Electromagnetic pendulum

http://www.stephenhobley.com

First experiments with an electromagnetic pendulum.

The pickup coil (a steel bolt with about 100 turns of enameled wire) picks up the passing of the magnetic pendulum. This is then fed into a microprocessor that energizes the coil just long enough to give the pendulum a push.

This is the basis for the next clock I build on the new CNC.

(The Arduino is included purely for blog cred...)

Now I just need to design a suitable escapement...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Pendulum
• electromagnetic
• clock
• escapement
• arduino

[lightharp]

dude, you read my mind! i've been thinking of building something very similar to this, but my idea involved using a reed switch or even a mercury switch to drive the electromagnet directly, thereby eliminating the need for for power step-up circuitry and allowing the microcontroller to read the pendulum's motion completely passively. way cool! now i'm gonna look like a copycat, but you've inspired me to follow through on it! :D

[shobley]

@lightharp I wouldn't worry about that - electromagnetic pendulums have been around for a while. So I copied at least a dozen other people. ;-) I just want my clock to work better!

[sanity599]

I am working on something similar. I am putting magnets around the outside of a plastic pipe at every 90 degrees, maybe 45 if I get enough clearance from the hall effect sensors. There are two sensors. When the first one detects a field it turns on the electro magnets to pull the permanent magnets of the pipe. When both sensors fire it turns off the electro magnets. When only the second sensor fire the electro mags reverse polarity to push the pipe.

[ImpracticalGeeks]

nice job i am about to post the same type of video on my channel within 3 hours

[mandtpriceATgmailcom]

love the xkcd reference!

[lightharp]

@shobley sweet. yeah, i think we're on the same wavelength here - not trying to break any new ground necessarily; just build something cool for the sake of doing it. ;?)

[Tab54o]

geeze man you make a lot of stuff.