Inspired by Ikeda Yosuke's open/close sign design which relies on gravity and relatively frictionless joints, I decided to design one using planetary gears to drive the movement of the letters. An animation of the transition can be seen here: https://youtu.be/TmrUlpgojlY
The model has now been updated to include the "d" in closed but the video is of an older version.
The gears are made to snap fit onto their respective axles, tolerances for rotational and press fit parts have been confirmed and should work well with a properly calibrated printer.
Updated 24/3/17:
Updated 11/2/17:
base_left.stl | 133.6KB | |
base_right.stl | 39.7KB | |
C.stl | 131.1KB | |
D.stl | 252.4KB | |
E.stl | 201.0KB | |
gear_left.stl | 495.2KB | |
gear_right.stl | 604.2KB | |
gear_sun.stl | 267.9KB | |
joiner.stl | 72.8KB | |
L.stl | 57.0KB | |
O.stl | 101.0KB | |
open_close_sign.step | 3.0MB | |
planet_e.stl | 457.0KB | |
planet_s.stl | 304.4KB | |
S.stl | 419.8KB |