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I'm building the Coup Perdu but the shaft of the motor I ordered is too short and I am having trouble finding one that has the 1000:1 gear reduction with a longer shaft. Does anyone have a link to one they bought that worked? Is there a different N20 motor that will work that is more readily available?
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I added stl files to Printables. Clock has been functioning without any problems or issues for a week.
Low profile, I run a 1rpm 12 vdc gear motor contuniously from wall wart power supply. It is silent and runs cool. At first I ran it from a 12v 3000mah battery, I didn't charge or keep track of how long it ran off of battery but it opperated for quite some time.
https://www.printables.com/model/1827761-top-drive-for-daves-rolling-ball-clock
Created stl in printables if anyone wants to give it a try.
https://www.printables.com/model/1827819-rolling-ball-clock-base-mounted-gearmotor
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I wasn't going to make a third rolling ball clock, I don't have anyplace to put them. But there is plenty of stuff available to print for Halloween - bats, ghosts, and pumpkins. I think an orange/black color combination would be very sharp.
I'm building a base mounted gear motor for the ball lift drive and don't want to convert one of my current clocks. A Halloween clock will be a great present for the grand kids.
That is also my problem, I enjoy making things, especially Steve's clocks, but what do you do with them? Not everyone wants a hanging wall clock, so the desk clocks are better.
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I think i discovered the underlying cause of inconistency in Compact Clock #16: It is the long plastic snout that drives the hour hand. Gear #6. It pushes through the front frame. I'm thinking it has a lot of friction simply rotating through the frame, plastic on plastic. Then I must push the hour hand and the minute hand onto that plastic shout. The "push" required to mount the hands translated into displacing the arbor inside the frame. Or, I pushed the hands on, the pulled the "back" a bit, and that left compression inside. The gears which spun easily then were compressed and thus stoped turning smoothly. The clock seemed to run at 1/2 speed even though the pendulum ticked at the normal rate. This may have been the surprise -- the friction clutch is slipping because there really is too much friction. It's not the clutch. It's the compression of Gear…
Those are all good points. This clock is unique in that many gears share a small number of arbors. This required several spacers or other methods to prevent one gear from pushing against another gear.
Pushing the hour hand onto gear 6 can certainly have the side effect of disturbing the position of some of the spacers. Maybe I should change the assembly guide to add gear 6 and the hour hand to the front dial as one of the pre-assembly steps. Then the hour hand would already be installed when gear 6 and the dial get added.
I usually leave gear 6 and the hour hand in place when I take my clocks apart. Making this the default assembly process might eliminate one risk factor.
Glad to hear you have your clock working properly. Once everything is tuned up, SP16 is one of the more reliable clocks.
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Have had this clock running for about 3-4 days with a stepper motor.
I took Steve's circuit from the Crazy Gear Desk clock, took out the real time clock and wrote some code to control, speed, on time and off time.
Currently have the drive running at 6rpm with a duty cycle of 2 minutes for every 20 minutes. Seems to be working really well.
I used your idea, but when I went to order the 1RPM motor it had a very long lead time, so I ordered the 2RPM one. I initially used a 5V power brick and it worked fine. I realized that the speed can be too fast, as the only thing that happens is the balls will get to the top quicker, so went back to a 12V supply. I let it run all of the time and the balls are almost always at the top. The motor makes no noise and the design is very simple - a motor and power. It would be difficult to convert to battery powered. I'm also using the 12V to power another motor that applies a small amount of thrust to the large ball drop. This added force is what is keeping my clock from stalling.
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My second railroad theme rolling ball clock, runs absolutely great. 1 RPM gear motor. No winding, just runs great.
Looks great. Would really like to see a video. are you going to add the motor cover to your design on Printables?
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HI, have completed the clock, love it, ran well for the first day, was very excited. Now it stops, so back to the garage.
If I have more than 6 or 7 balls in the top of the clock the clock stops. I have checked the friction in the clock, and the minute hand rotates at 14.7 sec, without the pallet.
The clock works well without the pallet and 100 balls in the top ball rack.
Any Suggestions.
My clock has almost no friction with 6-7 balls or a full top rack loaded. Can you tell where the friction is coming from? I would like to find a solution.
As for the clock stopping, what does the escapement look like when the clock stops? Does it move quickly when you move the pendulum from side to side? Or is it sluggish? If it is related to top ball ramp friction, then the clock may be starved for power.
If the escapement still has good energy, how long is the pendulum free swing test?
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Have SP17 running very well, however, I do seem to have slippage in the wire clutch setup. I seen that a few people have had this problem.
Any hints how to make the clutch "stronger".
Cheers
Krys S
Hi Steve,
The clock stopped last night at this position. The balls are 3/4inch chrome. They did have a thin oil coating which I wiped off.
Hope that this is enough info.
Cheers
Krys S
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Printed with a bunch of leftover colours to clean up the shelf.
It worked well right off the bat with no pen
dulum but refused to work with it, so, I did what all intrepid makers do ... broke down and read the instructions! Now it just needs some run in time and tweaking.
Cheers
Great looking clock. It even matches the tablecloth.
Testing the clock without the pendulum is a good first check. It helps break in the components and gives you an indication of overall dynamic friction. Clocks are sensitive to static friction as well. This gets tested by the start/stop action of the escapement.
Add the pendulum and slowly move it from side to side. The escapement should start spinning instantly when the pallet tips clear the escapement. If the escapement is sluggish, then there could be high static friction somewhere. You could try lubricating the pinion teeth with a thin layer of grease to see if it improves.
Also the escapement should have equal action in both directions. Make sure the table is level. Add playing card shims under corners until a ball can rest in the lower tray without rolling. You may need to remove the tablecloth until you get the clock working. The side screws on the pendulum arm can be used to adjust the beat if needed. As Andrew mentions, they should start in the middle of the adjustment range on both sides.
Both of these issues are related to the escapement characteristics. A 10 second video showing a closeup of the escapement can often help pinpoint where to focus the next debug effort.
I used this one and it works great. Considerable Fiddling was required with the flapper to get a configuration that was properly weighted and would drop every time. Ended up Supergluing a penny to the back of the flapper which works great. Clock runs very well and gains about 10 seconds a week.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09DG3GCGK?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title