ORBIT GEAR - Planetary Spinner With Your Name

Slip it on a finger, flick the ring and watch 7 planets orbit around your name. ORBIT GEAR is a print-in-place planetary gear spinner with herringbone (V-shaped) teeth. The sun sits on your finger, the planets roll around it and the outer ring with your name keeps spinning. It comes off the plate as one piece with 9 moving parts: no assembly, no pins, no glue. Test-printed before release: the first three photos show the actual print, straight off the plate and spinning freely (black ring and sun, red planets and stars, Classic 73 mm). Why it is different - Your name on the ring: raised in a second colour or engraved for one colour, once or twice (balanced on opposite sides). Leave it empty and you get a ring of stars.

- Herringbone teeth lock every part together. Nothing can fall out, yet everything turns freely. Angled teeth always share the load, so it rolls smoothly instead of clicking.

- Real involute gears (26-tooth sun, 9-tooth planets, 44-tooth ring) generated exactly, with an even 0.30 mm gap on every tooth and a small first-layer relief against elephant's foot.

- Checked before release: no part touches another in any position, every part is locked in all directions, and the sliced G-code keeps all 9 parts apart on every layer.

Customizer (OpenSCAD file included) - Name, font (Rounded, Script, Retro script, Festive, Clean), raised or engraved, once or twice.

- Size: Pocket 65 mm (5 planets), Classic 73 mm or Big 81 mm. 5 or 7 planets on any size.

- Finger hole 16 to 23 mm (20 mm fits most adults), gear height 7 to 12 mm.

- Grip: smooth, scalloped or cog teeth. Planets: solid, Saturn rings or hollow.

- Clearance 0.20 to 0.40 mm: 0.30 suits most printers. Stiff? Use 0.35. Too loose? Use 0.25.

- Colours for ring, planets, sun and name, and export of single parts.

Print files included - Classic 73 mm with 7 planets and stars.

- Pocket 65 mm with 5 planets.

- Big 81 mm with 7 planets.

- Name example (MIA) on the Classic.

Profiles: 1 colour 0.4 nozzle, 2 colours for dual-nozzle printers (X2D, H2D) with the planets and name in the second colour, and 1 colour 0.2 nozzle for the crispest teeth. Printing tips - Print it as it comes: flat on the plate, no supports, no brim, 0.20 mm layers.

- Bambu Studio may show 'Isolated objects detected' for the planets. That is expected for print-in-place: just close it and do not click 'Move closer', or the planets will be pushed into the ring and fuse.

- Keep the parts separate: if you import STLs into another slicer, load them as parts of one object (or use split to parts) so the slicer never joins neighbouring gears.

- After printing, hold the sun and twist the ring a few times in both directions. The first turns can feel stiff; it frees up and gets smoother within a minute.

- Use PLA or PETG. A little dry PTFE lubricant makes it spin even longer.

- Not a toy for small children: it contains small parts.

Files - ORBIT_GEAR_customizer_OpenSCAD.scad + ORBIT_GEAR_fonts_for_OpenSCAD.zip (unzip it into a folder named fonts next to the .scad): open in OpenSCAD 2021.01 or newer, set Name and options in the Customizer panel, then export each part (Export = Ring, Planets, Sun, Name).

- STL files ORBIT_GEAR_<size>_<part>.stl: Classic, Pocket, Big and the MIA example, one STL per part (ring, planets, sun, name/stars), all sharing the same origin.

- 3MF files: Bambu Studio projects with 4 plates each (1 colour 0.4, 2 colours dual nozzle, 1 colour 0.2).

PrusaSlicer / OrcaSlicer - Import the ring STL, then right-click > Add part > Load and add the sun, planets and name STLs. Keeping them as parts of one object keeps the gaps exact.

- 0.20 mm layers, 3 perimeters, 15% infill, no supports, no brim.

Support the design Original design by A Arte De. If you print one, please post a Make and give it a Like - it helps me keep publishing free models.