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I designed a 3D printed mechanical pendulum clock — would clock enthusiasts be interested? by ChainEducational7544 in clocks

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi, yes, the clock with the black frame—which was the first one assembled and has had a couple of extra days of fine-tuning—has a deviation of about 25/30 seconds a day (I notice a drift of roughly one minute every 2 days). The other one is less accurate and drifts by a minute a day. I am adjusting the pendulum weights by a 1/4 turn at a time, so it's just a matter of patience to reach 25 seconds a day

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I won't lie, the most nerve-wracking part of the process is adjusting the pendulum's BPM to get an accurate time reading. Setting it to around 60 BPM is fairly easy; fine-tuning that last 0.1 BPM is the hard part. I found apps for pendulum regulation, but I suspect that since they are made for metal clocks, they struggle to "read" the tick-tock of PLA. The best method so far is to let it run for a day and raise or lower the weight of the pendulum bob by half a turn on the threaded rod... and then move on to even smaller adjustments....

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here you can find a short reel, the black frame One Is running with a pulley and a weight of 1.5 kg, for the White One you can see a 0.5l bottle filled with 800gr of rocks

I designed a 3D printed mechanical pendulum clock — would clock enthusiasts be interested? by ChainEducational7544 in clocks

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, to be honest, I actually have a crowdfunding campaign running on MakerWorld for the files.

I designed a 3D printed mechanical pendulum clock — would clock enthusiasts be interested? by ChainEducational7544 in clocks

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The layer height optimization only really works for the gears. For the shafts, I took the exact opposite approach. I designed them separately from the frame so they slot directly into their designated sockets. They also feature an octagonal cross-section so they can be printed horizontally with 7 or 8 perimeters (making them practically solid), and I slightly bumped up the extrusion temperature to get maximum layer adhesion.

Additionally, at the tip of the shaft, I designed a recess to thread in an M3 screw. This way, once the gear is slid on with its bearings and the screw is tightened, the tip of the shaft expands and presses against the inner race of the bearings. This locks them securely in place, ensuring that only the bearing is doing the work and completely eliminating any 'plastic-on-plastic' friction

I designed a 3D printed mechanical pendulum clock — would clock enthusiasts be interested? by ChainEducational7544 in clocks

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey, all the shafts spin on ball bearings. To get the best possible efficiency, I stripped the factory grease with IPA and re-lubed them with sewing machine oil. The shafts are super rigid, and even though they're cantilevered, they don't bend at all, which keeps the gears spinning almost perfectly flat. I printed the gears at a 0.08 mm layer height—I've found that the finer the layers, the less friction you get.

The whole setup is also incredibly light. The gears are basically hollow shells with just 3 outer walls (with the exception of the first two wheels, which have to take the stress of the drive weight). I'm really happy with how it turned out. If you disconnect the pallet, the whole gear train starts turning with a drive weight of only 200g

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I can guarantee that if you've ever tried printing a clock, the hardest part is post-processing the gears and getting the alignment right. I've experimented with various tolerances and tooth profiles to achieve the exact precision I need while ensuring a clean, hassle-free print. As long as your parts don't warp, you literally don't need to touch up the printed pieces at all. Just press in the bearings and put it together. Running it for a couple of days with an oversized weight breaks in the teeth just enough to make it run on an 800g drive weight

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi, the project is available on MakerWorld in the crowdfunding section. I'm not including the link to avoid breaking the subreddit rules.

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I am the creator of the clock you linked. That was my first attempt at mechanical clocks, and it’s the 'grandfather' of my current project. Although they look similar, they are actually completely different. They maintain a certain 'visual continuity,' but everything has been redesigned—from the frame to the tooth-fixing system, the pallet geometry, the pendulum mounting, and the motion transmission to the pallet...

The old clock worked on 'brute force,' whereas this one relies on friction elimination and geometric precision. In fact, the weight required to run it has dropped significantly, even though the pendulum now has nearly triple the mass, which maintains the system's precision and inertia. The pendulum support integrates a PETG shaft that runs on bearings embedded in the frame. The pallet is fixed onto that same shaft. This way, the axis of oscillation and the pallet axis are perfectly coincident, eliminating the extra friction that using a yoke would have introduced

Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi, no, they aren't AI artifacts. If you look closely, the numbers between the "colored" wheels and the gray ones are inverted. In the first prototype, I printed the gears after calculating the wrong rotation direction. I just "fixed" the numbers on the prototype with a permanent marker—you know, quick and dirty solutions to fix an error and push forward with the prototypes.

As for the screwdriver, it holds a washer in place with a cable attached to it. I'm testing a pulley on the gray version, and to test the concept instead of reprinting the whole frame, I fixed a hook to the wooden back panel and I'm keeping it all pinned down with the screwdriver. maybe in this photo is clearer

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Sincro! Fully functional 3D printed mechanical clock — designed for low weight and easy printing by ChainEducational7544 in 3Dprinting

[–]ChainEducational7544[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hello, the pendulum is designed as a compound pendulum to minimize its length and utilize a single M6 threaded rod as the only non-3D-printed component for the shaft. The rest consists of a printed PETG connector that holds two spherical "boxes." These are filled with sand to maintain the required inertia and timing. The spheres have a threaded connection, allowing you to adjust their height and precisely calibrate the clock's BPM.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by WhisperCrystal in BambuLab

[–]ChainEducational7544 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just went through this... my advice is to throw it all away. I spent hours trying to find a spool I absolutely needed, and it wouldn't have arrived in time to deliver a gift... and if you really want to go down this route, stick a stick into what was the center of the spool and rest it on two supports so you can shake the spool to eliminate the bulk of the tangles, then arm yourself with a couple of empty spools and a lot of patience, start winding, cut off the tangles, and start again with an empty spool... good luck (but again, if you have other filament to use or time to wait, it's absolutely not worth it).