3D Tutorial 05: How to Model a Planetary Gear Drive in Blender

Internal gears are gears with their teeth pointing inwards. They mesh with regular (external) gears. One application of an internal gear is the planetary gear drive. This amazing mechanism packs a very high gear ratio in a very compact design. Electric screwdrivers take advantage of the planetary mechanism to provide powerful torque with just a small battery-powered motor.

This tutorial explains how to design all the components of a planetary gear system in Blender, and test it using Blender's rigid body physics engine. Tooth profiles and other useful parameters for the planetary gears are obtained from the internal/external gear calculator we have developed.

The end result of this tutorial, a .blend file containing a smoothly running planetary mechanism, can be downloaded via the link below. The simulation runs slowly, so please be patient when running it for the first time.

Internal/External Gear Calculator, 3D-Printable Planetary Gear Model.