Compass
This is the world's first 100% 3D printed-in-place compass. The design offers major improvements over a standard compass: it traces a full circle without slipping, shows the angle and radius as it rotates, can be retrieved from a backpack without jabbing, and is friendly to kid-size hands.
Notable Features
Print In Place Ball Bearings
Ball bearings allow the center unit to rotate freely, much like a fidget spinner. This makes it easy to trace a smooth circle without contorting your wrist. In fact, flicking the pencil gripper is often enough to get a full rotation.
Compliant Gripper
This gripper can clamp writing implements as slim as golf pencils and as hefty as permanent markers. While unloaded, it can slide anywhere from 3 to 15 cm.
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The fins on either side of the gripper facilitate both sliding and distance measurement.
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Know Your Place
Unlike standard compasses that show neither radius nor angle, this compass does it all. The handy center dial shows how far a circle has been traced in both degrees and radians. The pointers on either side of the gripper indicate radius in both imperial and metric.
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These features make geometry learning easier and more intuitive.
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Design Thinking
User research enabled this design to overcome many of the drawbacks of a standard compass. To name a few:
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â—‹ The pencil gripper applies even pressure throughout a
rotation, and its position can be changed with a pinch
â—‹ The gripper can handle crayons, markers, and more
â—‹ No dexterity required to pivot the pencil across 360 degrees
â—‹ The center hole allows you to center a circle about a point
Find Your Angle
Applications
Students: learn geometry more easily
Engineers: draft more quickly
Artists: draw smudge- and pinhole-free circles
Feedback
Questions about the build? Licensing inquiries? Suggestions for improvement?