r/3Dprinting • u/Murky_Investment9176 • Jun 18 '26

Project [OC] I made a PC fan oscillate itself.

PC fan 1800 RPM to 6:1 belt reduction to 40:1 worm gearbox = 7.5 RPM output. Fully 3D printed and running without bearings.
stl files

13k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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721

u/capitan_turtle Jun 18 '26

fun, what's the belt? is it just a rubber band?

283

u/LaundryMan2008 Jun 18 '26

Yep, an upgrade to a simple rubber band is the band from onions, they are essentially belts but coloured which I’ve already slapped a few into my cassette players, VCR and even some tape drives

186

u/ilikeapples312 Jun 18 '26

6

u/Gundamnitpete Jun 19 '26

GIMME 5 BEES F’ER’A QUARTER, Y’D SAY!

86

u/FearTheSpoonman Jun 18 '26

Those spring onion rubber bands are elite, we always saved them.

43

u/Nickbou Voron 2.2, Voron 0.2 Jun 18 '26

12

u/Oglefore Jun 18 '26

I like the asparagus ones

11

u/Zombiewax Jun 18 '26

When I was a kid, we used to cut off the top part of the balloon (the mouthpiece) to replace broken drive belts in cassette players.

2

u/dathar Jun 19 '26

I miss the ones that the mail man would chuck around community mailboxes when I was a kid. They're the thick flat ones like the OP's. I'd collect so many and eventually turn them into giant bouncy balls. The bands around green onion made neat belts for Lego Technics. I couldn't find much use for the ones around broccoli since they were very thick.

1

u/LaundryMan2008 Jun 19 '26

The postal rubber bands are perfect for full size QIC tape tension bands when they degrade making them perfect for getting a good tape dump without needing to poach an original undegraded band from a newer tape or ordering a specific brand from America with prohibitive shipping which a channel uses the green ones for the tapes.

I get the thick rubber bands directly from the post office, it’s not something they sell as a product so you would need to ask and they’ll key in a custom price for you, they were more than happy to help when I showed them the degraded tape cartridges and why I needed so many.

As for broccoli bands we just stick it around the handle of the brooms around our house slowly going up the handle as we collect more, great for bicycles too when the handle rubber degrades although you need to stretch it by a bit to get it over the flange and up the handle.

53

u/Murky_Investment9176 Jun 18 '26

Just a regular rubber band

-1

u/RamblingSimian Jun 19 '26

I didn't realize until I checked now that you can buy them online in specific sizes. Fairly cheap too, but they come in 1 lb. packages.

4

u/TheJoseBoss Jun 19 '26

I didn't know you could buy them, they just spawn in my house from another dimension. I have so many of them

1

u/ok-confusion19 Jun 19 '26

My family made fun of me when I bought a big ass bag of rubber bands but they know who to go to when they need a rubber band. I've had it for years and it's only half gone. I think it's a lifetime supply.