Fidget Gears

I go to Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsboro, MA. For a school project we had to design and print a fidget toy with moving features. I created a spinning two-geared toy.

First I brainstormed what moving parts I would enjoy fidgeting with. I knew spinning would be a fun movement to have so I got the idea to use gears in my design. I also thought having it be able to be put together and taken apart would add another layer of fidgeting capabilities to the toy.

I used Autodesk Fusion 360 to model the toy. Using the SpurGear Add-In I created 2 gears of equal size. I then spaced them so their pitch circles were just touching. If you design your own, you can play around with different gear sizes as this toy will work with varied gear sizes.

I then created the connector. I made sure to make it in two pieces both for more fidgeting options and for easier printing. The pins were thin enough to allow the gears to spin smoothly, and the top and bottom fit tighter together.

After modeling it i made sure to move and rotate the pieces in a print friendly layout.

I then printed the toy. The first time I printed it with 3 shells (blue connector piece) the pins actually broke when I tried to use it. However, I printed it a second time, that time with 5 shells. That toy was much sturdier and has stood up to much fidgeting.

Here is a link to my design if you want to download and print it yourself!

https://a360.co/31rRp2F