I just finished a 600 piece wooden marble run and am thinking of motorizing it.
I hope to do a clock kit next and your information on the aero clock has convinced me to go for it. Thanks for all the tips!
Crazydoug
Great news! I hope you will post some photos of your build. -Ben
Pump Jack Update: the kit is nearly finished, just need to add some parts and touch up the Black shoe Dye, I have scuffed it in many area's sanding toothpicks flush.
The pump will run in its current state, the rubber power and Pendulum clock works Escapement is quite loud and runs fast at first part of run. I wanted to see if I could slow it down and make run more smoothly. First test was to tape 2 penny coins to the very short Pendulum, this did slow it but the weight of the coins steals much of the power and there was 1/3 of the rubber winds left when the pump stops. The principle is the longer the Pendulum the slower the tick, but I needed a very light weight Pendulum for the low power output.
The blonde stick on the right is my temporary Experimental Pendulum, it is 1/16 square Balsa wood about 7 inches long. I have managed a 1 minute and 20 second run with it and the noise is greatly reduced, it may look odd but I like that the balsa Pendulum let's the pump continue to run until almost all the rubber band winds are gone, so very low power consumption.
I will finish the model and do a bit more fine tune when all the parts are on, but it has been a fun kit so far. The Wood Trick instructions book is not as well done as Ugears but there seems to be enough info to get the job done if you have built a couple kits before.
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Photo 2: this is the stock Pendulum, I have removed the 2 plywood disks in upper right to save weight, then tape different Pendulum rods on the narrow portion to see the effect on running. The distance from the lower axle to disks is only approx 1.5 inches or very short in the clock world, also the Pendulum is upside down and that is not helpful with smooth running.
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