Tiny 3D printed HO Scale Escalator That Works

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3d printed escalator, from side, showing mechanism

[Luke Towan] has a cool HO scale Escalator mostly made of 3D printed parts, with some laser cut acrylic, for a station on his HO model railroad.

Escalators are mesmerizing to watch ā€“ thereā€™s something magical about the stairs unfolding at the bottom and folding up at the top. But theyā€™re very hard to model.

[Luke Towan] has done it ā€“ his 3D printed version closely resembles the real thing mechanically. Pins are carried around, cantilevered out from a 3D printed chain. A stair swivels on each pin ā€“ at the bottom each stairā€™s free end rests on a ā€˜bottomā€™ far enough down for the stairs to be level, while on the incline the ā€˜bottomā€™ is just below the pins. Itā€™s a tricky build.

If you like pushing the envelope of what 3D printing can do this is an interesting project, even if youā€™re not planning to build an escalator. There are lots of tips for making small mechanisms with 3D printing, and for making small mechanisms that work reliably without stuttering.

Heā€™s not the first to build an escalator. Back in 2015 we covered this wooden escalator for slinkies,  and just recently this 3D printed version from [AlexY].



from Blog ā€“ Hackaday https://ift.tt/1CRhNr8

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