bigovereasy

Trick cylindrical rod

Added 2025-05-10 13:35:18 +0000 UTC

Hi everyone!

I think this was one of the first designs I made in Fusion 360. Feels like it was back in the Mesozoic era 🦖. It was easier to spend 10 minutes creating a new one than digging through the archive. As you can see, it’s a simple cylindrical rod with two different symbols 🟢❌ on its ends.

You can perform the following trick with this object: Place it on a flat, hard surface (carpet won’t work for this). Press down on one end of the rod to make it start rotating around its axis. The symbol on the end you initiated the spin from will flicker as it rotates 🪄.

❌ 👇

🟢👇

Now that you know how it works 🎓, you can ask someone to pick a symbol by showing them the rod’s front side. Beforehand, you can roll it in your hands or pretend there’s a hidden secret—like an off-center weight or a magnet inside. Just remember which side has the "X" and which has the "O" before placing it symbol-side down.

The model prints without supports ✅; the symbols are attached using glue 💧.
If preferred, you can skip printing the symbols altogether and simply mark the rod's ends with a black marker instead 🖌️.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/1403216-trick-cylindrical-rod#profileId-1455655

If you're interested, you can try filming this process in slow motion - most modern smartphones have this feature built-in, but remember it requires plenty of light 🌞.