Lego Clock Escapement W12.1

W12 improved.
Two identical wheels are mounted on the same axis face to face, but one is rotated by 90 deg. with respect to the other. Each 6-hole wheel (pulley) carries 6 4x1 thin (rounded) spokes (grey), attached with black pegs to the wheel and secured by 6 3x1 thin black parts. To each spoke is connected a red 6x2 thin piece. The anchor is between the wheels. The thread is wound on a pulley (like those on the seconds hand); the driving weight is 60 g.
The last shot shows my(?) solution to the tilted clock problem: the anchor and the pendulum (red) are not rigidly connected; their mutual orientation can be fine tuned with an angular spacer (yellow)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• W12.1
• lego
• clock
• escapement
• pendulum
• echappement
• hemmung
• uhr
• horloge
• orologio

[merijnvanwouden]

Hi ben, i'm making a cat feeder and i need to make a horizontal clock mechanism for it. I know you always make vertical ones(the logical option), but i don't have space for that. It shouldn't be much higher than 4 cm. Do you know how i can make a horizontal pendulum?

thanks

[BenVanDeWaal]

There are no horizontal pendulae. The only alternative is to use a balance and spring mechanism, as in a (portable) watch, but that is difficult to make with lego. If no high precision is required you can use a simple (lego) electromotor and find the right combination of gears to reduce its rpm to what you need. Success!

[KEvronius]

your solution got me to thinking, and i've come up with two other ways to resolve tilt issues.

1) offset the pendulum. instead of a straight pendulum arm, put a kick in it, to the left or right, as needed. the higher you place the kick, the more pronounced the effect.

2) unbalance the pendulum bob. add weight to one side of the bob, and it will lean the arm to the other side.

KEvron

[BenVanDeWaal]

I did that already, but my present solution appears the best to me.

[Claydog42]

ur getting close to makeing the reliable clock

[kingofthebacon]

nice

[merijnvanwouden]

Hi,

You always use vertical pendulums, but are there also horizontal ones? I'm making a cat feeder for my girlfriend(her cat has a weak stomach and therefore needs to eat several small meals a day)

My cat feeder is a cilinder with segments, where she can put the food in in the morning. There is a circle on top, leaving blank one segment, and that circle should rotate slowly, on a mechanism in the bottom of the feeder.

That's why i want a horiztontal clock. Do you know how i could do that?

thanks

[legoclockfreak710]

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH ALL THESE!

[KEvronius]

i'm using the addition of weight in conjuction with your solution. the longer you make the attached arm, the more precisely you can adjust the tilt, but i wanted to keep it as short as possible, so i use the weight to fine tune the swing.

i think, with the right design - say, a tilt of 30 to 45 degrees - a crooked arm could make for an interesting effect.

KEvron

[KEvronius]

"The last shot shows my(?) solution to the tilted clock problem:"

ben, i think you've just solved the problem i've been having with my 40t gear escapement. i'll work on it tomorrow and let you know the results.

KEvron