Geared jitterbug
We calculate the final price from your selected file. You review and accept it before payment.
Saved on this device.
A geared version of Buckminster Fuller's jitterbug mechanism.
- Rating
- 0 / 5
- Likes
- 10
- Downloads
- 64
- Makes
- 0
- Views
- 271
- Reviews
- 0
Updated at source:
Model information
- Source
- Printables
- Category
- Math
- License
- Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
Buckminster Fuller invented the jitterbug, a linkage made from eight triangles, connected at their vertices in such a way that it can expand from an octahedron into a cuboctahedron shape and then contract again back to an octahedron. The motion was however quite floppy, with extra degrees of freedom.
Dennis Dreher discovered that one could clean up the motion by adding connector parts with two linear hinges in place of point hinges between triangles. This theoretically reduces the motion to one degree of freedom, although in practice the mechanism can jam due to slop in the hinges.
Sabetta Matsumoto and I added gears to help align the hinges throughout their motion, making the movement much smoother.
You can read our paper at https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2019/bridges2019-399.html.
This model was designed for SLS printing in nylon. We have not tested it with other printing methods!