Using 3D printing with Tutoring

We were recently approached by a friend who tutors GCSE students, asking whether we would be able to print a design for a custom rack and pinion mechanism to act as a visual aid for his physics pupils.

"A GCSE physics student was having difficulty understanding gear ratios, so the idea was to design something interactive and tactile to aid their learning. The design is based on a GCSE question, and was modified with spots to track the movements of the gears and rack afterwards."

The design was simple, with 3 moving parts and a base-plate to mount them on. All the components were able to fit on the bed at once, and they were designed to not require supports when printing, and the print came out successfully on the first try.

The gears rotated very smoothly and were useful during the tutoring session.

Further ideas for how this concept could be extended include

• printing each gear in a different colour to make them more distiguishable

• adding printed markers to the gears to demonstrate more clearly that the smaller gear rotates faster than the larger gear, without having to use a pen

• printing more interchangable gears that will fit on the same housing

• adding labels to show the number of teeth and tooth pitch for each gear