Fidget spinner.

Learning outcomes:

• Understanding the
• Learning

A Fidget spinner must have 2 things to work properly : A

bearing in the middle and a spinner shell with equal
( preferably weighted ) ends!

IT MAY seem simple, but getting everything to work

correctly is a matter of trial, error, and patience! We will
start by building a simple spinner, but you can take this
concept and change your design to make any type of
spinner you want including a more rounded look or even
ninja stars like the examples above!

Parts you will need :

- Wheel Bearings ( I'm using REDS precision skate

bearings )
- 1/2" Steel Ball Bearings
- 3D Printer
- Tape Measure

Step 1: MEASURE YOUR BEARING :

Take our your TAPE MEASURE and let's measure our
bearing size

We know judging from measuring across the diameter is

22m ( I'm using REDS precision skate bearings )

The height is 7mm from the bottom to the top of the

bearing.

This is the most common bearing size

Step 2: Optional : Measure for Bearing 'caps'

If you want to create 'caps' for the bearing ( to hide the
bearing center and put logos on top of it , measure the
inside hole and get the radius of that as well.

On this bearing its approximately 11mm diameter

( 11mm x 11mm ) minimum to cover the hole, you can
build the cap as large and tall as you want but it should
not go outside of the bearing area.

The hole on the inside is about 8mm in diameter

Step 3: MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM YOUR
FINGER TIPS TO YOUR PALM :

You should always take into consideration how much

spacing you have between your finger tips to your palm.
Making small fidget spinners means more people can
spin them!

I see that from the center of the fidget spinner I should

have a radius of 46 mm at the very maximum, but I will
open for something smaller and use a 45 mm radius
( from the center, meaning from end to end it should be
90mm maximum

Step 4: WRITE DOWN THE MEASUREMENTS :

Bearing: 11mm radius ( 22mm across ) x 7mm height

Bearing Hole Cap : 5.5mm radius ( 11mm across )

Bearing Hole : 7mm diameter

Radius of case maximum : The length is up to you but

don't make the height any bigger then 7mm height or
less. Try and make it so it has plenty of room between
your fingertips and the rest of your hand.

If you are using weights in your spinner, please take

accurate measurements of them as well so that we can
make space in each of our 'wings' for them ! ( For us we
are using the 1/2" ball bearings )
Step 5: Online Research / Concept Phase
Let's try and figure out what we want to 3D model
before getting into Autodesk 123d design !

- Start by doing an online search with the term 'Fidget

Spinner Design'

- Checkout some unique designs of different fidget

spinners that have 3 wings ( our design will have 3 sides
)

- Leave a couple pictures open as reference and use

that information to design your own fidget spinner. Use
some markers, pens or pencils and draw out your idea
on paper so that you can use is as inspiration as you 3D
model.

Posted above are some examples of common and not so

common fidget spinners I found online with a quick
search!
Step 6: TinkerCAD : Making the Center Ring
Let's go step by step for each phase!

- Drag in a CYLINDER and a HOLE CYLINDER ( The

transparent one ) and increase the sides until they look
very smooth.

- The HOLE CYLINDER should be the exact

measurement of our ballbearing BUT let's add .7 mm to
each side so we have a little extra wiggle room
( 22.7mm x 22.7m x 7mm height )

- Make the colored thick CYLINDER 26mm x 26mm x

7mm height , this will act as our main 'ring' You can
make this slightly smaller or slightly larger depending on
how big you want the ring effect around the bearing.

IMPORTANT : To make sure both objects are aligned,

highlight both of them and click the Align ( L KEY ) and a
grid should pop up with lines and circles, hit the circles
in the middle to make sure that the hole fits exactly in
the middle of the CYLINDER. Then group them together.

Step 7: CREATING THE SPINNER WINGS

- Now that we have our inner circle we can start building
the shape of our TRI-SPINNER

- I will use a BOX and measure the distance from end

to end to be 90 mm, I will make it 25mm wide so it
matches the ring. The height of the wings is up to you,
in this example I make it 6mm

- I then grab both objects and use the ALIGN TOOL ( L

KEY ) and hit the middle circles to align them together

- I click on the center ring, then hit UNGROUP , and

then select all of my objects in the scene and group
EVERYTHING in the scene together. This way the HOLE
CYLINDER we first made cuts through everything!
Step 8: CREATING YOUR FIRST WING
CUT YOUR DESIGN IN HALF :

- Grab a BOX HOLE and measure half the distance of

your fidget spinner, we are going to use a hole to cut it
in half. ( mine is 90mm long , so I make this box 45mm
and make sure its wide/tall enough to cover the rest )

- Delete half your fidget spinner. ( You should only have

your left side on the screen )

- Take your time here and add any fancy details you
want to this side since it will turn into all your sides!

- CREATE A BALL SPHERE - This will act as our 1/2" ball

bearing into 12.7mm all around. ( Let's round it up to
13.4 for wiggle room )

- Use the align tool to make sure the ball is in the center
of the wing height wise and width with, then move it
where you want the bearing to be placed, in my example
it's 5 mm away from the edge of the wing on each side.
- FINISH YOUR DESIGN HERE! Before doing anything
else, take some time and work on the design of your
wing here. Afterwards we will cut the bearing hole out
of it. In this example, I will create a cylinder to get my
nice fidget spinner look!

- I turn both bearing balls into hole objects and then

group it with the wing.

Step 9: Getting Your Wings Ready!

- Now select all your objects and hit the DUPLICATE
( CTRL + D). Rotate your two new objects 60 degrees
clockwise.

- DUPLICATE the new rotated pieces ( CTRL + D ) , and

then FLIP THEM ( M KEY )

- Delete the 3 sides you don't need and you have your
spinner! Just double check to make sure it all looks
even across all 3 sides. Don't worry if their are any
mistakes, you can always click undo a couple of times
and check where you made the mistakes!

- Once you're done checking, make sure your fidget

spinner is flat on the ground!
NOTE : If you want more wings, then keep them! Just
make sure they're balanced for a good spin!

Step 10: Optional : Custom Spinner Caps

- Let's start with making the cylinder that will go inside
the bearing. We will call this CAP A

We know from our measurements it's 8mm diameter

( length / width ) but let's make it 7.5mm to give it a bit
of room. 7mm is the height. To make the top cover for
CAP A let's use another cylinder must be 11mm in
diameter MINIMUM ( Maximum 17mm ) to cover the hole
and metal inner ring. I make the height 2mm for this
example but you can make it thicker if you prefer

- Select both parts and use the align tools ( L Key ) and
make sure the cover is centered, then move it on top!

- Now lets DUPLICATE ( CTRL + D) so we have CAP A

and CAP B

- Let's shrink the cylinder of CAP B - 4mm

diameter and make sure it's still lined up using the align
tool with it's cover which we will keep the same size

- Duplicate the cylinder of CAP B just that small cylinder

and turn it into a HOLE object.
- Put the CAP A cylinder into the center of the CAP B
cylinder. Then group it together to get your FINAL CAP
A

- Go to CAP B - and turn the cylinder from 4mm to

3.7mm just so it's snug but has some room. Group it !

- Rotate both CAPS upside down then create a BOX

HOLE ( about 0.75mm width ) and chop a long hole down
the middle of CAP B's cylinder, not the cover

You're finished! When you print these parts you should

be able to push them together through the center and
have your own fidget spinner caps!
Step 11: Printing Time!
NOTE : To those who made spinner caps, but the
biggest pieces against the ground as per the example
above, this ensures a better print for your caps! Do this
by grouping them and rotating 180 degrees.

- In TinkerCAD, Export your file as an STL and bring the

file into CURA

- It should already be sized exactly how you need it.

- Export the Gcode file and begin printing!

Summary: