This mechanical clock demonstrates that 3d-printing is not just for decoration. It's possible to create intelligent, living things.
The clock has an anchor escapement, and a balance-wheel with a spiral spring. The clock shows Seconds, Minutes, and Hours. The winding has a nested planetary gear, which allows that the clock continues to run, while winding up.
Everything is 3d-printed (even the spiral spring), except e few small screws, some metal pins, the cord, and the lead for the weight.
This video shows the clock and the building process (actually with a simpler ratchet-winding):
Designed with Blender. PLA printed with Rapman 3.2.
Some parts require a loose clearance (hollow shaft for hours and minutes), other parts require a press fit (hands). The 3d-files are optimised for older printers with more inaccuracy in xy, or a badly guided z axis. I.e. when printed with a newer generation printer, parts are most likely too loose. In order to compensate this, the material flow could be increased (over-extrusion). In Simplify3d there is another useful parameter: "process settings / advanced / other / horizontal size compensation".
Pins:
Screws:
There are STL-versions with 2 x 2 combinations for the winding:
a) Simple Ratchet v1: 4.22 revolutions per hour (weight moves 26.5cm/h)
b) Simple Ratchet v2: 2.25 revolutions per hour (weight moves 14.1cm/h)
c) Planetary Drum v1: 3.01 revolutions per hour (weight moves 18.9cm/h)
d) Planetary Drum v2: 1.61 revolutions per hour (weight moves 10.1cm/h)
My clock works well with version c) and 1.2kg weight. For version d) I'd probably need a weight of 2.3kg. The actual needed weight depends a lot on the friction of the whole system.
| Clock20_cleaned.blend | 10.5MB | |
| Clock_Face_Background.stl | 2.8MB | |
| Clock_Face_Hand_Hour.stl | 44.0KB | |
| Clock_Face_Hand_Minute.stl | 42.5KB | |
| Clock_Face_Hand_Second.stl | 55.0KB | |
| Clock_Face_Tickmarks.stl | 586.0KB | |
| Crank_Gear_Reduction.stl | 67.5KB | |
| Crank_Handle.stl | 35.2KB | |
| Crank_Handle_Screw.stl | 43.1KB | |
| Crank_Shaft.stl | 68.2KB | |
| Escapement_Anchor.stl | 39.1KB | |
| Escapement_Balance.stl | 304.8KB | |
| Escapement_Spring.stl | 439.4KB | |
| Escapement_Wheel.stl | 115.3KB | |
| Frame_Back.stl | 519.9KB | |
| Frame_Cord_Mount.stl | 79.0KB | |
| Frame_Front.stl | 455.6KB | |
| Gear_Reduction_Minutes_to_Hours.stl | 201.3KB | |
| Gear_Reduction_Seconds_to_Minutes.stl | 167.1KB | |
| Gear_Wheel_Hours.stl | 149.5KB | |
| Gear_Wheel_Minutes.stl | 198.1KB | |
| Gear_Wheel_Seconds.stl | 145.0KB | |
| Parts_with_Dummy.zip | 638.7KB | |
| Weight_Bucket.stl | 80.1KB | |
| Weight_Bucket_Cover.stl | 48.5KB | |
| Weight_Pulley_A.stl | 62.1KB | |
| Weight_Pulley_B.stl | 41.1KB | |
| Weight_Pulley_Hook.stl | 42.3KB | |
| Winding_Drum_with_Ratchet.stl | 180.7KB | |
| Winding_Gear_Crank.stl | 296.0KB | |
| Winding_Gear_Pawl.stl | 228.2KB | |
| Winding_Gear_Pawl_V2.stl | 241.8KB | |
| Winding_Gear_Transmission.stl | 175.6KB | |
| Winding_Gear_Transmission_V2.stl | 104.7KB | |
| Winding_Planets.stl | 112.6KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Carrier_Cover.stl | 222.7KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Carrier_Drum.stl | 180.6KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Crank_Shaft_Gear.stl | 105.2KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Pawl.stl | 104.9KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Ring_Gear_v1.stl | 297.0KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Ring_Gear_v2.stl | 318.4KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Roller_Bearing.stl | 468.8KB | |
| Winding_Planet_Sun_Gear_for_Crank.stl | 335.6KB |
