Show HN: Low-backlash Angular gearbox and 3D-printed wrist differential [video]
2 sergeymishin 0 5/17/2025, 11:25:18 AM youtube.com ↗
I recently spent several months designing and prototyping a low-backlash angular gear drive. The goal was to create a compact transmission for robotic wrists that avoids bevel gears and belts — while still transmitting torque smoothly at various angles.
The design was inspired by roller pinion linear systems, but adapted for angular motion. Paper: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/11/5620
To be honest, I couldn’t figure out the tooth profile for the straight pinion variant, so I brute-forced it — by writing a script that rotates two bodies at a set gear ratio and performs boolean cuts between them.
I 3D-printed several prototypes, including a working wrist differential with embedded reducers and a double hollow shaft drive.
Here's a video about it: https://youtu.be/VXcuryyRGbo
Would love to get feedback — especially from those working in robotics or mechanical design.
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