FULLY 3D Printable Lever Fidget Cube!! a Fun and Educational Tutorial for Kids!

We FINALLY got a 3D printer!! In order to celebrate, I wanted to make a fun, educational, yet quick and easy project using my 3D printer. As soon as I saw the Simple Machines Contest, the idea came to me: a fidget cube....made entirely of levers!

I really enjoyed this project because it's so quick (the entire project, including 3d printing, only took 2 hours), it's easy to assemble, and it's so satisfying to play with.

This Instructable is meant to be a full tutorial on levers for kids, so I will begin with some background information about levers, dive right into how to make the fidget cube, and then end with a Check for Understanding to wrap up this interesting topic.

As the title suggests, the only material that you will need is a 3D printer and accompanying filament. My 3D printer is a Flashforge Finder and I am extremely happy with its performance. Additionally, my filament is Kodak PLA+ and the exact colors can be found in these links from Amazon:

Green Filament

Yellow Filament

NOTE: You may need some glue at the end if the caps are loose, so keep that in mind if you are setting up materials.

Before we get right into the fidget cube, I want to take some time and describe the simple machine used in this project: levers. If you played on a seesaw when you were a kid, you were using a lever! Other examples of levers include scissors and wheelbarrows, as shown in the images above.

Levers have three major components: a platform, a fulcrum, and load (see image 1). The platform is what moves up and down. In the image, the platform is the grey rectangle. The fulcrum is the support that allows the platform to move up and down. In the image, the fulcrum is the blue triangle. The fulcrum elevates the lever on a point, giving it space to fall to the left or right. Finally, there is a load on the lower side of the lever, which is pulling that side of the lever down. In the image, the load is a green square.

Now how does the lever work? Effort, as shown by the red arrow in the image, is applied to the higher side of the lever. If the effort has a greater force than that of the load on the other side, then the upper end of the lever will come down and the lower end will rise up.

NOTE: The lever in our 3D printed fidget cube does not look exactly like the image above. First, our load is not a physical object. Can you guess what it is? It's gravity. Gravity is pulling the levers down to one side, which is why the four levers on the sides of the cube are all pointing downward when placed on a flat surface. Additionally, our fulcrum is not a triangle. Instead, we are using a rod as the lever's fulcrum, which does the exact same job. Finally, the effort that we are using to change the position of the levers is our fingers, as we fidget with the cube.

Now that we have a solid understanding of how levers work, we can get started with the project.

*Credit to images:

Image 1: www.springintostem.com

Image 2: www.socratic.org

Image 3: www.Pinterest.com

Image 4: www.Pinterest.com

It's time to 3D print our components for the fidget cube. In total, my printing time took a bit more than 1.5 hours. I recommend printing the body in one color and the other components in a different color for it to look best.

IMPORTANT: I printed the body, platforms, and fulcrums with 80% scale of the file, but left the caps as 100%. I did not see a feature for scaling in Tinkercad which is why I had to play with the scales in my 3D printing software, Polar Cloud. Additionally, I highly recommend printing the platforms, fulcrums, and caps with a .15mm resolution, since the parts are quite small and need to be printed with extreme accuracy and precision. However, I left the body with a .32mm resolution and it turned out great.

You can find the .stl files for the components below. Print one body, 5 platforms, 5 fulcrums, and 5 caps.

If this is your first time 3D printing, especially with a Flashforge Finder, here are some tips that I wish someone had told me:

1. Always apply a good amount of glue to the build plate before printing, as many printed parts tend to warp and get distorted if they are not stuck firmly to the print bed

2. Do NOT reuse glue on the print bed. In other words, do not apply glue, print, take off the printed part, and then add more glue on top of it and print again. It is important to always wash the glue off (mine goes away easily with Windex) after each print or else there will be stains from the last print on the bottom of the next print

3. As soon as you are done using your filament, unload it from the printer and store it in a sealed, dry location. The first time I printed something I left my filament in there long after I had finished and it took an extreme amount of pushing and pulling from my dad to get it out. Also, since I left my filament out and not in a sealed, dry location, it became brittle and broke the next time I tried to print with it

Now it's time to assemble the fidget cube. This assembly is super easy and should take no more than 3 minutes.

First, lay out all of the 3D printed parts in 5 groups with 1 platform, fulcrum, and cap in each group. Put the body on the side. (Image 1)

Next, loosely place the first platform in between the two triangles on top. Try to line up the hole on the platform with the holes in the triangles. (Image 2)

Third, slide the fulcrum through the triangle holes, going through the platform as well. In order to make sure that it went trough the platform, push the lever up and down and make sure that it is held in place. (Image 3)

Finally, add a cap on the end of the fulcrum sticking out. About half of the time, my caps went in perfectly but for the other caps, I had to apply some glue in order for it to stick firmly. (Image 4)

Repeat steps 2-3 with the other four sets of parts. Your cube should look like Image 5.

You are done! You can now start fidgeting with your cube! (Image 6)

When I first designed this project, I meant for it to only be a fidget cube. However, after I made it, I noticed that if you shake it back and forth the levers move up and down and make a rattling noise. I guess it can also be an instrument as well.

I decided to test the "instrument" with my dog and see if he would like it. His name is Charlie, and there are two videos above with his reaction :)

So I don't know, fidget cube, instrument, dog toy, I guess this fidget cube has more uses than I thought.

Well I hope you enjoyed this project. If you did, leave a comment down below.

Here is a Check for Understanding to see if you have a good understanding of levers now.

1. What is a fulcrum? What is the fulcrum in our fidget cube?

2. Give one example of a lever in real life. Identify the lever components in your example.

3. Does load have to be a physical object? If not, give an example of load that is not a physical object.

BONUS: What happens if the load and effort on a lever are the same?

DON'T MOVE ON TO STEP 6 BEFORE YOU HAVE YOUR ANSWERS!!

1. A fulcrum is the support that allows the lever to move up and down. The fulcrum in our fidget cube is a rod.

2. Sample Answer: A seesaw is a lever that we use in real life. The platform is the plank with seats on either end, the fulcrum is the triangle underneath the platform, and the load is a person sitting on the end. Effort comes when someone jumps on one end and creates more force.

Other answers for number 2 can include a wheelbarrow and a pair of scissors, although those examples are a bit more advanced.

3. No; load does not have to be a physical object. In our fidget cube, load was gravity, which is not a physical object.

BONUS: If the load and effort are the same, then the lever will stay perfectly horizontal, not leaning to any side.