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Extreme Reduction Gearing Device Offers an Amazing Gear Ratio

ErnieKey writes: The 3D printed extreme reduction gearing device, created by long-time puzzle maker M. Oskar van Deventer, may leave you puzzled for its obvious applications, but the coaxial cranking mechanism offers potential in a variety of real-world applications with multi-colored gears that move in opposite directions at a ratio of 11,373,076 : 1. This 3D printed reduction gearing device is compact and multi-colored, and looks deceivingly simple at first glance. Developed through a complex algorithm, it could possibly offer potential as parts for machines like 3D printers, aerospace and automotive components, as well as perhaps robotics and a variety of motors.

3 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Fun, But Useless by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is a fun device that can show you what can be done with 3D printed plastic. That said, it's useless. It would be really cool if I could apply 1 pound of force to the crank, turn it a Million times, and have it apply a Million pounds of rotational force at the other end. But it's made of plastic, so it won't do that. Indeed, the fast-rotating parts would wear out before the slow-rotating part made a single turn. So it's not even good as a kind of clock.

    All that said, it's a good conversation piece, and probably worth the price for that.

  2. Stick the end in concrete by Solandri · · Score: 3, Funny

    And you get Machine with Concrete by Arthur Ganson.

  3. Re:Missing something by smellsofbikes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Creative? Maybe. Revolutionary? No.

    Dude. It's a giant gear train in motion. It is by definition revolutionary.

    --
    Nostalgia's not what it used to be.