Slow Progress…

… is still progress.

I designed a planetary gear assembly, more to see whether parts this small would even turn out than to actually make a working component.  The gears are about 3 mm thick, but half of that is the larger part.  I forgot that you can’t have a two-level gear mesh against another identical gear, so these didn’t move at all.

A test planetary gear assembly

I reprinted the parts, this time increasing the center hole size and also removing the teeth off the larger side.  It kinda works, but it’s very finnicky.  This might be a side effect of these gears being very thin and the teeth very small.  I think it’s probably worth sacrificing gear ratio in favor of larger, more consistent teeth.

Small improvements

The OpenSCAD code is a mess, lots of vestigial code remains, lots of non-working parts are commented out, and it all just needs more comments in general.  I hate looking at it.  But, as one of my favorite memes goes…

I mean, he’s got a point
DIY Lightsaber Build
  1. TwistSabers
  2. DIY Lightsaber Thoughts
  3. Wait, haven’t I worked on this before?!
  4. Considering the design elements of a DIY light saber
  5. More Musings on Lightsabers, Mechanical Components
  6. Slow Progress…
  7. Capstan Drives as alternatives to Planetary Gears?