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Clockwork

Dec. 2021 - June 2023

Context:

As a sophomore, I wanted to build a clock and gathered a group of 3 others to design a custom-made, weight-driven mechanical clock from scratch.

Skills:

  • Solidworks

  • Gear design

  • 3D printing

Preparation: 

Before even starting the project, we needed to establish our goals:

  • Build a fully mechanical clock (non-electronic)

  • Use gravity and pendulum to power it

  • Have the gears visible

  • Learn as much as we can (including how clocks even work)

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We began with the most important part: Learning how clocks work. During our research, we identified critical subassemblies and modeled them in Solidworks:

  • Ratcheting mechanism (for the weight to power the clock and reset it)

  • Pendulum (to provide the actual timing)

  • Gear train (to get the correct clock-hand ratios)

Screenshot_20230108_011837.png

What We Accomplished: 

  • Made a spreadsheet to calculate all possible gear sizes based on diametrical pitches (DP)

  • Designed the clock to be able to fit all the gears on 2 axles

  • CAD modeled the entire system in Solidworks

  • Switched our original plan of making all the gears out of metal to making it out of wood, to 3D printing most components

  • Built the clock with working gear ratios and a ratcheting mechanism

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My contributions: 

  • Thought of the project idea and brought together the team

  • Brought together clock designs and resources to reference and learn from

  • Determined the gear ratios we needed for 2 axle configuration

  • CAD modeled the gears and incorporated gear spacers

  • 3D printed all parts and ordered the wood frames

  • Scheduled and set the team meetings and agenda

  • Divided tasks and balanced each member's busy schedules

Lessons learned:

  • Learned how to use a 3D printer and how to print multipart items such as chains

  • Recognized early on that laser cutting for this would be best, but we had no access to the tool

  • Gained a better understanding of how clocks and gears are designed

  • Realized that we should have calculated the estimated weight needed to power the clock before building the entire thing and relying on "oh, we can just find a heavy-enough object later" without taking into consideration the strength of the material as we changed the design from metal to wood to PLA. 

  • Got practice on how to more effectively organize meetings and manage the group project schedule

  • Practiced adapting to challenges and changing the scope/aspects of the project to make it succeed

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