Thinkfun Energy expansion set

thingiverse

This Thinkfun Maker Studio expansion set is designed to add energy to the existing sets: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:872140http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:871201 andhttp://www.thingiverse.com/thing:871205 Add LED lights to your build and use your imagination! Use the motor coupling and mount to add a small motor to your creation. You can also try to generate your own electricity by running the motor backwards to power the lights without batteries. Discover gear ratios with the existing sets and electrical principals with this expansion. 5mm LED's, alligator clips, (2xAA or AAA) batteries and a DC motor will need to be obtained. The 3 printable items in this expansion are: An LED bezel clip - To mount an LED into a connector hole or through another part of a build like the box in the racecar I made. A motor coupling - To attach the motor shaft to a gear or connector. Here is the coupling used to connect the motor to the propeller https://youtu.be/KWbt5GXzB0o A motor mount - To attach the rear of the motor to a hub cap or into a connector. The wiring of the LED's can be tricky. A resistor is recommended. For general purposes a 1kΩ resistor should be fine. See here http://ledcalc.com/ to determine the resistor you need for your chosen LED as well as a wiring diagram. I used blue LED's with 2xAAA batteries (total 3V) and 1000 Ω (1kΩ) resistors. Hide the wiring inside your build. You may need to construct gearing to greatly increase the speed to the generator (motor) if you want to power the LED's. In my attempts I was not able to generate enough voltage. Maybe a geared or low speed motor would help. The reduction gear in the photo is ratio 16:1 using the large and small gears. Have fun! Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: Prusa i3 Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.25 Infill: 15% Notes: The LED bezel file is positioned right way up. It's best to flip it and print upside down. Print the LED bezel 100% infill. Print the LED bezel as slow as possible. I used 30mm/s Post-Printing The LED bezel has a small barb to hold in onto a connector. It required some force to press it into the hole (and to remove). I had a 2mm shaft motor which needed heating to press the shaft into the coupling. Adjust the motor shaft diameter to fit the shaft of your motor. Here is the tinkercad file for the coupling to make your own changes.https://www.tinkercad.com/things/jTdhLKAdt1O-maker-studio-motor-coupling Regarding the motor mount. I'm sure this wont fit all motors. I would suggest a heat gun to soften the print and fit the motor. It will be good to glue them together being careful to make sure the shaft is free spinning. How I Designed This I wanted to create a set that could be used with all of the existing Maker Studio set and so I though of adding lights. The lights can be used as headlights on vehicles or anything else your imagination leads you to. Although battery operated was the easy option I also wanted the option to be free of batteries. In our world of growing renewable energy it might be nice to incorporate a small generator to power the light instead. This could open the door to new builds like windmills, turbines, reduction and increasing gearboxes. So far the attempts with the small motor I had were not successful. They usually have a very high speed and need a really big speed increasing gear ratio. I would suggest looking for a 3V motor having a low speed or it's own reduction gears.