Spiral gearball with unequal gear teeth

Variations on the gear ball. I first printed the model from skylarmt on printables.  That source credits RuvenBals as his source.  

I wanted the challenge of modeling the item in Fusion. 

If you would like a copy of the Fusion file, leave a comment and I will attach it.

The actual spherical involute geometry was created in an Excel spreadsheet.  I will upload that as well if requested.

I was not entirely happy with the connectors. I created new connectors which require two per connection instead of one.  I created a tool to help load the connectors.

I also like spiral bevels, so I made the bevel gears spiral.

I also wondered whether I could use different numbers of teeth on the gears.  I did discover that I could alternate the 15 tooth gears with 18 tooth gears.  That is what is presented here.  This results in many more shapes as the gears are turned, as it required 5 full turns of the 18 tooth gear to return to the original shape.

Full assembly requires two each of the four gears included.  You will need at least 16 of the small connectors.  I suggest printing 20 connectors at a time in case you break or lose one.

If available, I suggest reaming each of the cavity holes with an 8mm drill bit.  If that is not available, use a 5/16-inch drill bit.  If no drill bit available, it will work anyhow.

No supports required.  Easily removable brims are useful. All parts presented in correct orientation for printing.

Nominal size of the sphere is 105mm.  Holes for connectors have a diameter of 8mm.

It also prints well at a 75% scale.

I suggest that you start with the heart, one 15 tooth small gear, and some connectors to make sure you are happy with the assembly before printing the entire assembly as all eight gears are a large investment in time and filament.