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Abacus drive V0 & V1
Alternative gearbox
Maker/DIY
Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike
Commercial use is not allowed, you must attribute the creator, you may remix this work and the remixed work should be made available under this license.
Attribution
http://hackaday.com/2016/12/02/abacus-drive-is-a-speed-to-torque-game-changer/
Description
I saw this great design by SRI International on hackaday for a gearbox and I had to figure out how the principle worked (see links).
Therefor I made the design. I haven't printed it yet but I plan to do so on my Ultimaker 3.
I'm not sure if it is patented but it is a very interesting design nevertheless :D.
Feel free to print it and comment, I would like to get this design working.
http://hackaday.com/2016/12/02/abacus-drive-is-a-speed-to-torque-game-changer/
Revision log:
V0:
- It is designed to fit two 16*8*8 bearings to enable a smooth movement.
- Ofcourse I added the source files so feel free to make adjustments (sorry for the dirty modeling this time).
V1
- Designed to fit two 16*8*8 bearings (one in the top and one in the bottom)
- Design changed to use 7x 8mm balls (because I had these lying around from an old bearing)
- Smaller (to print faster)
- Space between balls and housing increased (previous 0.3mm, now 0.4mm)
Materials and methods
UM2+
PLA on it's own worked fine, 0.6mm nozzle is to big, prefer 0.4mm or even 0.25mm
Cura with normal settings, no brim and no support
UM3
None known yet, I think PLA and PVA will work out just fine
Documents
Comments
Pretty sure this won't work like it's supposed to. This has 7 inner humps, 7 balls, and 7 outer humps. The one in the video has 6, 7, and 8, respectively, to create the gear ratio.

- Printed on:
- SeeMeCNC - Rostock MAX Complete 3D Printer Kit
- Result:
- Had to scale it when importing into Fusion 360, otherwise did not match stated dimensions.
- Feedback:
- Marvin, I printed the V1 assembly out. Couple of issues, I belive that the main shaft should connect to the top inner support, otherwise, it just spins and spins around on the two bearings. The other issue is that the spacing seems to be a little wide to accommodate either 8 mm or 5/16" diam ball bearings. What I plan on doing is adding the main shaft to the top inner support and increase the diameter of the top inner support so that it lessens the gap between the main housing - I have ball bearings falling out!