Sensory ball-bearing toy with patterned roller
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A toy that combines the feel and variety of materials with mechanics and geometry
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Model information
- Source
- Printables
- Category
- Haptic Models
- License
- Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial
Lately, I’ve been experimenting here and there with 3D-printed ball bearings and have discovered what great toys you can make with them.
I’ve made various versions in many sizes, from ⌀350mm to ⌀50mm, with steel balls in FiberWood, glass balls in Galaxy-PLA, and wooden balls in BioFusion. Then, I produced about 150 pieces as FabLab-style fidget toys for MakerFaireRuhr as giveaways for solving our escape room.
The response was great, and I watched as many children began playing in their own ways, using all sorts of different approaches.
The Concept: Diversifying Sensory Input
That led to this idea: Let’s make grabbing, feeling, and rolling more diverse! To achieve this, I combined several elements:
Materials: Rough FiberWood rings and smooth shiny steel balls.
Sensory Features: Integrated sounds and a patterned TPU surface for shape transfer.
Technical Notes & Assembly
All files are attached as .step and .sldprt, so plenty of editing is possible. Have fun!
Assembly Instruction: To get the fifteen ⌀8mm beads between the rings, you have to press quite hard. If there are fewer than 15, the guide is not child-proof and the beads can easily be pushed out again.