Wind Up Polypanel Mechanism

myminifactory

Hey guys! This is a submission for Make Anything's polypanel design competition. It's a wind-up mechanism that lets users make all sorts of spinning creations! This polypanel has a ratchet-style design - it spins one way and catches the other - allowing it to free-spin like a bearing in one direction, but work as a wind-up mechanism in the other. It prints in three parts: the base, the coil, and the lid. There are several variants for each part, and they all work together, making this a truly modular design. The coil snaps onto the base, and then the lid snaps on top to create a "sandwich" with the parts. There's also a flipped version of each part that spins in the opposite direction. These are connected to each other in exactly the same way, allowing for even more creations (you can't just flip the model in your slicer because the PolyPanel joints would be flipped as well). Note: This model is easy to print, but for it to work, your 3D printer's tolerance needs to be dialed in decently well. It might be hard to press the lid onto the base for the first few tries, but that won't stop it from working, and it will wear in and become easier with each disconnection. Ignore the numbers at the end of some file names - they're not named like that on my computer, I promise! There are two Base parts (Pentagon, Hexagon), two Coil parts (Thick, Thin), and five Lid parts (Triangle, Square, Rhombus, Pentagon, Hexagon), allowing for 20 different combinations.