3D Printed kinetic sculptures are nothing new, but we don’t often come across one as big and complex as ‘Digital Rain’ by Emmett Lalish.
The construct consists of a ‘double helix pump’, a rotating spiral that carries 1 500 steel bearings. While the entire spiral is 3D printed, there’s a small 12 V motor that drives the movement.
Once the bearings reach the top of the spiral they’re deposited into a maze of gyroids whose purpose is to randomly shuffle the metal balls so they pop out the other side at different intervals.
When they do get to the end of the structure, what Lalish calls the ‘gyroid crystal’, they’re funnelled by a net and deposited back into the spiral.
If you’d like to undertake this massive project, which took more than two months just to print, you can find the files for free on Thingiverse.
Previous 3D Prints of the Day:
- The 30th Anniversary Mario amiibo recreated as a free 3D print
- The Colossus Titan from Attack on Titan is now a 3D printed bobblehead
- 3D print your own Kensei mask from For Honor
- Make yourself a golden 3D Printed Kukulkan from Smite
- You don’t have go down into the basement to 3D print Monstro from The Binding of Isaac