3D render of the Blacksmith Automaton: a blue smith with his hammer raised next to a black anvil with an orange horseshoe, on a terracotta box with a yellow crank
Free 3D model

Blacksmith Automaton

A wooden-toy style automaton you print. Turn the crank on the front of the box and the smith slowly raises his hammer over his head. At the top the follower rod drops off the step of a snail cam, and the hammer falls onto the horseshoe under its own weight, with a real clack. While the hammer is up, a second cam lifts his other arm, so he raises the hot horseshoe off the anvil with his tongs, looks at it and puts it back for the next blow. Both arms simply rest on the tops of the rods, so nothing is glued to the mechanism, and you can see the cams and rods work through the windows of the box. Every part prints without supports.

  • 18printed parts
  • 10 × 9 × 16 cmassembled (L × W × H)
  • ≈ 0.1 kgfilament in total
  • 93 mmbed length for the deck; the box is 72 mm tall
Download all files ZIP · 0.4 MB

Free for personal use under CC BY-NC 4.0: print it, remix it and share it with credit to Shapekit. Please don't sell the files or the prints.

Take it apart in 3D · Parts · How to build it

In 3D

Turn it, take it apart

Every part as you print it. Pick colours to see what your filament will look like.

The 3D model (1.5 MB) loads when you get here.

Preview colours

Box, deck and stump
Smith and arms
Anvil and rods
Camshaft, cams and crank
Horseshoe and knob

Drag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom

In the download

16 parts, ready to print

Every STL is already placed the right way up. Download them all at once, or one by one.

Box

The four walls in one piece, with a window in each side, a bearing for the camshaft in the front and the back wall, and a column in each corner for the screws of the base and the deck.

Size
90 × 72 × 68 mm
Print
Standing up, as in the file. No supports: the windows have 45° tops.
Filament
≈ 49 g
STL 0.2 MB

Base

The bottom of the box, with four feet. Four M3 × 16 screws go up through the feet into the box.

Size
90 × 64 × 11 mm
Print
Upside down, feet up.
Filament
≈ 24 g
STL 0.1 MB

Deck

The top of the box. The two guide tubes underneath keep the rods straight; the smith and the stump are screwed on from below.

Size
93 × 67 × 21 mm
Print
Upside down, tubes up.
Filament
≈ 27 g
STL 0.1 MB

Camshaft

A D-shaped shaft with a flange at the back. It runs in the two bearings of the box and carries both cams and the crank, so they can only go on one way round.

Size
77 × 16 × 12 mm
Print
Lying on its flat side.
Filament
≈ 4 g
STL 24 KB

Hammer cam

A snail cam: over most of the turn it lifts the hammer rod 13 mm, then the rod drops off its step. Its hub points to the middle of the shaft.

Size
40 × 33 × 18 mm
Print
Cam face down, hub up.
Filament
≈ 6 g
STL 0.1 MB

Tongs cam

A round cam with one gentle bump that lifts the tongs while the hammer is up.

Size
21 × 19 × 18 mm
Print
Cam face down, hub up.
Filament
≈ 3 g
STL 85 KB

Spacer × 2

Fills the shaft between a cam and the wall, so each cam stays right under its rod.

Size
15 × 15 × 9 mm
Print
Standing on one end.
Filament
≈ 2 g
STL 26 KB

Crank

Sits on the front end of the camshaft, held by an M3 × 10 and a washer.

Size
30 × 30 × 6 mm
Print
Flat.
Filament
≈ 2 g
STL 35 KB

Knob

Turns on an M3 × 20 that screws into the end of the crank.

Size
18 × 11 × 11 mm
Print
Standing on its flat end.
Filament
≈ 1 g
STL 51 KB

Rod × 2

A Ø6 mm rod with a flat foot that rides on its cam and a round top that the arm rests on. Both rods are the same.

Size
76 × 14 × 14 mm
Print
Standing on its foot.
Filament
≈ 5 g
STL 49 KB

Smith

The figure, in a long coat and a leather apron, with a beard and a cap. The arms turn on M3 × 16 screws in his shoulders; two M3 × 10 hold him to the deck from below.

Size
74 × 30 × 25 mm
Print
Standing on his feet. No supports.
Filament
≈ 13 g
STL 0.4 MB

Hammer arm

His right arm with the sledgehammer. It rests on the hammer rod.

Size
43 × 22 × 12 mm
Print
Lying flat, on its outer side.
Filament
≈ 3 g
STL 45 KB

Tongs arm

His left arm with the tongs. The jaw reaches in over the horseshoe on the anvil.

Size
36 × 22 × 22 mm
Print
Lying flat, on its outer side, jaw up.
Filament
≈ 2 g
STL 45 KB

Horseshoe

Glued under the jaw of the tongs, so it lies on the anvil and comes up with the tongs.

Size
14 × 13 × 3 mm
Print
Flat.
Filament
≈ 0 g
STL 42 KB

Anvil

A London-pattern anvil with a horn and a hardy hole. It sits on the peg of the stump.

Size
30 × 18 × 16 mm
Print
Standing on its foot. No supports.
Filament
≈ 3 g
STL 13 KB

Stump

The block of wood the anvil stands on, with year rings on top. One M3 × 10 holds it to the deck.

Size
22 × 22 × 16 mm
Print
Standing up, peg on top.
Filament
≈ 3 g
STL 0.2 MB
Also needed

Parts you buy

  • M3 screws: 6 × M3 × 16 (4 for the base, 2 for the shoulders), 8 × M3 × 10 (4 for the deck, 3 under the smith and the stump, 1 for the crank) and 1 × M3 × 20 for the knob, plus one M3 washer. They cut their own thread in the plastic.
  • A drop of superglue for the horseshoe, and a little candle wax or dry PTFE spray on the cams and rods.
Print settings

Slicer settings

0.20 mmlayer height
3walls
15%infill
PLAmaterial

For a 0.4 mm nozzle. Filament amounts are estimates for these settings.

Assembly

How to build it

Print the parts

Print everything the way it lies in the files: no part needs supports. Clean the elephant's foot off the cams, the rod feet and the D-holes so they slide on.

Box

Set the box on the base and screw it on from below with four M3 × 16 through the feet.

Camshaft and cams

Push the camshaft in from the back. Inside the box, thread it through a spacer, the tongs cam (cam towards the back, hub to the front), the hammer cam (hub to the back, cam towards the front) and the second spacer, then out through the front bearing. The D-shape only lets the cams on one way round.

Crank

Push the crank onto the front end of the camshaft and fix it with an M3 × 10 and a washer. Screw the knob on with the M3 × 20, just tight enough that it still turns.

Deck

Screw the smith (2 × M3 × 10) and the stump (1 × M3 × 10) onto the deck from below, and push the anvil onto the stump's peg. Stand the two rods on their cams, lower the deck over them so each rod slides into its tube, and screw the deck on with four M3 × 10.

Arms

Glue the horseshoe under the jaw of the tongs. Screw both arms to the shoulders with an M3 × 16, the screw head on the outside, and back each screw off a little so the arm drops freely onto its rod.

Turn it

Turn the crank clockwise, seen from the front. The hammer rises slowly and drops once every turn; between blows the tongs lift the horseshoe. If an arm sticks, a little wax on the rod top and the cam helps.

Small parts and screws: keep them away from young children.

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