Overview and Background

Introduction, Overview

This is a print in place, snowflake bearing spinner. In order to complete this project the student has will understand designing mechanical clearance gaps and blocking out loop structures in pseudo code.

Mechanical Modification:
During going through this project the students should be encouraged to change the number of balls in the bearing. The students can also play with the ball size and clearance values.

Sample Test Question 1
When printing, how much of the BB needs to be truncated to print correctly?

Sample Test Question 2
How many BB's are needed to run the bearing smoothly?

Sample Test Question 3
How small can you print this out and still have the bearing work?

Artistic Modification:
This framework also allows students to use the peudocode blocking loops to modify the color, and snowflake design.
Artistic students should be encouraged to play with mathematically derived designs such as fractals or other repeatable structures.

Sample Test Question 4
How many branches of a snowflake can you fit?

Sample Test Question 5
Can you derive the trigonometric relationship for the snow flake branches for a centered cube transform?

Sample Test Question 6
How complex of a structure can you build off the top of the inner race?

Duration of Lesson

45 min

SnowSpinner