Kinetic Sculpture Flower

Hi All,

This is my second version of Kinetic sculpture, you can check my v1 here

In this version, I have fixed a few issues compared to the V1

• Better and stronger Gearbox
• 3d print all parts
• Easy assembly, installation, and repair
• Less noise

It still is motor-based and lightweight, gathering things should not be too difficult to print and assemble.

Also, the flower design is reverse compatible with my V1, so you could just print only this and reuse the gearbox from v1

• 3d Printer ( I have used Ender3)
• STL file
• M4 x 25 mm screws - 4 Nos
• M4 x 50 mm Screw - 1 no
• 70 rpm DC geared Motor (3-6v)
• 5V volts old mobile charger
• 5.5mm male and female power connector
• Super Glue
• Box cutter
• Soldering Iron

• To design a gearbox we must first list what we expect out
• RPM: we want (rotations per minute) rpm to be between 5 to 20
• It cannot be too fast or too slow
• We need to reduce the motor RPM to this value
• Torque: should be able to turn the and bear the load/weight of the wheels
• Needs to spin the gear anti-clock and clockwise at the same time
• Both wheels should align
• Motor selection
• There are many types of geared motors available.
• DC gear motor that I choose is commonly available
• Gear reduction
• To reduce RPM from 70 to 10, We need a gear pair with 7:1
• Motor to have minimum teeth of 10
• Mean equates that one of the gears to be 70 (let's assume the back gear)
• The front gear needs to rotate in sync with the back gear but in the opposite direction
• Added a 20T gear that is connected to the back 70T
• Added another 20T that connected to the previous 20T and the 70T front gear
• So when the motor spins clockwise, the back 70T gear moves anti-clock
• The first 20T spins clockwise, and the second 20T spins anti-clock
• The front 70T gear spins clockwise
• So we have achieved
• 10rpm
• two gears that move in the opposite direction

Sorry bit nerdy explanation

• Steps for designing gearbox, flower are the same as V1, just that I have corrected a few issues from my first design.
• Added extra screw holes for support of back and front plate
• The front plate covers the 70t front gear
• backplate merged with the wall hanging part
• Reduced length for 70T front gear
• The flower is not a spiral, it is a simple crosssection of the two circles, I used Freecad to create it
• Since I am not an expert in freecad, I just exported the arm and then did the rest in Tinkercad
• Scaled it to 170MM length
• Created a slot on the arm to fit the center wheel
• It took me quite a few tries to get the flower right
• Do not worry about this process, I have shared the link for all the files in this instructable

• Download STL files from here
• Print Gears with 20% infill
• 10T Gear
• 20T Gear -2 no
• 70T Front Gear
• 70T Back Gear
• front_plate
• back_plate ( with support)\
• flower front wheel
• flower back wheel
• arms 6 sets (stl file has 4 arms together)

I have added labels for easy identification of each part, If you add a query, leave a message below.

It would take 2-3 days to print it all in batches

• Pass an M4x50MM screw in the center hole of the backplate ( from the back)
• Add 70T back gear, use super glue to stick the gear and the screw
• Let this dry
• now add 70T front gear, 20T gears, Motor, and 10T gear
• Using 3 - M4x25mm screws fix the front plate of the gearbox
• I have added a gif file to show how the gearbox is assembled
• Connect the power supply to the motor and test how many RPMs this gearbox give
• Mine gave 10 rpm. one could play with the voltage level to fine-tune the final rpm

• The front and the back wheel have slots in a specific direction
• So the arms will fit only in a specific way, they fit like a jigsaw puzzle
• If you have difficulties in fixing them together, try to remove the elephant's foot using a box cutter
• Use super glue to fix the wheel and the arms

Elephant's Foot: For the first few layers, the distance between the hot-end and bed is less/smaller than 0.2mm, which causes the print to spread on the bed, creating these layers to be larger than the rest. A good video on elephant's foot from Makers Muse, watch it for more info

• Drill holes on your wall to hang the gearbox
• Connect the power supply
• Place the flower "back" on the gearbox, no need to glue
• Added the flower "front" by screwing in clockwise, this will interlock with the m4x50mm screw at the center
• Switch on the power supply and enjoy your new Kinetic Sculpture and get mesmerized by its beauty

• Whenever you want to repair, just rotate the front flower in anti-clock direction
• You can also change the direction of the flowers by removing and turning them 180 degrees or changing the polarity of the power supply

I hope you make one and do share your feedback and suggestions

If you have a request on a specific type of the wheel/flower, do let me know