Extruder Gear System.

 
 

Goals

  • Design and manufacture a stackable planetary gear system to replace the current drivetrain on the Society of Engineering Mechanics' chocolate 3D printer

  • Have an ultimate gear ratio of 9:1

  • Design to be driven by a Nema 17 stepper motor

Contributions

  • Fully designed and manufactured myself using SolidWorks, Fusion360, FDM printing, and acrylic laser cutting

  • Final prototype has a 3:1 gear ratio per tier, so two tiers result in the desired 9:1 ratio

  • Tested and iterated, resulting in a design with much less friction and 1/4" thinner layers

  • Assembled the entire drivetrain, mounting my gears to the printer and successfully running prints

Results

  • A modular, stacking system of planetary gears with an exponential increase in gear ratio per additional tier

  • Currently installed on the chocolate 3d printer, successfully driving the extruder as intended

  • For added fun, I manufactured a stack of 13 gears, resulting in a 1,590,000:1 gear ratio