Archimedes Screw

An Archimedes screw is a simple hydraulic device featuring a helical blade wrapped around a central cylinder, used to transport water or other solids from a lower to a higher elevation. Named for the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, it operates by trapping material in the screw's threads as it rotates within a fixed trough, pushing the contents upward when the device is angled. While originally for irrigation and draining, its principles are still used today in modern applications, such as my personal favourite application, a marble run.

Fusion 360

Adventure 5M Pro 3d Printer

FlashPrint 5

First, create a new sketch by clicking on the button in the top left corner that looks like a square with a green plus in the bottom right corner.

Once you have clicked that you want to, then create a new sketch by clicking on the orange square that should be at the bottom.

Once the sketch has been set up, click the letter C on your keyboard, then click the origin, which looks like a black dot, and type 30 followed by enter.

Click C and repeat to create two more circles, one that’s 71 and one that's 73. After that, it should look like the image below. It may not have the lines, but it should look something like it.

After you’ve made sure that it looks like the image above, you can then click finish sketch, which should look like a big green tick in the top right corner of the screen.

Next, you need to create a coil, which can be done by clicking the create button in the top left corner and then clicking the coil.

Once you’ve clicked on the coil button, you want to click the orange square in the middle of your screen, click the origin, and then type 30 and enter. You should now see a screen like the one below.

All you have to change is the section shape (circle to a square), section position (centre to outside), section size (set it to 20mm) and the height, which should be set to 150…

The image above has all the settings set correctly already. The image below shows what the coil should look like at this stage.

lastly, you need to select the innermost circle and then click extrude, which is located next to the sketch button. Then you click the blue arrow that appears, drag it upwards, type in 160, and then enter.

You’ve probably noticed that the blue circles have disappeared. You'll need to make it visible again for the next step. You can do this by clicking the light grey eye with a slash through it located under the extrude and sketch button.

Select the middle circle, click "Expand," and then pull it downwards. It should look red and be set to cut mode. You should be able to cut it down as far as you like, as long as it completely deletes everything

Afterwards, click the middle circle again and pull it upwards 10mm and change it to the join. This will create the base of the screw core.

Now, click the outermost circle and extrude it up 160mm, making sure to click the new body.

In the top left corner, click a face on the cube that says front, back, left, or right. Next to the extude there is a button called hole. Click it, then click the screw wall. Make sure you hide the screw core first. When making the hole, place it close to the bottom, within 10 mm of the middle.

After you click OK, select the complete opposite face and create another hole at the top, approximately 10 mm below the top.

Now the screw is complete. If you want, you can print it and use it for whatever you want.

To the side of your screen (under the list of sketches) should be a list of your bodies or objects. Hopefully, there should only be two.

Right-click the body, then select Save As Mesh. Then click ok. It should bring up a page that asks you where you want to save it.

I recommend saving to the desktop to ensure that the next several steps are easier.

Drag both files into the flashprint page. The files should appear on the screen separately and next to each other.

Make sure to select the type of printer that you are using before you start to slice.

At the top of the screen, there should be a button labelled "slice." Click it, then use the system defaults and click slice.

After it has finished slicing, you then need to click the print button, which looks like the one above. You can then follow the steps outlined on FlashPrint to finish the setup before proceeding to print.

Once everything's finished printing, you can then use it for whatever you want to. I used it to create a marble run with a servo motor, aiming to build a continuous system that didn't require manual resetting.

Below is a video of one of my early prototypes in action.