Kinetic Gear Sculptures for the Desk

When people hear I have a machine shop, invariably they want to know what I make. And my answer tends to be “tools”. The discussion rapidly goes circular, since the curious onlooker wants to know what all the tools are going to be used to make. Making “tools” for their own sake seems not to be a real answer for the layman. That’s okay, the beautiful thing about a machine shop is you start to realize there isn’t much you couldn’t make, it’s more a matter of what captures your imagination enough to be worth the time.

I’ve been wanting to do something purely aesthetic. My Turner’s Cubes have been a huge hit. Even though they have far less practical use than making tools, they seem to be something everyone relates to. I suspect these gear sculptures would be just as popular, so here are some ideas for those of you casting around for cool projects.

The Broken Heart, a 3D printed sculpture…

Motorized Cube Gears…

Guts of a cube gear…

Interesting designs, no? These were all done with additive machine using 3D printers. Some of the shapes would be pretty exotic to fixture and program for a normal milling machine. That’s one of the advantages 3D printing can have. I’d love to see someone do one of these in metal with a mill though. Drop me a note if you’re aware of such a thing!

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