3D Printed Mechanical Counter

[@AleksUsovich]

I stumbled on your Thingiverse page and was so impressed by the designs that had on there. I really enjoyed the KZbin videos associated with each model going over the design process to the the assembly. You answered all my questions in the video. Can't wait to see more!!

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks so much! I'm glad to hear the videos are doing their job!

[@KyleLoiselle]

It feels like a crime that you give away these amazing designs and detailed works for free.

[@3DPrinty]

The nice thing about sharing designs is that giving them away doesn't take anything away from what you have :)

[@weisnowhere]

Amazing, I've never had a Twitter but knowing you post updates there is making me want to get one! Can't wait to see what larger creation this is a part of!

[@3DPrinty]

Fortunately you can check it out without signing up for a dreaded Twitter account :)

[@cavinrauch]

You are up there with the best designers for 3d printed toys by a mile.

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks so much - they're a lot of fun to design!

[@endthefighting]

My dude, your creations and videos are consistently great! Keep it up!

[@3DPrinty]

Will do!

[@fouzaialaa7962]

this channel is so awesome .... honestly where have you been all my life !!

[@3DPrinty]

Thank you!

[@_Piers_]

Great stuff, I'm glad Zack sent us over :)

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks for dropping in!

[@morissesteven4494]

Very impressive design. Well done sire. I'm amazed by the simplicity of the solution.

[@3DPrinty]

Thank you! It was a very good challenge getting the parts into a minimal 3D printable shape!

[@Shnarg100]

Fantastic! I'm printing this for my brother for Christmas. Thank you!

[@3DPrinty]

Awesome! Good luck, it's a challenging (but rewarding) print!

[@liamsmith8518]

A unique combination of some of your projects could be combining the clickly button with this to turn that linear motion into circular (since the bottom rotates which you already know cause you made it) so each click advances by one

[@3DPrinty]

I can see that coming together at some point!

[@andrienad9665]

Merry Christmas & Thanks for the video. Always great to see different mechanisms 😀🎉

[@3DPrinty]

Thank you! It's a challenging, but fun, print!

[@marcogiacomelli3716]

I'm always amazed with your designs, keep them coming!

[@3DPrinty]

Will do! Thanks for checking out my work!

[@suburbansamurai3560]

Really neat mechanism! It's definitely calling out for a static base to display only the relevant number sequence like a car dashboard.

[@3DPrinty]

A case of some sort is certainly under consideration! Of course, as soon as you make a case, you define a set length. So I'll either need to make a lot of different sized cases or figure out some sort of modular solution.

[@TheTsunamijuan]

Great Video, I stumbled upon this after researching and stumbling onto Mathias as well. I was making my own version from just pictures. I appreciate your going over both things that work and why, and problems you found!

[@3DPrinty]

I'm glad it helped! The counters I printed nearly 2 years ago still work, but if I were to redo this project, I'd add captive nuts to each digit assembly for more consistent positioning. I'd also look into using magnets to help snap the dials into alignment. Both of these improvements greatly increase the cost and complexity of the build, of course, so it would depend on your needs.

[@TheTsunamijuan]

@@3DPrinty I added sprint detents (under the lower carry gear) to my assembly in a effort to get them to index better, and have less drift/missalignment. But I am also running my tolerances extremely tight (0.15mm) Since the bambu can often easily hold this tolerance.

[@TheTsunamijuan]

@3dPrinty I realized last night I might be able to solve some of my alignment issues by switching to a Herring bone Gear (still working out the math on it). I am thinking that this will help lessen some of the thrust issues. Not sure if it will work for the carry mechanism yet though.

[@VagabondTE]

Could you add a flat spring and divots to keep the numbers aligned when they click over?

[@someotherdude]

The slope issue could be designed out by printing a different file for each decimal place with the outside numbers slightly advanced. You could include an internal digit place number or an alignment mark to keep track of which number ring is which during assembly.

[@someotherdude]

Great comment, dude. But I wish this mechanism had an easy reset feature, to reset to 00000 but I don't see an easy way.

[@MikeSmith-km9ff]

Very cool! Makes me want to make a 3D printed pinball machine!

[@3DPrinty]

This takes care of one tiny part of that huge project :)

[@jonnnywayway]

Would love to see a way to reset the counter w/o a full spindown

[@3DPrinty]

If all goes as expected, the bigger project this is a prototype for will have an easier way to reset. Stay turned!

[@arduinoandmore6224]

Hi, thank you for your cool projects. I have a question: I`m working on a project and I need a mechanical counter mechanism. Can I use your mechanism? The project will be sold so it´s commercial use. Thanks

[@3DPrinty]

Yup! Most of my models, including this one, are under a "Creative Commons: Attribution" license. This license DOES allow commercial use - as long as you provide proper attribution to the source. You can find out more (including a link to the license and attribution examples) on the project page. Good luck, and I'd love to see what you end up making!

[@JavaJack59]

Hmm. I'm wondering whether you can mix and match with ratios other than 10:1 to make a digital clock.

[@bas5070]

Would be cool

[@3DPrinty]

Cool idea! Should be possible to get multiple functional ratios even within the same counter, provided they all work with the tooth count on the outer ring. Each ratio would require not only a specific carry-over gear, but also a matching core that positions it at the right distance to mesh with the outer ring.

[@Rollmops94]

This is a genius design.

[@ookydooky8892]

How easy would it be to construct a mechanical counter with irregular digit wheels? Not just using this design, but really any counter design. So instead of wheels of 0-9, 0-9, 0-9, it's wheels of for example 0-1, 1-7, 1-30, 1-12, 1-7.

[@3DPrinty]

Certainly! But you'll need the right number of gear teeth in the ring and the correct ratio with the indexing gear. If you need very large or very small numbers, though, things get tricky. For example, a binary wheel (0-1) would need to rotate 180 degrees per number.... or fake it by repeating the numbers a few times: 0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1...

[@ookydooky8892]

@@3DPrinty Ok thank you, and I was thinking about doing the "fake" method by repeating 0-1. I've been studying these mechanical counters enough that I think I could have my head wrapped around it soon. But I do wonder, how easy would it be to have one wheel controlling the next two wheels separately? Specifically, I plan for the first wheel (the binary one) to control the second wheel which cycles through 1-7, while also controlling the third wheel which cycles through 1-30.

[@3DPrinty]

Definitely possible, but tricky, it would require a second indexing gear with a long shaft that jumps past the middle wheel. I'm not even sure if that would be sufficient. If what you want to do is particularly complicated, you may need to use an external indexing gear that controls each wheel individually.

[@senjos]

Amazing. This can be used as a filament-meter, right? But then there should be a reset mechanism I guess. But wo, I love this small kind of counter.

[@3DPrinty]

I worry about adding friction to the filament path, but yes! One of the examples of prior counters I mentioned in the video is, in fact, a filament-meter! I linked to it in the video description, if you want to try it out.

[@TroyMackay]

Would it help to rotate/offset the numbers by the same amount each dial lags behind? Assuming the counter will move in one direction in the intended application.

[@3DPrinty]

Good idea! Really, though, I don't expects practical uses of this mechanism to have enough digits for it to really matter. The problem could also potentially be solved by adding some sort of anti-backlash spring to each ring. That could properly aligned numbers regardless of the direction rotated.

[@zero_gravity5861]

what filament did you use for the number rings? looks great!

[@3DPrinty]

That's Hatchbox Matte Brown. I'm trying it out for printing barrel puzzles and I like the finish quite a lot. Warning, though, it's more brittle than other Hatchbox filaments I've used and requires a higher than usual printing temperature.

[@nickf3242]

I love @Matthias Wandel. His odometer mech was one of the first videos from his channel I saw years ago and it made me a subscriber. I was delighted when it was his name you said that that was the first thing that jumped in my head. I've said it before, but I think it's cool when KZbinrs mention other KZbinrs they admire or relate too. It gives me the same ol' fuzzy feelings when you saw your Saturday morning cartoon charters cross over to different shows. I love thinking how I found your channel every time I start one of your new videos. I came across one of your designs on Thingiverse and l really enjoyed your soothing and calm demeanor as well as the great production quality from the included video of the model on that page only to discover you had somewhat of a back catalog for me to explore. (Plus printy kitty) PS. I could totally smell the burning plastic at the end lol.

[@3DPrinty]

I think my first Mattias video was his binary counter - he's such a great communicator and his projects are exactly the sort of mechanical magic I enjoy most! I'm always happy to give full credit to the people that have inspired me - they deserve much more than that. Thanks for following my designs. Zelda, the 3D printy kitty, will surely pop up from time to time in future videos! Yeah, the counter got a little toasty. It still worked, but I don't think it'd survive that stress test for long.

[@bas5070]

I find your projects really cool to watch. Also a little too complicated to actually make myself though

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks for watching! I hope to provide a mix of projects, so hopefully you'll try out a less complicated one in the future!

[@bas5070]

@@3DPrinty keep it up, a lot of people will find your content

[@logicalfundy]

That's actually a really neat design! I wonder if it works scaled down?

[@3DPrinty]

I've seen it printed at 50% scale and it still worked, but the clearances get a lot tighter. I'd say it's a challenging print to scale down. Good luck if you try it :)

[@Joshua_Calvert]

Next Week on 3D Printy: 3D-printed Enigma.

[@3DPrinty]

Haha, y'know... it's something I'd love to do, but it would be a multi-year project and I can't imagine how large it'd have to be scaled up to function with 3D printed parts.

[@chandanchatterjee1346]

Excellent job.i want to how do working ingsame time all of thoses rotating ?

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks! For my 100% scale prints, it worked very smoothly with 4 dials (either 4 digits or 3 digits + 1 control wheel). More digits work, but the rollover action becomes slightly difficult around 6 digits. You may have better or worse results depending on the print quality and how well it's assembled. You might also have better results if you print it at a larger scale.

[@chandanchatterjee1346]

Thank you

[@CJfoks]

It's very neet design but it would be much more useful if it could be reseted this without taking it apart. I would add some kind moving axile on those inside gears with lever or switch. Pushing lever would move whole shaft with those gears more into inside so number rings could rotate freelly.

[@3DPrinty]

No promises, but having a reset of some sort is planned in the final design. For this initial prototype I was just happy that it worked :)

[@theprintingcrab8287]

Hi. I'm printing your present box for a video and the square lid's overhangs have been giving me some trouble. It said that supports weren't needed so I was just wondering if I was doing something wrong.

[@weisnowhere]

You might need to tune your printers settings with an overhang test print, if it's all tuned up then cura has tree supports that should help without being difficult to remove.

[@3DPrinty]

Seconding what Henry said. But also, I just want to be sure the lid is printing in the intended orientation. It should be top-side-down, so the only overhangs are some fairly small bridges where the ribbons go. If your bridging direction is correct, they'll go straight across, and that distance is only about 10mm. Good luck!

[@Jrm5814]

I wonder how small you can get this? Would like to use for flight sim altimeter

[@3DPrinty]

I believe I've seen a 75% scale print. If you have a resin printer with a durable resin, it could probably scale even smaller! All that said, it's not super reliable beyond 4 digits. I'm not sure what you'd need for your altimeter.

[@fon-tijn]

hey nice project i am working on an f16 simulator and i need something like this but it needs to rotate very fast could you rotate it from the other side?

[@3DPrinty]

Glad you like it! If you reflect the mechanism and create your own number wheels, that should work. I included some blank number wheels in this remix: www.printables.com/model/130643. Numbers can be added in CAD or certain slicer software, like PrusaSlicer. As for speed, it'll depend on the accuracy of the print and how many digits you need on the readout. 4 digits runs fairly reliably for me, but they start drifting as you add more modules.

[@Nicho9]

Do you think you could help me with a design issue i'm having with a counter i'm working on?

[@3DPrinty]

Ask away! If it's something I can answer, I'd be happy to help.

[@tonycorbett5452]

Can you provide drawings for a 2 digit counter ?

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks to its modular design, all you need to do is assemble 2 number wheels and you're good to go! Well, I would recommend also adding the input wheel so you have a reliable way to set the first of the two digits. Good luck!

[@rickseiden1]

It's a great design. I don't know how, but it would be made better with a reset of some sort.

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks! I expect to have a solution in the final version I'm working on. Not really a push-to-reset button, but a way to manually set each digit to whatever you want.

[@rickseiden1]

@@3DPrinty It would make a really good counter for board games, but if you count up to 20, and can't reset it easily, it loses a lot of appeal. Even if you're just resetting every digit individually, that would be great. I can picture using the rod through the middle, but it extends a few millimeters past the end. Then you put a washer, a spring, a washer and the nut. The spring holds it together while you're using it, but to reset it, you can pull it apart, turn the individual rings, and then let the spring pull it back to normal.

[@3DPrinty]

This isn't that far off from one of the solutions I'm considering - might need 2 rods to help with alignment. I'm also floating a solution that involves sliding entire digit assemblies forward, to disengage the carryover wheel. I'm not sure what'll be the more reliable and printable option yet.

[@leonnundel2443]

Hey there, I am in the makings of an filament meter counter that can simply connect to any Bowden extruder using the 66 teeth m0.5 gear

[@3DPrinty]

That's great! You may want to check out a remix of this design called the "Filamentmeter" by ArduinoNmore that does something very similar :) cults3d.com/en/3d-model/tool/filamentmeter

[@gowrestle160]

How do you reset it?

[@3DPrinty]

This prototype has no actual reset. I haven't decided which method to use for a reset mechanism yet - sliding the indexing gear would be the most obvious option, but that would reduce the rigidity of the design. I might instead provide an option to slide the entire digit assembly so it disengages with the adjacent digits. In either case, there's more to come!

[@stonedwookie9916]

i am making 'risk' the game with an antique style map and a piece of old drift wood. iv been looking for something like this all night to place on each section of the map.. cant find them anywhere!! anyone help? :)

[@MarknelPineda]

Hi is that possible the last layer is 0-8 only?

[@3DPrinty]

Possibly, although it makes things a lot more complex. For example, if the first dial has 10 digits and the second dial has 2 digits, you can just duplicate the second dial's numbers 5 times (1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2) and make sure it outputs a rollover 5 times as often (assuming there's a 3rd dial for it to output to). A more dynamic solution would be to use normal gears to handle the digit-to-digit conversions and then connect those to a Geneva drive so the output display flips over quickly. I hope I explained that okay, it would be a more complex system, but it could handle a dynamic range of digits per dial.

[@marknelpineda2854]

@@3DPrinty Hi Thank you so much for the answer. Geneva drive is the solution.

[@lunareclipse1882]

Is it possible to had some stand to it

[@3DPrinty]

Yes, check out this awesome stand remix by Bootjevaarder: www.printables.com/model/163523

[@lunareclipse1882]

@@3DPrinty thanks its gonna be much easier my games of mtg commander

[@lowsee]

So impressive! Does it also have a reset to 0 option?

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks! This version doesn't, but the follow-up project, which uses empty filament spools, was designed so you can manually set the counter value to anything - including 0!

[@lowsee]

Wow, thanks for the fast reply! I'm thinking of using it in a costume. The reset isn't necessary, so I think I'll be fine without it. I love the look of the spool counter, though it's definitely too big for the costume feature 😆 I'm just thrilled that you designed this one that seems like pretty much exactly the right size! Once again, your skill is beyond impressive. Thank you for sharing your skill.

[@3DPrinty]

Good luck with the costume! Depending on your needs, you can also drop the indexing gears and then you can manually set the numbers... it just won't function as a counter.

[@sebakiller9736]

Counter Wizard you are nice Print cool

[@3DPrinty]

Thanks so much!

[@andreasstegmann6152]

very nice.

[@thanhavictus]

No the next step would be to do a hard resetter just like how lap counters have it

[@NicWormwood]

counter only goes to 100 million.

[@3DPrinty]

Looks like I forgot to update the script to reflect the number of digits I was able to fit on the threaded rod. Totally missed that! Counting the rollover move, 1 billion was achieved when testing (just carefully holding all the parts together)

[@NicWormwood]

@@3DPrinty still a really cool counter. Just found your page, lots of neat stuff to print.

[@darkfrei2]

Я из будущего, теперь много таких счётчиков!

[@3DPrinty]

Хаха! Да, они очень популярны :)

[@bummionterra]

Sorry - you set an external teeth into internal teeth and gearset ... that's not new .... visit campus of Dortmund's Technical University (Germany) and you will see it as a nearly two meter in diameter gear ring standing there for decades. Nevertheless thank you for sharing your implementation.

[@3DPrinty]

If I'm ever near the area, I'd love to see it! I'm a huge fan of manufacturing and engineering history. The goal of this project was to create an easy to 3D print mechanism inspired by Matthias Wandel's counting machine, but with hidden carryover gears. I hope I didn't imply that I had invented a completely new gear train. That would be silly and arrogant of me. I'm glad you like the implementation. If you enjoy 3D printed takes on fun mechanisms, future videos will also tackle this subject. Thanks for watching!

[@rubenmartins7408]

Hey, nice Video. It is a really nice idea to put the gears inside of the wheels. I am the creator of the beer counter on thingiverse kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2LOlaBun9WBbpI and im working on a new version of that one. Maybe I can use your ideas to improof my design. I Guess the only problem is to reset the counter so i will try to make the little gears inside shiftable. But thanks for the really cool Video!

[@3DPrinty]

Reseting is tricky! For my "empty spool" version of the counter, the entire wheel assembly can disengage from the adjacent wheels so it can be set manually. I look forward to seeing your updated design!