clockspring3D
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Sprocket Box!
🕑 Added 2020-08-14 14:17:36 +0000 UTCHey there, wonderful people!
Yep, it's another ridiculously convoluted one! This print-in-place cog-driven box features two big sort-of-herringbone sprockets, an oddly-curved lid and a design that makes me squint and turn my head sideways trying to remember which bits go where. Actually, the first thing I did when pulling the final version off the printer was to try to open it from the wrong side :)
The main feature of this one is also where the concept started - a pair of cogs that rotate against each other and support the whole assembly. You'll notice that one of the cogs is fixed into the box body itself - that cog is in fact the part that keeps everything together. The lid/connector arm rotates within that cog and then in turn the second cog rotates against that arm as it moves.
The trick there, though, is to make sure that those two cogs can both turn underneath the connector arm without catching on the opposite side. That fixed cog is only fixed with respect to the box body - it still rotates relative to both the connector arm, and to the other cog into which it's meshed!
Printing Tips
The box prints oriented with the cogs flat against the bed, like so:
As usual, take care of your bottom layers, and watch for print issues like stringing or overextrusion that might cause binding between moving parts.
File Location
You'll find this one on dropbox under 804 Sprocket Box
Final Thoughts
It would be neat if there could be more cogs in something like this. All the cogs!
This particular design was an exploration of whether this kind of approach could work at all, and like all such projects there's an opportunity to take the results and refine, hopefully distilling the important parts into a simpler, more practical form. That's not to say that I don't love the complicated designs, but I do get a lot of satisfaction looking back on the evolution of concepts :)
xoxo
Sven
Comments
Clockspring3D
Double size?! That's fantastic! 😁
Dave DeWitt
Printed full size twice on PRUSA MK3s. Sliced with PrusaSlicer in easy mode with default settings - NO SUPPORTS. Run time = 23.85 hours. Came off the Smooth PEI flex plate easily. NO strings anywhere. With a bit of a "wiggle" all of the moving parts released and the box opened perfectly. I'm making one for each of my grand kids to take to school for "show & tell" once school in person again!
Todd Coello
So I was watching wildrose YouTube channel and he did this box. As you know I've made this also but for some reason as I was watching his the hex holes you have on the bottom stuck out me me and I thought wow maybe in the future those holes could be used to expand this into some type of modular assembly or something. You know me my mind runs wild lol. Fyi watching one of his videos where he printed that watch box is what brought me here and got me to become a patreon.
Todd Coello
I'm starting it now but I'm going to try 80% scale. That will only be 7 hours on my ender 3. My delta is doing something else
Clockspring3D
Yeah, I love that kind of idea! Things that roll and fold and change shape, rather than just pivoting, are awesome :D
Clockspring3D
Hehe, thank you! :)
Clockspring3D
Interesting! S3D is such a picky one about geometry. I've uploaded a new version to dropbox with "remeshed" on the end that should hopefully be more S3D-friendly!
Todd Coello
I printed this. But for some reason at the top of print orientation that last layer doesn't actually close. in SP3D it put a thin layer to close it but cura it leaves it as a open line.
Todd Coello
I am printing this now. It is almost done. I will post on IG when done.
You say "convoluted".. I say.. "Out of the box".. another fantastic work. thanks for sharing
Charles Stitman
Nice. I love the fiddly bits. I'd love to see a box fold up and away it's enclosing leaves as it opens.
Another master piece of elegancy and problem solving regarding tricky 3D printing design solutions. Love the look of the solution you came up with of keeping the lid detached from the cogs, but still connected to both. I'd say it is the perfect example of when an engineering design solution meets with art. Well done! ❤ Time to heat the bed! :)
