Not to be a downer, but threaded options are nonstarters, you’ll be spinning these joints (technically you’re making a gimbal, not a gyroscope), and as you spin it the threads will work in or out of the material. Look for something else.
Also, if you want it to spin freely, then you probably need to consider that too. If you could join them with magnetic spheres, that would be almost ideal, very low friction and easy to assemble in theory.
That being said, gimbals have been made at all sizes for hundreds of years. There’s someone out there who has done this already. The tricky part will be searching for it and not getting too many camera gimbal results.
Not taking it as a downer at all. I was thinking more of a tube that has a smooth outside and a threaded inside. No threads on the outside to worry about. I posted an example of a few in an image above. Could even use eye pins and bend out the ends. It does not need to be complex. i would hate to over engineer something that there may be a simpler solution for. That’s why getting tons of different ideas in this thread are great. Even if I don’t use them all they could be a great solution to another project in the future. Love the gimbal concept. And yes searching for it leads to more DJI and Camera products than anything else haha
Spin-out can be solved very easily. Most of the time I do it by sizing the holes so that the screw doesn’t get loaded with enough force to turn it. You just have to make sure the threaded portion holds the threads tighter than the non-threaded clearance hole. A bearing, such as the crimp tubes suggestion, works really well for this. As does a little glue on the threads when installing it. Sizing your holes properly also allows the parts to free-spin.
Eyeglasses screws often have a smooth shoulder, which is one reason I recommended them.
You won’t find binding screws/posts that small. They are too expensive to make, and at that size the threads start to deform the material instead of cut into it during manufacturing.
If you do a search for mini or micro ball bearings, you’ll find 1mm inner diameter, 3mm outer diameter ball bearings. Use a micro drill and bit with a steady hand or some other way to hog out mm amounts of wood, then screw through the next layer or glue a rivet from one ring into the bearing from one direction or the other and you’ve got your gyroscope.
Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions! This is like a brainstorming session thats full documented. I’ll post updates here with what I am going forward with. Just ordered a whole bunch of options to test out
