Printed Windup Car, No Assembly Required, for 3D Systems PJ4500 Printer

thingiverse

A video of the windup car in action: https://youtu.be/4dcH0_db01o This is a windup car which demonstrates three different types of printed-spring mechanisms: - A large spiral mainspring, which stores the energy that makes the car move, - A spring-loaded rotary ratchet mechanism, allowing the car to continue "gliding" once the mainspring has fully unwound, - A front bumper mounted with a linear spring. I designed this 1 or 2 years ago to demonstrate some of the awesome stuff that the 3D Systems ProJet 4500 can do with thin, flexible features. It requires no assembly and can be printed in full color if desired. Perhaps it would also work on an SLS printer? I'd love to find out! Enjoy! If you want the SLDPRT file to tinker with, send me a message. Post-Printing This design relies on thin features to create springs, which need extra cure time. After printing the windup car, let it sit in the printer for 24 hours before removing powder and depowdering it. The springs require additional time to cure in their resting positions before being removed from uncured support. After that, make sure to remove clearance space between axels and bearings. For post-processing, I recommend leaving the car as is. In a pinch, though, you could use low-temperature soy wax process to make colors pop. This process is outlined in 3D Systems best practices document for the printer.