Wind Spinner/Display Cage

thingiverse

This wind spinner was made to hold things inside! Print your favorite 3D model right into the spinner, hang it up, and watch it spin around! This decorative spinning cage will grab people's attention and add some extra style to a model that you want to show off. I suggest using this outside; but since this spinner is designed to catch wind from all sides, feel free to put it in any room with good air flow. Recent Updates: 2.2 - fixed the way it stands 2.1 - fixed a big problem that was causing trouble 2.0 - took out the middle column and added blades More about this design: As you can probably tell, this isn't just a coil with some minor errors in the pictures. To draw the ribs of the cage, I used one 3D math curve. This math curve is set in special math symbols (r = radius, φ = angle around, θ = angle up). My math curve is defined like this: r(t) = 50×(1+cos(t/4))/2×((8+1/2×sin(17*t)×cos(15*t))/8.5)^2, φ(t) = t/2, and θ(t) = 12*t. * 0 < t < 360, but t actually only goes from a little less to a little more to make sure the features don't get mixed up. I know that the radius math can be made simpler; however, this format lets me change the shape of my design fast. Don't have computer-aided design software? No problem! Being the nerd that I am, I make most of my models on graphing calculators. Then I copy them over to my computer. Go ahead... pick up your 3D grapher and plug it in! The three blades along the body of the spinner give extra support and catch more wind. My original design had an ugly middle column that was totally useless. A special thanks goes out to Thomas V. for printing out a prototype of my design on his Maker Bot Replicator 2 and for helping me with the design process throughout.