PLA Swing Thing

myminifactory

PLA Swing Thing is a 3D printed PLA version of an old design that has apparently been around for a while. A video showing the PLA Swing Thing can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u74y2vizy7U. This video features the PLA Swing Thing with just 10 windings of its arm. A slow-motion video studying the movement of the PLA Swing Thing is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu57ssOsLyY. This long and perhaps tedious video shows the action of the PLA Swing Thing in detail. Notice how "Rod.stl" bends as the ball bearing wraps around it, while "Tube Rubber Band.stl" remains relatively still. A video showing the PLA Swing Thing with 25 windings of its arm is also available. A colleague sent me a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OY0KxRdgQ) asking if I could design a Swing Thing that could be printed on a 3D printer, and this led to the creation of the PLA Swing Thing. In the videos of the PLA Swing Thing, you can see that its base was secured to a heavy surface using double-sided tape. If it's not properly secured, the PLA Swing Thing will fall over, break apart, or do something else undesirable. Holding it down with your hand works, but keep away from the swinging ball bearing. The PLA Swing Thing was printed on a Makerbot Replicator 2 in PLA using Makerware 2.3.3.42 "Standard" settings.