PLA Swing Thing

cults3d

The PLA Swing Thing is a 3D printed PLA recreation of an apparently quite old design. Video of the PLA Swing Thing can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u74y2vizy7U. This video shows the PLA Swing Thing with only 10 windings of the arm. A long and slow motion video studying the action of the PLA Swing Thing is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu57ssOsLyY. Notice the flex in "Rod.stl" as the ball bearing wraps around it, while "Tube Rubber Band.stl" remains relatively static. This video shows the PLA Swing Thing with 25 windings of the arm. A colleague sent me this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OY0KxRdgQ and asked if I could design a Swing Thing that is printable on a 3D printer. The PLA Swing Thing is the result. Note in the videos of the PLA Swing Thing, the base was double sided taped to a heavy surface. If not secured properly, it will fall over, break, fly apart, do bad things, etc. Holding it down with a hand works, just keep away from the swinging ball bearing. Printed on a Makerbot Replicator 2 in PLA using Makerware 2.3.3.42 "Standard" settings.