After the discussion on Gearotic earlyer I thought I would share how I design my clocks. It applies to both CNC and laser clocks.
First I cut all my gears with a 1/4 hole for the shaft to start. This way they fit on standard 1/4 bolts.
I start with a platform I built. It has 400 5/16 holes spaced 1/2 on center. With the 1/4" bolt in the 5/16" hole I can mesh just about any gear or gear combination as shown here.
clockgears.jpg
When I cut my gears I also cut several spacers out of the same material. I also have various 1/8" spacers that I cut with my laser.
It thakes me a couple passes working from one end to the other but I eventualy get my train working pretty good.
I also have some pointers shown here that allow me to test the ratios to make sure Im getting the correct revolutions.
This is important as on the last clock I was useing the wroing gear and after marking off my minutes and hours I caught it before I had designed my clock carcas.
This clock has a combined hour and minute gear train (big gear in center) with a seperate second hand. This is the back of the clock. The hands will be attached to the shafts in the front once the carcase is designed.
The upper most wheel is the second sweep and each gear is one second. This makes it easy to drive it with a spring and Escapement, stepper or motor.
Once gear lay it is fixed I go back to corel and remove all but the holes used and I have my cut out for my carcas.
I never make wieght driven clocks. Its very hard to build one that doesnt require winding every one or two days. Believe me no one wants to wind a clock every day. I use spring windings, motors, or other.
Since I now have a CNC and laser I can easily dublocate the designed clock in what ever material I want. This one was built out of MDF just vecause I had a bunch of 1/2" material laying around. If I were doing it with the laser I would cut 4 sheets of 1/8 stock and laminate them or just keep the clock thin if done in acrylic.
Reply With Quote