Geared Up for Christmas

This ornament is mesh of holiday cheer and love of the mechanics made possible by 3D printing. It'll take you through the design process of making a movable/rotating ornament for your Christmas tree this year.

Step 1: Open Up Your CAD Design Software, and Draw a Gear Base.

Step 2: Extrude the Gear Base to Give It Some Structure.

Step 3: Step 3

Extrude the center base above and below the gear so that the gear has something to grip it in place. Create a cap on top. We'll create a bottom base later.

Step 4: Step 4

Next we'll create a piece that will fit over the grip base that will attach to the gear. This is the piece we'll affix our decorations to. This piece will spin with the gear. Next we'll cap off that piece.

Step 5: Step 5

Now we can attach our decorations to that piece without interfering with the workings of the gear. Before we add our decorations, we're going to multiply this piece and build the base.

Multiply the gears by the number of decorations you want. Make sure they almost connect, but don't actually overlap.

Then build and extrude a base the size and shape you would like.

Step 6:

Now you can start building our your decoration and placing them atop each gear making sure they're connected to the outer shell, but don't penetrate the interior.

Step 7: Lastly

Finally, you'll want to attach a method for hanging the ornament.

Export it as a .stl file and send it to your 3D printer with soluble supports. Once printed, wash away the supports, dry, and hang it on your tree.

Now, you're all "Geared Up" for Christmas!