We invite engineers, makers, tinkerers and inventors to explore additive printing’s amazing capability to print fully assembled, interconnected objects.

Contestants are tasked with designing a gear system with three (3) or more gears that is fully assembled when 3D printed and cleaned up. In other words, it needs to be a functioning model. Any idea may be submitted as long as the gears turn freely and are co-dependent upon completion.

Some examples of creative gear applications: A clock; toy; drivetrain; Geodesic sphere; a piggy bank; and a weather vane, to name a few. The idea being to create an elaborate and functioning gear system that pushes the envelope.

Winners will be announced at the 3D Printer World Expo’s evening reception on Jan. 31 in Burbank, Calif., and published on GrabCAD simultaneously.