I am always fascinated by simple technologies that are applied inter-industrially across applications of all different kinds – gyroscopes are one of them. We see them in some very old technologies, such as certain types of compasses and mono-rail trains as well as in some of the most cutting edge technologies, like virtual reality and racing cars. The unique physical characteristics that call for its application is also a topic for study in many physics courses. For the 3D printing assignment, I found the 3D vector file of a simple gyroscope on “Thingiverse”. From there, I was able to customize it – I added an extra ring and changed the dimensions marginally to fit the size requirement, but left the ratio of the dimensions almost the same because of the reviews of how well it functioned.
Because of its blocky structure, without any minor details, I used the Dimension printer. We uploaded are stl files and followed, under the supervision of a lab technician, the steps given by the 3D printing guide found on the OEDK website.
Many, many hours later (since several of our projects printed at the same time) the gyroscope had been printed, but had a base structure attached to it – this is an essential step for 3D printers when printing certain types of structures. Conveniently, the part had already been soaked in the acid bath when I had returned to pick it up and the base structure material had dissolved.
Even though it printed all at once, I was able to take the gyroscope apart into its base components (5 rings) and was able to examine the mechanism that made it run so seamlessly. Everyone was extremely intrigued by this little, simple instrument.
