You made your own driver for the stepper, then designed a rugged metal pin and delrin based cycloidal drive and made it work!! What makes you think there is something you can not do? So well done. Keep it up 👍👍👍
Unicorn turds per full moon Also I wonder how this thing turns at all, considering the "wobbly" wheel seems to be directly connected to a fixed output. But maybe I overlooked something.
When designing for 3D printing, keep in mind that every measurement in Z has to be a multiple of your 3D printer's Z step size. If it isn't, your parts will be off by whatever amount is necessary to bring the height to the nearest z-step. Also, use machinist's feeler gauges to get your bed dead nuts accurate.
@@FreeOfFantasy the elephant's foot setting just adjusts the xy expansion of the first layer I think @BrosBrothers is talking about the not perfectly defined hight of the first layer ;)
Your output shaft can only do circular motion, however your gear moves in a wave form around your motor axis. Pining these two together creates a lot of friction. Using long holes towards the center of your output shaft would allow for the wave motion of the pins and no sticking.
@@LeviJanssen I had the same problem so I used a second disk/plate on the other side of the lobe. My gearboxes, though, are pulley driven so I can assemble them from both sides - I don't have to stack parts on top of a motor - www.franksworkshop.com.au/wordpress/2018/03/04/3d-printed-hypocycloidic-gearboxes-iii/
I was surprised to see you had just 4k subs. I was expecting around 2 million subs. For such amazing and original content, you are underra ted. Good job lad.
...though some hammers are more hammer-like than others. Love the Adam Savage quote. And, I too have found that particular style of pliers to make a really good hammer on many occasions.
A little hint for making those full depth cuts through metal, use cyanoacrylate glue to bond to a metal base that acts as a heat sink and cut all the way through your thickness of stock to be cut. If the metal stays cool enough (by keeping your depth of cut small enough) the glue will hold throughout machining for thin parts like you fabricated. When the stock your cutting gets too thick, the side of your cutting tool will grab and toss the part with this technique with full length cutting flutes, but you can cut thicker stock by adding a draft angle to just keep the tip of your tool engaged with the part when cutting deep. To release, heat the metals and the CA glue will fail avoiding warpage and dinging from manually shearing the joint (a little acetone soak works well too, but takes longer). This and some of the other good machining tips I see in the comments will really improve your finished parts.
@@neur303 There is too much slop in the mechanisms as well as too much friction. Therefore it would have horrible backlash in an extruder, and would extrude inconsistently. Planetary gears are superior in just about every way to this. Of course this does allow a bigger gear ratio in a small form factor, but the negatives aren't worth it.
@@Chris-hn4lp It seems planetary gears offer more torque per volume. Which would be quite reasonable for a direct drive as lower volume should also equal lower weight. But I still believe there's more to it. Like you wouldn't be able to use a planetary gear with plastic gears. And the cycloidal gear should be a lot easier to manufacture. www.machinedesign.com/news/article/21829580/comparing-cycloidal-and-planetary-gearboxes
@@Chris-hn4lp yeah this a one of the few designs without backlash, not that it is an issue for the extruded as it can be correct with extra restart on retract ...
The wobbly vid was funny at first but got to be an eye strain. Being a person working with mechanical devices, might want to find a camera mounting with some isolation from the work table. As a side note, having recently been to the dentist, I was a bit fascinated with the ceiling mount for the work light, with it being totally free within it's range of motion and total isolation from everything else (except maybe the floor above). This won't cover all needs though, which is why it's just a side note.
It's not friction that prevents you from backdriving it, it's mechanical advantage (or lack thereof). 20:1 ratio means this is like trying to use a level to lift something, but the fulcrum is 20 times closer to you than to the thing you've trying to lift.
Just found your channel and am not only impressed but inspired. And I've seen you're going to college soon. You have more than the capability to thrive at any ivy league college. *Please don't* they will exhaust you with irreverent "busy-work" and you won't gain as much from their curriculums (as a self-learner). So much so you might lose your special spark. Especially with the "cultures" and horrendous bureaucracy that enshroud them Personally, I'm at Montana state in Bozeman and they have a great pace for hw, lectures and exams with enough time and freedom to do projects both through the school and independently (atleast for me) Wherever you choose, please don't try to get the most prestigious, as that doesn't really matter. Just one that you can afford and that allows your mind to be free to learn as you have done already
The offset lobes won’t reduce backlash. The purpose of the 2nd lobe is to eliminate vibration. Any mechanism which includes an eccentric rotator will have vibration. The 180 degree out of phase counter-rotator cancels it out. As for backlash, if a cycloid is manufactured with the correct tolerances, there will be zero backlash. All teeth are simultaneously engaged. The lack of backlash is why cycloids and harmonic drives are used in robotic arms. Without the lack of backlash, repeatable, precise positioning is not possible.
Just a note regarding attaching the NEMA23 motor to the black plastic. The screws are intended to be inserted from the back of the motor toward the face of the motor. Epic job btw. I'm going to try building one with a brushless motor. Might might a good servo motor.
I have noticed that you never put any grease or lubricants in your gear systems you would greatly reduce friction and increase produced torque values if you used some grease...
Very compact and nice 👍🏻 I was thinking to 3D print one but after seeing this I think I’ll go the laser cutting a Delrin sheet instead. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
@@MM-24 one way is to make the output shaft ot the motor moves the first stage and the output of the first stage moves the second stage but that does not cancel the wobbling ... its like puting two of this devices in line . u get a lot of reduction. the way wobble got canceled for me was to put two of the center parts of this design ( the one that moves) 180 degrees from each other one above the other. so you dont have the wobbling , its cheaper than the first way i told you , it has less parts but ... you dont get the added reduction of a proper double stage. chose your destiny...
An easier setting for your nema23 might be an arduino with a cncshield, a drv8825 or better stepper driver and estlcam as control software. Much easier to set up and vary.
I think some grease will help smooth out the motion. It's common to use things like white lithium grease in airsoft gearboxes that have high torque and plastic/metal components, can hear a difference when properly applied.
The hole in the square black piece that sits on the motor should have the exact same size as the pilot sticking out of the motor. It's going to be a standard size for any motor of that NEMA 23 size.
Great job! I think not continuous (not smooth) rotation of the output shaft is caused by step rotation of the step-motor multiplied to gear ratio (x20).
NICE MODIFICATION ,, I HAVE A QUESTION , ON REST WITHOUT POWER SUPLLY HOW MUCH IS RESTING TORQUE OF THAT MOTOR , WILL YOU ABLE TO MOVE MANUALLY ON RESTING SRATE & WITHOUT POWER SUPLY
If you ever do such a project again think about using the tmc 2209 drivers they will remove all noise and are controllable over a single wire. Cool mechanism tho
Try to design for a 1:10 ratio if you plan to use in robotics. Also the pins inside should be able to rotate as the eccentric wheel pushes and leans on them (not rattle though)... maybe have them on tiny bearings? Also, maybe lubricate the inside of the mechanism...
I would reccomend using a much shorter endmill on your router, like only a couple mm longer than the thickness of your material. That'll improve the cut quality and reduce chatter
I recently decided to design a 3D printed cycloidal gearbox and throw it on top of a 2300kv brushless motor... After a lot of fiddling, I actually got it to work. I think the ratio was 29:1 It ran for 10 glorious seconds. Then the motor windings burned and the magic smoke came out of the ESC. I think my problem was that the main gear was sitting right on top of the housing. Even though I put some grease in between them the friction was still too high. I was planning on putting some ball bearing between them but I just don't have the time. They are a bitch to design and manufacture but it's wild how such a compact gearbox can produce 30:1 ratio.
If you need pins to go thru 2 or more plates, place the plates together and then push the pins thru all of them. Otherwise, when you are pushing the second plate onto the pins that are already inserted into the first, any imbalance will try to bend your pins or wallow the holes they are mounted into.
How did you think this was going to work if you have an eccentric element rigidly coupled to a concentric element? Maybe I'm a moron and don't understand how it works, but it seems like the pins should be running in slots, not just put into sized holes
Due to the eccentric nature of the drive, if the cycloidal disk is not balanced by a second disk or a counterweight, it will generate vibrations that propagate through the driven shafts and the body. These increases wear on the exterior teeth of the cycloidal disk and the component bearings. The static imbalance is corrected with two discs, but a small dynamic imbalance remains. This is generally considered acceptable for most applications. To reduce vibration, high-speed drives use three or more discs to correct the imbalance; the outer discs move in unison, in opposition to the middle one, which is twice as massive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloidal_drive
can you make all parts with cnc i have cnc but not 3d printer. and can u make detailed video for all parts. please ur design is compact and elegant i want to build this. please can u provide me design dawings if u can.
Hey, I really like your build. What kind of aluminium is that? It looks like you should go for higher feeds, the chips are way too tiny. This way the end mill produces enormous amounts of heat, because it mostly rubs over the surface. It will definitely die sooner than later :) Also it might make sense to go for holding bridges, which are easier to remove. Just my two cents. Did you make progress with the uneven rotation speed of the gear? How would you consider to fix it? Best
Could you... use a smaller amount of "loose" pins, and leave space between, so that you could put each pin on a small bearing supporting it at top and bottom, which "should" reduce friction, but also increase load bearing capability as it would need to rub up against an outer wall.
Removing pins may remove overall friction, but having more pins will have more surfaces for load distribution
Instablaster
doesn't make a difference if it can't move at all ;)
You made your own driver for the stepper, then designed a rugged metal pin and delrin based cycloidal drive and made it work!! What makes you think there is something you can not do? So well done. Keep it up 👍👍👍
Ounce inches?
Burger pattys per hot dog...
Metric is the answer
My reaction was pretty similar xD
My cursor instantly hovered frantically above the "thumbs down" icon ... imperial "units" gives me the creeps :-/
@@jorgenskyt I know,
So complicated and frightening.
Unicorn turds per full moon
Also I wonder how this thing turns at all, considering the "wobbly" wheel seems to be directly connected to a fixed output. But maybe I overlooked something.
And the whole project should take about 15,6/31 metric light yards of time to complete :).
When designing for 3D printing, keep in mind that every measurement in Z has to be a multiple of your 3D printer's Z step size. If it isn't, your parts will be off by whatever amount is necessary to bring the height to the nearest z-step. Also, use machinist's feeler gauges to get your bed dead nuts accurate.
Yeah but you have to think about the first layer too. Because for adhesion you squish it most of the time
For simplicity i stick to all dimension being 1/10th of a mm tolerance and use that as layer size
@@BrosBrothersLP There is the elephants foot setting for that to compensate the overextrusion in the first layer.
@@FreeOfFantasy the elephant's foot setting just adjusts the xy expansion of the first layer I think @BrosBrothers is talking about the not perfectly defined hight of the first layer ;)
Adaptive layers solves this issue to a great degree.
You made a stepper driver...my world just got rocked.
tbh its not that difficult if you know exactly how a stepper motor functions
Saw another video on Cycloidal drives where small bearings were used on all the contact surfaces - they demonstrated the design _is_ back-driveable.
yeah, James Bruton I think ;)
Cool project. Honestly its always a success when your part doesn't end up smoking, or melting, or breaking.. You get my meaning.
You need a second disc to offset the vibrations for when the 1 disc hits the pins.
Yep, with the cams for each cycloid disc set at 180 deg to each other.
@@owenjones9608 I see... That's beautiful
Dude , just the preview of the video is astonishing . I subscribed !
Your output shaft can only do circular motion, however your gear moves in a wave form around your motor axis. Pining these two together creates a lot of friction. Using long holes towards the center of your output shaft would allow for the wave motion of the pins and no sticking.
3:24 tape the hole up first I know there is a bearing, but metal shavings/dust+ magnets are just something that will give you a head ache.
Oh, this is a very streamlined design, I like it.
I think you drilled out the wrong holes. You need to allow eccentric motion between the output drive pins and the white cycloidal gear.
Yeah I don't know how it would even be able to turn without that, interesting
Right, that is why it doesn't have a contineous and smooth rotation as the acrylic is being smashed by the 4 Pin (from output shaft).
Good job! I tried bearings instead of pins for the roller and got smooth running.
If your system is similar to mine, how did you ensure the straightness of the output pins? I think this is my primary issue.
@@LeviJanssen I had the same problem so I used a second disk/plate on the other side of the lobe. My gearboxes, though, are pulley driven so I can assemble them from both sides - I don't have to stack parts on top of a motor - www.franksworkshop.com.au/wordpress/2018/03/04/3d-printed-hypocycloidic-gearboxes-iii/
It is a realy good proyect. Actualy, it look prety profesional and in the same line of the clasical way stepper motors look.
Wauw! Cool project. Little tip: don’t mess up clearance and tolerance... 😉
Oz/Inch? Please use Nm 😎
If you need reliable and good stepper drives, I recommend Trinamic.
nice job,and especially done with your own design and realization. Congrats
Looks so neat man... Im being mesmerized by all the different implementations of your idea!
I was surprised to see you had just 4k subs. I was expecting around 2 million subs. For such amazing and original content, you are underra
ted. Good job lad.
would be pretty cool too see you test this baby out, maybe puts some weights on a pulley and see when it cant pull anymore ?
...though some hammers are more hammer-like than others. Love the Adam Savage quote. And, I too have found that particular style of pliers to make a really good hammer on many occasions.
A little hint for making those full depth cuts through metal, use cyanoacrylate glue to bond to a metal base that acts as a heat sink and cut all the way through your thickness of stock to be cut. If the metal stays cool enough (by keeping your depth of cut small enough) the glue will hold throughout machining for thin parts like you fabricated. When the stock your cutting gets too thick, the side of your cutting tool will grab and toss the part with this technique with full length cutting flutes, but you can cut thicker stock by adding a draft angle to just keep the tip of your tool engaged with the part when cutting deep. To release, heat the metals and the CA glue will fail avoiding warpage and dinging from manually shearing the joint (a little acetone soak works well too, but takes longer). This and some of the other good machining tips I see in the comments will really improve your finished parts.
design a direct drive 3d print head using a very small stepper motor and this concept.
Second that :) I only found one project using a cycloidal gear for an extruder. Wonder what's the reason we don't see this more often for extruders.
@@neur303 There is too much slop in the mechanisms as well as too much friction. Therefore it would have horrible backlash in an extruder, and would extrude inconsistently. Planetary gears are superior in just about every way to this. Of course this does allow a bigger gear ratio in a small form factor, but the negatives aren't worth it.
@@Chris-hn4lp I read quite the opposite. That they minimze backlash in comparison to other gears.
@@Chris-hn4lp It seems planetary gears offer more torque per volume. Which would be quite reasonable for a direct drive as lower volume should also equal lower weight.
But I still believe there's more to it. Like you wouldn't be able to use a planetary gear with plastic gears. And the cycloidal gear should be a lot easier to manufacture.
www.machinedesign.com/news/article/21829580/comparing-cycloidal-and-planetary-gearboxes
@@Chris-hn4lp yeah this a one of the few designs without backlash, not that it is an issue for the extruded as it can be correct with extra restart on retract ...
This is a really smart gear box. Loved it
The wobbly vid was funny at first but got to be an eye strain. Being a person working with mechanical devices, might want to find a camera mounting with some isolation from the work table.
As a side note, having recently been to the dentist, I was a bit fascinated with the ceiling mount for the work light, with it being totally free within it's range of motion and total isolation from everything else (except maybe the floor above). This won't cover all needs though, which is why it's just a side note.
It's not friction that prevents you from backdriving it, it's mechanical advantage (or lack thereof). 20:1 ratio means this is like trying to use a level to lift something, but the fulcrum is 20 times closer to you than to the thing you've trying to lift.
Wow! That was fun to watch! I would ABSOLUTELY want to see pulling a car with this! What an amazing device! :-)
Just found your channel and am not only impressed but inspired. And I've seen you're going to college soon.
You have more than the capability to thrive at any ivy league college. *Please don't* they will exhaust you with irreverent "busy-work" and you won't gain as much from their curriculums (as a self-learner). So much so you might lose your special spark. Especially with the "cultures" and horrendous bureaucracy that enshroud them
Personally, I'm at Montana state in Bozeman and they have a great pace for hw, lectures and exams with enough time and freedom to do projects both through the school and independently (atleast for me)
Wherever you choose, please don't try to get the most prestigious, as that doesn't really matter. Just one that you can afford and that allows your mind to be free to learn as you have done already
Second this. My research opportunities paid out dividends, and probably wouldn't have existed at an ivy league.
I think most cycloidal reduction drives have two sets of gears with 180 degree offset lobes. That may reduce your backlash somewhat
The offset lobes won’t reduce backlash. The purpose of the 2nd lobe is to eliminate vibration. Any mechanism which includes an eccentric rotator will have vibration. The 180 degree out of phase counter-rotator cancels it out.
As for backlash, if a cycloid is manufactured with the correct tolerances, there will be zero backlash. All teeth are simultaneously engaged. The lack of backlash is why cycloids and harmonic drives are used in robotic arms. Without the lack of backlash, repeatable, precise positioning is not possible.
Dude, your work is so incredibly inspiring 🦾
Just a note regarding attaching the NEMA23 motor to the black plastic. The screws are intended to be inserted from the back of the motor toward the face of the motor. Epic job btw. I'm going to try building one with a brushless motor. Might might a good servo motor.
Awesome job, like the use of those pins, brill
Beautiful idea an pretty promising mechanism
Completely off-topic from the video, but what camera are you running to record?
10:31 what if put bearing instead of pins? that reduce friction but i dont know if still add torque.
Mist have been great to put the whole thing together
nice work, but I think pins on shafts greatly weaken the shaft by subtracting up to 40% at a crosssection. Grinding a flat spot is much better IMO.
NEMA - National Electrical Manufacturer's Association. Say it with me. _Neema_
Wow, really great video! Love it 😍
I have noticed that you never put any grease or lubricants in your gear systems you would greatly reduce friction and increase produced torque values if you used some grease...
Very good attempt
sir, hayırlı olsun birader, hindistandan selamlar
Very compact and nice 👍🏻 I was thinking to 3D print one but after seeing this I think I’ll go the laser cutting a Delrin sheet instead. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
u need to make it double staged to cancel the wobbling. been there. done it.
what does double staged mean?
@@MM-24 one way is to make the output shaft ot the motor moves the first stage and the output of the first stage moves the second stage but that does not cancel the wobbling ... its like puting two of this devices in line . u get a lot of reduction.
the way wobble got canceled for me was to put two of the center parts of this design ( the one that moves) 180 degrees from each other one above the other. so you dont have the wobbling , its cheaper than the first way i told you , it has less parts but ... you dont get the added reduction of a proper double stage.
chose your destiny...
An easier setting for your nema23 might be an arduino with a cncshield, a drv8825 or better stepper driver and estlcam as control software. Much easier to set up and vary.
I only made a custom drive because I didn't have one lying around. A proper shield/circuit would have been desirable, yes.
@@LeviJanssen it's just the arduino with a "cncshield" for about 10 bucks at aliexpress and a stepper driver like a drv8825 or a tmc2208.
I think some grease will help smooth out the motion. It's common to use things like white lithium grease in airsoft gearboxes that have high torque and plastic/metal components, can hear a difference when properly applied.
14:33 the motor has laggy internet connection
The hole in the square black piece that sits on the motor should have the exact same size as the pilot sticking out of the motor. It's going to be a standard size for any motor of that NEMA 23 size.
Great job! I think not continuous (not smooth) rotation of the output shaft is caused by step rotation of the step-motor multiplied to gear ratio (x20).
divided, not multiplied.....
@@fabricioleinat Right. My mistake
how about some grease inside ? that should help
impressive design :)
Cool video. I would like to see a test on the torque. Thanks for posting.
Those ridges that are supposed to keep things precisely in place should be deburred and cleaned up.
NICE MODIFICATION ,, I HAVE A QUESTION , ON REST WITHOUT POWER SUPLLY HOW MUCH IS RESTING TORQUE OF THAT MOTOR , WILL YOU ABLE TO MOVE MANUALLY ON RESTING SRATE & WITHOUT POWER SUPLY
Great design, interesting.
Thank you
As other people mentioned, you drilled out the wrong holes. The holes in the white piece needed to be bigger
do you have any indication about the wear of the cycloid disc against the steel pins?
If you ever do such a project again think about using the tmc 2209 drivers they will remove all noise and are controllable over a single wire. Cool mechanism tho
Try to design for a 1:10 ratio if you plan to use in robotics. Also the pins inside should be able to rotate as the eccentric wheel pushes and leans on them (not rattle though)... maybe have them on tiny bearings? Also, maybe lubricate the inside of the mechanism...
The clamping on the cnc router gave me chest pains. Great video though 👍
Was looking for this comment.
where's the oil?
what length were the Ø4 pins and what size bearing did you use?
Not the cycloidal great design I was looking for, but still very interesting. I guess I was looking for harmonic gears
I would reccomend using a much shorter endmill on your router, like only a couple mm longer than the thickness of your material. That'll improve the cut quality and reduce chatter
great job
Genius!!! Curious for the lifetime ... Can you run it loaded for a few weeks?
nice design!!
good work mate! love it.
You can fix a non constant rotation speed in software if its repeatable/regular.
In the future, please mention the non-US metrics as well, not only once-inches. Thanks.
Milk of magnesia works well as lube for working with stainless steel.
Don't know if this is a joke or not but what does the MOM do? Prevent galling, (which is the biggest problem when working with stainless)?
@@pierdolio idk what it does but a welding instructor of mine said he used it all the time in the nukes.
looks really cool, I would buy this if I had a use for it
I recently decided to design a 3D printed cycloidal gearbox and throw it on top of a 2300kv brushless motor... After a lot of fiddling, I actually got it to work. I think the ratio was 29:1
It ran for 10 glorious seconds. Then the motor windings burned and the magic smoke came out of the ESC. I think my problem was that the main gear was sitting right on top of the housing. Even though I put some grease in between them the friction was still too high. I was planning on putting some ball bearing between them but I just don't have the time.
They are a bitch to design and manufacture but it's wild how such a compact gearbox can produce 30:1 ratio.
Awesome achievement.
does it move intermittently or it seems to me?
Maybe for a 4th axis for your little CNC?
If you need pins to go thru 2 or more plates, place the plates together and then push the pins thru all of them. Otherwise, when you are pushing the second plate onto the pins that are already inserted into the first, any imbalance will try to bend your pins or wallow the holes they are mounted into.
Your cycloidal disc is eccentric, and mates with your output disc using the four pins. How is it that the output disc does not follow the same path?
Doesn't the cycloidal disk push against the pins such that you're relying on the pin frame not to deflect?
We're you cutting steel with your cnc router? Could we get a tour of your machine?
What is the play angle of the output element?
A perfectly round shaft? What do they expect you to do with that?
How is the backlash on this puppy?
How did you think this was going to work if you have an eccentric element rigidly coupled to a concentric element? Maybe I'm a moron and don't understand how it works, but it seems like the pins should be running in slots, not just put into sized holes
Have you tried a full 3d print version of this build? I suspect it'd be more challenging to get the right tolerances.
Называется "Волновой редуктор". Я видел такие на спутниках, когда работал в космическом производстве в 1991 году. На советских спутниках...
I think two Cycloidal Disc 180-degree offsets will keep the motion smooth
Due to the eccentric nature of the drive, if the cycloidal disk is not balanced by a second disk or a counterweight, it will generate vibrations that propagate through the driven shafts and the body. These increases wear on the exterior teeth of the cycloidal disk and the component bearings. The static imbalance is corrected with two discs, but a small dynamic imbalance remains. This is generally considered acceptable for most applications. To reduce vibration, high-speed drives use three or more discs to correct the imbalance; the outer discs move in unison, in opposition to the middle one, which is twice as massive. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloidal_drive
Great job
Just a curiosity...why didnt you just file a flat? It would of been easier and stronger then weakening the shaft by drilling a hole in it
Use the shortest bit possible when doing steel. Or just sink it as deep as possible in the collet.
can you make all parts with cnc i have cnc but not 3d printer. and can u make detailed video for all parts. please ur design is compact and elegant i want to build this. please can u provide me design dawings if u can.
Holy shit, this is amazing.
What is the reduction ratio of this gearbox?
Hey boss, what about the coilgun ?
How much actual torque can it produce?
You should use tabs for holding your workpiece when cutting aluminum, you get a much better-cutting line and not such a cleanup hassle.
Hey, I really like your build. What kind of aluminium is that? It looks like you should go for higher feeds, the chips are way too tiny.
This way the end mill produces enormous amounts of heat, because it mostly rubs over the surface. It will definitely die sooner than later :)
Also it might make sense to go for holding bridges, which are easier to remove. Just my two cents. Did you make progress with the uneven rotation speed of the gear? How would you consider to fix it? Best
I assumed that rotation is how a stepper motor works anyway. But the reduction of speed is showing it more. Thats and possibly exaggerated by the pins
Based on your wasteboard, I see someone's been making some ear savers.
Could you... use a smaller amount of "loose" pins, and leave space between, so that you could put each pin on a small bearing supporting it at top and bottom, which "should" reduce friction, but also increase load bearing capability as it would need to rub up against an outer wall.