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SP5B - 8 day mode

Hi Steve, firstly thank you for your amazing clock design! I've had fun building the SP5B in 8 day mode, but had some issues.

With a fully assembled test, sometimes it goes for 12 hours, sometimes for only 20 minutes, every time I start it again it seems to be random, but it's never been more than 12 hours. The pendulum swings around 2 to 3 degrees in either direction with a 2 Kg weight hinging directly without the pulley.

Sometimes I get the feel that it runs better after I've taken it all apart and put back together, or if I push the gears up or down on their arbours and start it again.

With the pendulum not connected to the escapement, it swings for around 6-7 minutes before stopping completely, I've tried 3 different types of bearings and tried IPA and white spirit to clean them that that's…

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26 days ago

SP14 report and question

Hi,

This is my first post and my first clock build:https://youtube.com/shorts/0S7IOCwYK3c?si=sIRYi_Ioy__q2pka

First of all, it was amazing to get it working. The ticking sound is fantastic. It’s been running for about 5 days now. It’s hard to measure precision exactly yet, but it’s definitely within single digit seconds per day.

A couple of things I did slightly differently from the manual:

I printed the frame back standoff in ABS, just to remove any concerns about sagging and PLA brittleness.
I also discovered “super-bearings.” They’re slightly more expensive, but given how many hours we spend on these projects, an extra $20 doesn’t seem excessive:

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Slava Kuznetsov

Dec 16, 2025

The moon is indeed moving, I just didnt have enough patience to measure day to day shifts. Overall everythins works great, weight is 7.7 lb, could probably reduce it but too lazy to touch it :) Probably an overkill for a first project, but worked out great. Thank you!

bernhard.pszola

28 days ago

SP14 - Assembly of Gear 9

Hi Steve,

I am about to build SP14 - the large moon phase clock.

When trying to set up gear 9, the M3x8mm screw in gear 9b_5 cannot be screwed in tightly enough to fasten gear 9_5 to the 1.5mm arbor. The thread in the gear is not stable enough. I printed gear 9b again with 7 perimeters and an infill of 40% (cubic), but that couldn't be fastened either.

Do you have any suggestion how to print gear 9b_5 so that the screw can be tightened sufficiently?

Kind regards from Germany

Bernhard

55 Views

Steve

Dec 13, 2025

The first question is why your screws are loose and mine fit as expected? I use the default extrusion settings for generic PLA in PrusaSlicer. There are parameters for filament diameter and the extrusion multiplier, but I have never adjusted them. The results have been working well for me with several different filament types.

Have you tried different filaments? Gear9b_5 is small enough that it should be quick to test with other filaments.

Other things to try would be to experiment with the extrusion multiplier or the XY Size Compensation parameter.

Another trick used by woodworkers is to add a drop of superglue to the hole, let it dry, then assemble the component. This adds a thin layer of glue to make the hole tighter. The arbor hole might need to be drilled out again for the proper fit.

btw: what printer, slicer, and filament brand are you using? Also, did you need to drill out the arbor holes? Or were the arbors already loose right after printing? My CAD files always start with slightly oversized holes, but the printed result is always undersized, and every hole needs to be drilled out for the proper fit.

sinayjd

November 30, 2025

SP4B Help

Hi Steve, I'm in the process of building the SP4B but am having some on going issues. I printed this as a 17 day clock, get about 8.5 min on the pendulum free swing test, and used about 7.5 lb of weight. All of my gears spin freely on the arbors and I'm using bearings everywhere I can which I cleaned out more than once with alcohol. When I first setup the clock it ran great but would stop about once per day randomly, it would re-start right away. Each day it ran less and less until it wouldn't run at all after a re-start During the trouble shooting for that I re-cleaned my bearings ( I used WD40 Dry Lube which seemed to gum up after a few days) but that did not solve the issue. I removed the escapement and let the weight free fall and in doing…

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Steve

Nov 30, 2025

If the escapement stops spinning between ticks, the clock will likely stop running. The escapement interfering with the pallet also sounds like the escapement is not spinning fast enough. A deadbeat escapement has a very short duration to impart energy to the pallet and pendulum. The escapement must start rotating instantly.

Things to check are listed in the debug section of the manual. The gears spin easily on the arbors. Make sure they also spin easily after mounting in the frame. There needs to be a small amount of end shake or side play. This is especially true for the central arbor and the escapement arbor in this clock.

It is also possible that some filament types are stickier than others. They can usually still get them to work by lubricating the pinion teeth with dry lube or even lithium grease. Only a tiny bit is needed. I usually apply grease using a toothpick and wipe most of it off so only a thin layer remains.

17 day mode with 7.5lbs is fairly aggressive for this clock. Reducing to a shorter duration might be needed as a last resort. This will give more energy to help the escapement spin faster.

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