Lasercut Tricycle

1 Jul 2025
lasercut toy attached svg file

I found this lasercutter svg model online for free, and was intrigued by the planetary gears!

It uses them instead of a chain (which would be difficult to lasercut) and solves that in an elegant way. Despite the lack of instructions, it can be put together following the single picture and guessing.

Also, this is near to fully functional: the pedals can rotate, and they drive the front wheel. The back wheels are also free to rotate. It cannot turn though.

Try for yourself #

Here are a few more images to guide with assebly, and a link to the SVG file. I moved the pieces around to waste less material and have enough for three copies. In black, engraving and in red, cutting.

You will additionally need some wood glue and little dowels as the mini axles of the planet gears. Some 3d printer filament will do just fine but if you don’t have that just use a wooden round stick, think toothpick but bigger.

A little tip: melt some wax on the lasercut wood axles and gears at all points of contact. This acts as builtin lubrication and makes the mechanism run smoother, I even managed to backdrive it: rotating the front wheel will rotate the pedals.

Second tip: sand down the tips of each gear tooth thinner (by ~1mm), so they don’t collide with anything.