I am going to cut another clock. This time my own design. This is what I have come up with.

Eric

I find all these clocks amazing. I'd not seen them before i found this site, and can't wait to get my mill up and running.....so i can start planning a router! Can't wait to see some finnished pictures:D

I agree with kong. I really like these clocks. I've seen them in 'kit' form before but never made from scratch. Someday I would like to try to make one, too.

front

the other side of the front face. Pockets for the dowel standoffs and shafts.

Eric

the back get cut all the way through.

Very nice!

A few more gears

Eric

small gears and a couple spools.

Eric

Hi Balsaman

I know you said yor last clock ran for 12 hours before a rewind
will this one be different using these gears
BTW real nice work

No.....

One way to get more time would be to use double the weight and a pulley at the weight. The string then goes from the spool, thru the pulley, and tied back on the clock.

Double the string length.

The clocks are for show. I don't run the other clock unless someone want to see if it works.

Eric

Dude great job man I would love to make one.

Finally got around to working on this thing. here are the latest pics. beware, bandwidth challenged...:)

Eric

more

more yet

not another...

oh dear...

mad yet?

last one...Now I need the weight and the pendulum. I will steal these from the other clock.

I think I liked the other one better...

Eric

Oh man, you are killing me! I can hardly wait for my machine to be ready to run!!!!

The parts look great.

Eric, Your clocks look fantastic. How are you holding down the gears when machining them?
What size cutter did you use and how thick are they?

Thanks
T

Eric


Colo clock!

Is that MDF you cut the parts out of?

Thanks
Barbwire Bill

bigger gears flop around once cut. the little ones were held with a bolt in the center hole.

Yes, MDF.

I didn't like the looks of this one so it's sitting unfinished. :(

Eric

Eric,
Your clock is very cool, I wonder what the gray pvc or other plastic would be like... hummm.
Must get finished mini mill and start on Router.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Ed

It is neat and also inspirational and it does help to motivate me. chris

Awesome!
Keep the pictures flowing!!!!!!

Ditto !

On your 2nd machine, you have lined up two of those THK bearing blocks next to each other on either side of the machine.

Do your blocks allso have a grease-nipple, and if so, can you still reach them now that they seem to be well hidden? And do you use them more often now that MDF-dust might be building up?

Today i was unpacking my newly aquired bearing blocks, and they all have some sort of extention on wich i can screw a grease gun or something similar. I have two blocks per rail and the grease nipples on the blocks are facing eachother. The connections are at a 90 degree angle, so in future accessable from below or from above. whatever i choose.

Thanks for taking your time on this.

Ed.

Guys,

If you look at the first post on this thread it's quite old. These were done of my first machine. If you search for "clock" you can probably find the first clock I made by cnc last winter. Glad you like the clock. Maybe I should finish it sometime. I intend to make a hardwood one this winter.

I washed the grease out of my bearing blocks before I assembled the machine. IMHO grease and dust are not a good combo. I run them dry. I have no idea if this is good for them or not.....time will tell. No problems so far.

Eric

Awsome clock!!!!!! That is sweet!!!


Doug

If anyone is interested, here is the other thread I refered to.
http://www.cnczone.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228&highlight=

Eric

Eric,

I was looking on that UK clock site and was interested in clock #4. In the last page on his PDF file about it. It says on #6

"The clock is adjusted for accuracy by moving the Foliot weights in or out along Foliot until the best accruacy is achieved. Please note that the clock will never be more accurate than 1 hour per day."

Is this correct! The clock is off by one hour every day?! This makes it pretty useless as a CLOCK!

Was yours not accurate as well?

Without spending a single minute trying to make it more accurate, mine was within a few minutes a day.

Eric

Eric,

nice job! it looks as though you're machining both sides of a part for the 'Pockets for the dowel standoffs", is that right? if so how are you holding the the part to keep your accuracy?

Andrew

That's a good question, and to be honest, I cant remember. I think I used two holes to mount the part to my table. The part was centered between mounting holes. I cut the pockets first, then flipped the part and cut the numbers and cut the part out.

Something like that.

Eric

Is there a place on the internet for the plans for these clocks, I've been looking at doing several different projects and this one looks kick @$$. I'd be interested to see one made out of birdseye maple. Metal and synthetic materials are good but there's just something about the grain of wood. Keep up the good work.

www.woodenclocks.co.uk/

There are also plans for a clock at http://www.pathcom.com/~u1068740/ that has a downloadable dwg file. also alot of explanations for clock movements.

Seeing balsamans clock has made want to build one too.

I've got a Fine Woodworking compilation book laying around somewhere with an old article on making wooden clocks. Amazon has it here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/156158018X/qid=1071198561/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-4358667-2094520?v=glance&s=books

Gerry

Originally posted by HomeCNC
Eric,

I was looking on that UK clock site and was interested in clock #4. In the last page on his PDF file about it. It says on #6

"The clock is adjusted for accuracy by moving the Foliot weights in or out along Foliot until the best accruacy is achieved. Please note that the clock will never be more accurate than 1 hour per day."

Is this correct! The clock is off by one hour every day?! This makes it pretty useless as a CLOCK!


Keeping and displaying accurate time is only one function of a clockwork mechanism...and the current obsession with sub-seconds accuracy is just that...current. The foliot design is a VERY old design, and getting "near" the correct time was good enough, centuries ago. Even Harrison's H4, which easily matched the accuracies of today's mechanical watches (quartz are more accurate, still), are not accurate to sub-seconds.

Anyway, a clock is only as accurate as its regulator -- this can be a balance wheel (watch and some clocks) a pendulum (most other clocks) or a verge and foliot.

The foliot is a notoriously bad regulator...it functions like a very massive version of a balance wheel, but with a very long period, during which any number of things can affect it. It's the first mechanical regulator that was invented, though, and it was accurate enough to time prayer bells for monks. It's also a very striking feature of a mechanical clock, with the "horns" swinging magestically back and forth. OK, so I'm a bit of a romantic... :-)

Realistically, a foliot cannot be expected to keep time to a level any better than a few minutes per day, maybe a quarter hour for one that is badly regulated. They're bad regulators, but they're not *that* bad...

Just do a google search on "verge and foliot accuracy" and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/huygens/page2.asp

-- Chuck Knight

balsaman,
I just downloaded the DXF files for clock1, but the files are all 2D graphs. How can I convert them to 3D solids so I can generate toolpaths?

No need. Cut them 2 D. That is what I did.

Eric

You can get free plans in dxf format from my website.
http://www.pathcom.com/~u1068740/index.html

Hey woodman13 - Balsaman -
Any ideas on what changes are required to make a 24 hour clock version of the same setup?
Looking for 4 minutes per degree of sweep on the "hour" hand. It would be pointing to the Solar Grenwich Hour Angle (for those sailors/navigators out there) and the "minute hand" could sweep over the 4 minute period. Any idea on the changes in the gearing to do that?
Sort of surprised that that type of chronometer hasn't sparked some activity.
The "NET" - New Earth Time - is really the 'old' earth time.
cheers - Jim

A 24 hour clock should be easy to do.

It's just gear ratios.

On most clocks there is a shaft that turns once every 60 minutes. This is called the second hand.

A second shaft turns at a 12 to 1 ratio to this shaft. It makes one revolution every 12 hours and is refered to as the hour hand.

So you just have to increase the ratio to 24 to 1 and voila a 24 hour clock.

Hope this helps.

Do you mind if I add some of your pic to my website Balsaman?
gary

feel free :)

eric

Woodman,

I stole your "spokes" and added them to Brian laws gears for my clocks. Thanks!

Eric

OK, I'm hooked!!
I just found this site a few minutes ago and already you have changed my assperations.
I'm in the process of building my CNC router/ engraver. Have all the bearings, ball lead screws, steppers and control board. Just waiting for my power supply.
You see, my wife collects clocks and, although I migrate to more creative things, her interests have rubbed off on me a bit.
Although I've seen this clocks before, I had never thought of actually making the parts and building one.
This is exciting (my wife is actually going to think that this 'hobby' is a pretty good idea).
You'll be hearing from me.
Thanks
Alex

HI i started one a gear clock out of a scroll saw mag from last year ,it is surpose to be a 30hr clock,my problem is cutting birch plywood nasty crap to cut .the 1/8 bits burn up quick ive tryed carbide & high speed steel .if any one has a ideal let me know ,im running a diy cnc router with a 1hp bouch router mounted with vcarve pro.ive played with feeds & speeds ,also single tooth bits to 4 flute carbide.mdf mite be the way to go ,cause you said somthing about only winding the clock to show some one it works.

HI i started one a gear clock out of a scroll saw mag from last year ,it is surpose to be a 30hr clock,my problem is cutting birch plywood nasty crap to cut .the 1/8 bits burn up quick ive tryed carbide & high speed steel .if any one has a ideal let me know ,im running a diy cnc router with a 1hp bouch router mounted with vcarve pro.ive played with feeds & speeds ,also single tooth bits to 4 flute carbide.mdf mite be the way to go ,cause you said somthing about only winding the clock to show some one it works.

Hi KLR,

I do my experimentation using cheap 5mm birch plywood from Home Depot. It has 3 inner plys of a relatively hard wood (possibly doug fir) surrounded by 2 very thin birch outer layers. True baltic birch plywood is much more uniform. All layers are birch, so it has less of a tendancy to warp. It also costs about 5X more, but overall the cost is small compared to the time invested.

I use cheap 1/8" 2 flute spiral upcut carbide endmills that I got from Enco for around $3-$4 each. They are probably rated for cutting metal, but they do OK on wood. I get better results with cutters designed for wood, but they seem to cost around $10 or more. I probably get around 30-60 minutes of cutting time per bit. The edges start getting really fuzzy when the bit starts getting dull. It takes a bit longer before it starts to burn.

I also use a Bosch Colt trim router. I cut around 30 inches per minute at a speed setting somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of max. I would like to make some adjustments to my machine to get the cutting speeds up to around 60 inches per minute.

Steve