SP14 Run Time
I have the SP14 large moon phase clock. It's been running beautifully for several weeks with time accurate within a minute or two. The only issue I've noticed with the clock is the runtime. I only get about 6 days between windings, not the 7.8 days mentioned in the instructions. It's not a big deal, but I'm just curious.
The clock is hung at the recommended height. I did have to use 1 shell extension to add a bit more weight in the beginning. There is still cord left on the winding spool, so that shouldn't be an issue. Any thoughts?
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Paul,
THis may give you some ideas from a beginner.
Before I built clock 16 I considered a wood gear clock. In the process I YouTube'd the complex tweaking of wood gears necessitated by small irregularities in gears that causes them to jam when the various gears are in specific relationships. Two or three tiny warps meet -- and then it stops. Plastic doesn't have that problem -- or shouldn't. But plastic is not perfect. My first trial assembly wasn't satisfactory. When I spun the gears on the arbor, they might make a small clicking noise, or rub too much. Or spin for five seconds, not ten. I disassembled it, removed the plastic glazing on some gear-to-gear mating faces, cleaned the holes, washed the sticky bed adhesive, and finished the surfaces of the tiny spacers. After two or three evolutions of that process everything spun easily during the testing..No wobble No noise could be heard. No vibration at 10 RPM.. I had it running on the weight of 6000 BBs and $2 of quarters. (3 pounds?) Two days. Perfect. I moved it (took it on a trip.) THen it became inconsistent..
The hour hand was squeezed too close to the frame. Fixed that. Perfect. Then the minute hand.bumped against the hour hand. Like FLynt, after the road trip I had a problem with the line wrappiing on itself if I removed the weight. I needed to unwrap the spool to clear the wrap. (Lot of tedious work.)
Make sure the pulley on the weight shell turns easily. My weight shell sufferend a tiny misprint just above the pulley axle. One side shifted about 1/2mm. Just enough to squeeze the pulley -- which decreases the effective weight reaching the clock drum a small amount. I shaped the pulley by removing a small amount of plastic until it spun freely.
This may give you ideas.