Ball Bearing Clock

Good job Kim!! The clock is running well. I hope mine does the same!!

Mine is about 3/4 printed and the largest bit is on the printer as we speak!! (Top ball run)

I have had a lot of trouble with the printing as my machines are all quite old and well used, but it is coming along pretty good now and I should be able to assemble it late next week. I didn't start the project until I found the ball bearings and I only got them a couple of weeks ago.

Mine has a name already. My wife said I should call it Patches as I used up a bunch of part rolls of filament so it is a clock of many colours!



Cheers

This is the last 3d print project I will be doing and once the clock is running and there are no more parts to print, I will be donating all the printers and whatever material is left. That is the main reason for using all the part rolls instead of buying all new filament for the clock. It won't get seen by many people anyway so to me the main thing is that it works. I have two other of Steve's clocks that are built but refuse to run and they are being taken over by a friend that enjoys a challenge.

The pendulum clock that I did has been running faithfully for over three years now. As long as I wind it, it runs.

I am also trying to find a home for the beam engine diorama that John Madill and I built between us. It is the subject of one of John's build threads here  It would have to stay in Canada as I don't do borders but I just want it looked after.

Cheers

You're making good progress, Tom! 

I had a box of parts that looked a LOT like yours! 

I'm sure you'll get it to work.

Sorry to hear you'll be getting rid of your printer.  They can lead to a lot of fun projects and many diversions.  Hope you have other things lined up to entertain yourself with 

Kim

This is likely kinda ballsy of me to say, but:

Kool Klock Kim! 

Quote from: bentThis is likely kinda ballsy of me to say, but:

Kool Klock Kim! 

Maybe the headline for your clock completion could be "Spheroids on a spiral solve timekeeping troubles" 

Big 3D print project to build that one Kim! Looking great! 

Only three more pieces to print and then the assembly will begine.

Can't wait to see it! 

Kim

Hi Kim, how is your ball bearing clock running now and is it fairly accurate?

I may have to reprint a couple of frame parts as they seem to have a bit of a warp in them now that I have started assembly.

Cheers

A few of my earlier printed frame parts lifted a little on ends.  I raised the temp on the bed by 5{sup]o[/sup] and that seemed to help keep the long pieces more securely fastened.  I used Sunlu filament and this is the first time I've ever used Sunlu.  It seemed to work well, other than that.  But I went with Sunlu because they had the silk blue and gold colors that I wanted.  And the tan.  I've mostly used Hatchbox in the past, but they didn't seem to have much variety of filament available when I was looking.

Anyway, the  Sunlu worked well once I upped the bed temp.  And other than that slight warping on some of the frame parts, everything else seemed to come out really flat.  The gears don't have any wobble.  And once I got all the frame parts screwed together, it seemed pretty good.

I'm still dialing in the pendulum, but yes, it is keeping pretty good time.  I'm maybe gaining a minute or so per day, but I keep backing off on the rating nut and it's getting closer.  It seems pretty consistent, which is good.

I hope you don't have to reprint too many parts.  The design seems to be fairly forgiving. But in the end, the gears will have to mesh up, so the gears can't be too warped!

I printed all the frame parts in the Prusa slicer's 'speed' mode, but the gears were all printed in 'structural'.  It took me a little over a week to print all the parts and I kept the printer going nearly 24 hours a day when I was doing it.  My little Mk4is is a workhorse.

Kim

All this clock printing reminded me I printed out the big moon clock last winter but never put it together.  All the 3D printed parts were ready to go in a box, but for some reason just one of the gears warped badly, probably around 1/4" out and was not usable.  I started to get out the heat gun and then thought of a better way.  I just weighted the gear down against the printed bed and cranked up the heat to 70 or 75.  Let it soak at that temp and then shut it down and let the gear cooldown under the weight.

It worked perfectly and I was able to salvage the gear.  Maybe this will help.  The gear was printed in PLA.

That was brilliant!   

The Moon clock looks pretty neat too.  I'm considering making that one too

Kim

Kim, I too had a bit of lifting on the first few long frame pieces and I solved it by changing the bed temperature a bit. There are only three that are slightly out of shape so we will see.  I also resorted to using a brim on some of the larger pieces to help stop them from lifting.

I originally used Creality/Ender filament as it was available locally and I could just get it as I needed it along with my other hobby supplies but over time they dropped some of the colours I liked and also the price shot up so I looked for alternatives. My filament of choice now is Jayo pla as it comes in Bone White which is my colour of choice as well as quite a few colours in the matt finish that I like. I had stopped using Amazon after several bad/missing deliveries but I have found I can have orders sent to a very local computer shop and pick them up there and it is much better.

Krypto, you just reminded me that I have the files for both the large and small Moon Phase clocks. I had started one and do to illness it got put away ... in a box I did not know was marked "Trash". Her That Allows Me To Play was helping when I was ill and that box went to where it was labelled to go so I need to start over if I decide to do that

The final part has 15 minutes to finish printing and then I will start the assembly.

Cheers

Assembly has begun ...

Looking good! 

It's a big beast, isn't it? 

Kim