Updates

The prototype performed well; however, friction between the gears has made rotating the shaft more difficult, resulting in some unpleasant noise. I will construct the planet gears from delrin and conduct tests to determine if the mechanism will operate more smoothly and quietly. I have also redesigned the gear sizes and ratios. The new design now accurately reflects the relative sizes of the planets in the solar system. While this approach makes more sense conceptually, it has brought about another issue. Some of the planets, such as Mercury with a radius of 1,516 miles and Jupiter with a radius of 43,441 miles, have vastly different sizes, which, Jupiter is 28.65 times the size of Mercury. To ensure the gears function correctly with the appropriate number of teeth and module number, I employed an exponential function. This method allows for a graphical representation of the size of each planet in the solar system while maintaining precision. Please find some calculations below. Additionally, a brief animation was created on geargenerator.com.

This new design has presented a further challenge. In some layers, the middle part will be too large and could obstruct the view of other gears behind them if non-transparent material is utilized. Consequently, it seems that clear acrylic is the only viable option for the middle section. Delrin, however, is only available in two colors: black and white. I plan to use black delrin for the planets and clear acrylic for the ring and sun gears, complemented by appropriate lighting. This setup will accentuate the movement and size variations of each planet. Another prototype will be completed shortly.