'll write about that a bit more in the end-of-month post I have half-done), but it wasn't anything to do with the gearing and the motion. Rather, it was all about the potential fall paths of the dice internally. There were so many little spots where a die could get jammed, or remain sitting on a flat surface, and most of the troubleshooting effort went to resolving those without compromising the way the gearing worked and the scoops rotated.
This is one that really needs a visual demonstration - I'll pop a video up on Instagram (@Clockspring3D) shortly!
Printing Tips
No supports required! As always with articulated models, make sure your bottom layer is dialled in, and that there are no print artifacts like stringing or overextrusion that might cause moving parts to bind together!
This is a pretty big print! However, this model uses the same 0.5mm tolerance as usual, so if you've successfully scaled down any of the other mechanical models, this one should likewise be scalable, too. Of course, you still want to be able to fit dice in there, though :)
The orientation of the model is side-down for printing, like this:
File Location
You'll find this on Dropbox under 779 Geared Dice Roller
(Dropbox link post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/dropbox-and-are-31697592 )
Further Thoughts
It goes without saying that this is my favourite dice roller so far, and not just because it has the most hexagons on it :P Tactile, engaging machines are just hard not to love! That said, this is a huge print in the scheme of things - I wonder if I could make something just as fun that's much smaller?...
xoxo
Sven.
Comments
SomeRandomFlunk
This print is so amazing. I was worried because I did it low and slow on my prusa mini (3 days total nearly!) but the wait was worth it, it came out beautiful and performs flawlessly. Thank you for designing such an amazing print!
Clockspring3D
That's great! Discord is probably the best place to share photos at the moment - there's a friendly crowd in there :)
It worked! 25 hours, 25 minutes. 0.6mm nozzle. 0.44mm Layer Height. So cool. Some of the overhangs drooped a bit more perhaps, but cosmetic and easy to trim. Wish there was a way to share pictures. Thanks!
Clockspring3D
Quite possibly! You should be able to see pretty quickly in the early stages of the print whether the parts are remaining separate, which is the main thing. The moving parts rotate such that layer lines don't move across each other, so thicker layers won't cause extra friction or anything like that.
Been printing a number of your awesome models, wondering if you think this would work on a 0.6mm nozzle? I have a CoreXY with a large build area, and a 0.6mm nozzle on a E3D Volcano.
Davina Appleton
This is my next print after Chompy skull with eyeballs. It's awesome!
Clockspring3D
As only an occasional dice roller I know exactly what you mean! I feel like this idea could be incorporated into a marble run type thing in some way, but I'm not quite sure how, yet...
I love this contraption. I just wish I had a use for dice. I don't play tabletop. So... what else could I use this for? lol
Clockspring3D
My secret goal is to cause endless unnecessary rolling just for the sake of turning the gears :P
Clockspring3D
Awesome! :D
Cathy O'Malley
I have fiends who will love this one.
Filament Stories
We never tire of the intricate dice tumbling, mixing, and spinning machines here. Gone are the days of the question, "who has the dice?" when there's a sturdy dice rolling contraption on the table. Thanks, Sven!
