IMPORTANT
Check back for updates as I revise the files

This is an amazing blooming flower! Turn the gear on the bottom and the flower blooms, exposing the beautiful flower within!

Original purpose for this design was creating something to turn rotational movement into linear movement, using something that could be printed on a Makerbot. Figured the easiest to design was something screw-like, but with overhang restrictions, I was unsure whether a tight screw design would work. And it turns out it does!

DESIGN VERSIONS
There are two different versions.
First version uses glue and filament as the hinges for the petals. Pros to this is the petals are much tighter, and don't wiggle around alot. Con is that it requires more glue.
Second version uses links as the hinges. Pro is that less glue is needed. Cons are that it wiggles alot more, because the links require some give to snap into place. Also, when snapping into the base, the base links have a significant chance of breaking off. I have added supports and fixes to prevent this from happening, but there is still a chance. Extra stl for broken links to glue on in case this happens.

DIFFERENT GEARS
NOTE: Applies only to large flowers
In order to turn the gears, I designed two different gear systems.
First version allows the entire bottom to turn, but is more difficult to get on the base.
Second version is easier to get on, but the gear is slightly more difficult to get to, and could prove more difficult for some people to turn.

FILES
Files are placed in zip files, for easy organization.

Credit where credit is due, flower in center is from:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5883

Internal screw is 1 rotation per 20mm rise.
Design files included.
(I apologize for the messy designs, didn't organize or rename anything in the ipt files :P )

NOTE:
For those who want to design a different center piece without the cap, the rod in the center is 5mm diameter. This way you can design the hole directly into your variation.

UPDATES

UPDATE 7/7/2011:
Edited Version 1-Large Flower-Base updated.
EDITS: Forgot to edit the top ring of the small petals, they were 1mm too wide. Also the main circle of the base is several millimeters too small, causing the small petals to be too close to the center shaft. Sorry to those who have already printed this.

UPDATE 7/8/2011:
Edited version of Gear 1 for Large Flower uploaded.
1 zip with all current STL Files as of 7/8/2011 uploaded.
EDITS: Center shaft is not long enough on Gear 1 bottom (Gear 2 is fine). Really sorry I missed this.(Note it says v1, but it is also for v2)

UPDATE 7/9/2011:
Edited version of large flower petal for v1 uploaded.....hinge was too big....
Re-upload of Large V1 zip with correct STL Files.
Revised version updated.

UPDATE 7/12/2011:
Makerbot out of commission ATM, can't test any of the un-built files, but they should work just fine.

UPDATE 7/22/2011:
Hooray! Got my replacement parts, TOM is back up and running, will start printing some new flowers in the next few days!

If you find any other mistakes, please message me.