Just finished the beautiful Crazy Gear Pendulum clock and have it running flawlessly.
I did make one minor change, it is battery orperated. I designed and printed a battery powered weight. I replaced the fish line with a endless loop of 1/8 " ball chain. The weight is powered by a 1000:1 N20 gear motor to operate a small ball chain sprocket with idlers inside the housing. When the weight hits it's lower limit it activates a rack and pinion that tilts a mercury switch. That powers the motor and sends the weight to the top limit where the motor is turned off. I designed a chain sprocket that snapes on to gear 8 (no modifications to that stl file). However, after making a few chain sprockets for gear8 I ended up with a sprocket that was 4.5 inchs in dia. That required that I make a small change to the gear7 ratchet so I could get clearance for the sprocket.
All in all I am very happy with my latest pendulum clock. My daughter saw a photo of it and wants me to make one for her.
Thank you Steve for your beautiful creations and your acute attention to detail.
Leon
Hi Hoppy,
Hope that you are well and still reading this thread.
Just a quick update: All three wind up clocks are still going strong without a battery change.
Are you considering doing the same modification to Steve's SP13 moonphase clock??
If not, would you consider making the ball chain sprocket accessible as anything else but an STL file. I do not have the skills as yet to design one myself in Fusion 360 but might be able to modify the crazy gear unit.
Many thanks
Krys S
Krys,
So happy that the motorized weight is working out for you. I remember I stripped the gears on one of my motors and you are right reduce the weight and take some of the load off the motor. I also loaded the gear box with good quality grease.
I have been spending mose of my time on the Ring Clock I am on number six at this time, making modifications to the design as I go. The Ring Clock is totally electronic with no moving parts and uses LEDs for displaying the time. On my lasest clocks I have added a chime that chimes on the hour the amount of the hour and als a small chime on the quarter hours. The one that I am working on now will also have the local weather in the center of the ring displayed on a four inch color display that receives its data from NTP for the time and OpenWeatherMap for the Weather.
Hoppy
Hi Hoppy,
Hope that you are well.
Just a quick update.
Still going strong after nearly 2 months of running (although one of the N20 drives did strip a gear).
Have now built three of these clocks for family members. With the electric rewind, everybody wants one.
I have played around with the actual weight and can get away without adding any additional weights into your "tanks" on the shell slide. Can run the clock with just the weight of the batteries, motor and other bits and pieces. The total weight is about 320gms with everything included. Just shows how well Steve designed the clock really.
Cheers
Krys S
Hello hoppy, I am very interested in this project and would be happy if I could get access to the STLs.
I have made one more change to the battery operated weight. The chain has slipped on the motor gear on one of my clocks concerning me about the design. So I made a change to the motor gear that allows the ball chain to make a complete rap around the sprocket. This greatly improved the dependability of the sprocket. For those that may be thinking or have built this project, please let me know and I will make the STL file available. If you have completed this project I would highly recommend this update and it can easily be retrofitted .
hoppy
The switch in held in by 2MM screws all the rest are 2.5mm
I was looking at the design and what it will take to get this started and came here. Steve is there any way to add the self winding mod to the download? or post it somewhare, as it would only be useful if you have purchased the original design. I have finished my 9th Crazy gear desk clock and am ready to try this.
Hi Hoppy,
Have now built Steve's SP12 and it is evident that Steve has put lot of effort and it can be seen where he has used the good bits from all of his previous designs. SP12 went together flawlessly and just started ticking away as soon as I put a weight on it.
Now that it is running, I will want to recheck everything and try and get the friction as low as possibe.
Anyway, the thought of making this clock battey operated is extremely interesting to me.
I have a few questions.
I have built a number of Steve's SP8s (Coup Perdou) with the N20 motor. I purchased the motors from a number of different supplier from ebay as well as alliexpress. I have found that the quality of the motor/gearbox is variable. A couple of the builds are still going strong, but one in particular required a motor/gearbox change as one of the gears stripped.
Why did you go for the N20 motor. Is this a good option for long term usability and longevity?
Why did you go for a ball chain option. I would have thought that the winding option that Steve used for SP8 would be more efficient with the weight around the bottom gear.
Krys S
Very nice. I always enjoy seeing modifications made by other builders. Adding an endless loop ball chain probably makes the mechanics inside the shell easier. This clock is fairly efficient. Any idea how long the batteries might last?
You have spurred my interest in this style of self winder. I am curious if bicycle chains would make good chains. They are relatively cheap and the larger sprockets might be easy to print.