The Xen to One Ratio Build it, buy it, break it, fix it

Gears, gears, gears

I love machines that do nothing. You turn them, crank them, operate them, all to no practical effect. That satisfies me. To that end, here is a device, about 8″ square, that I cut out of 1/4″ MDF board on the CNC router. You turn the outer gear, and the inner gears all parade around mindlessly. It’s a planetary gear arrangement, commonly used in your car’s transmission, only this one doesn’t do anything.

I cut it from some modified designs from the Thingiverse, where people upload designs for things they made. You can then make copies or derivative works, and post them as well. Its very concrete! Most of the participants so far use laser cutters, CNC routers, and 3D rapid prototypers, so the variety of “things” is pretty wide. These gears were originally intended to be laser cut out of cardstock and assembled into a tiny, machinated business card.

Rapid prototyping and machining is becoming so common for “regular people” that I think we are approaching a manufacturing revolution, wherein instead of buying things, you buy meta-things, things that make other things. Why buy plastic cups when you can print your own?