Toy Road Grader - Fully 3D Printed

Just before holiday break, I challenged my students to design their own custom toys which became their final projects for the semester. My students worked for nearly 3 weeks and created some amazing things (some of which are posted on Thingiverse) and their hard work inspired me to use some of my break time to design and create my very own toy design.

I introduce to you the "Toy Road Grader" which is 100% 3D printed. I was inspired to create this toy by the old Tonka toys that I played with as a child as well as a wooden road grader that I also had as a child. My version of the road grader has a fully movable blade so you can decide what angle to grade those pesky dirt piles at.

Here is a demonstration video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLMPi3nYc0 I used some loose change to represent a pile of dirt (would of went outside, but it's 0 degrees out).

Some may ask "Why 3D print a toy?" Well here's why:

#1 - 3D printed toys are super cool!

#2 - You can customize your toy so it's unique

#3 - If it breaks, you can just print out a new part or even the whole entire toy.

Print the following items along with quantities:

(1) GraderBody

(1) GraderCab

(1) Grader Blade

(6) Grader Wheels

(1) Grader Control Knob

(8) Axel Halves

(2) Cab Pegs

** Construction **

1. Take the two cab pegs and glue them in the two holes that are in the Grader body. I use Krazy Glue for this.

1. Take the Grader Cab and put glue in the holes. Also apply glue on the bottom face to make sure that the cab and body are secured firmly.

2. Take one of the axle halves and insert it into a wheel. You may need to hit it gently with a small hammer to get the axle to go down all the way. Once one half is snug, repeat the process with the other half.

3. Take your axle and wheel and place it through the axle hole in the grader body then take another wheel and attach it to the sticking out axle end. Again, this may require a small hammer.

4. Once you have all of your wheels and axles on, it is time for the grader blade. The hole in the blade is smaller than the axle halves because I wanted to ensure a snug fit. You will need to ream out the hole a little to make the axle halves fit.

5. The axle halves are too long because I wanted the creator to decide how big of an adjustment they wanted for the blade. I Got my down to about 5 cms. Once your axle halves are cut, insert one end into the blade and the other into the control knob.

** For reference see http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:192938 **

I plan on posting some sort of build manual soon, but until then feel free to ask me any question. Enjoy!!!