So if you're interested in my design process for a PLA spring motor powered windup car with floating pinion drive, and / or wish to modify the design to create your own custom version, then this Instructable may indeed be of interest to you.Īnd if you're simply interested in 3D printing and assembling the car, I've included all STL files required to print the car, along with preparation and assembly instructions.Īnd finally, what's a floating pinion? In this design a floating pinion is a pinion gear that traverses a guide slot, engaging the PLA spring motor with the drive axle when spring energy is present, and disengaging the PLA spring motor from the drive axle when spring energy is depleted. And I've also included the Autodesk Fusion 360 cad file 'Windup Floating Pinion Car.f3d' containing the completed design (familiarity with the Autodesk Fusion 360 environment is highly recommended, and if a discrepancy is found between the videos and the cad file, use the cad file). Well, 'How I Designed a 3D Printed Windup Car Using Autodesk Fusion 360' includes a four part video series detailing how I designed this 3D printed windup car (with floating pinion drive) using Autodesk Fusion 360.

I've designed, 3D printed, assembled, tested and published quite a few PLA spring motor floating pinion cars and demonstrators over the last few years, so why would I design, print, assemble, test and publish yet another one?

Fusion 360 and 3d printing