- Clockwork Library & Printable Clock Script by syvwlch
Syvwlch’s work on a printable clock has been one of the most exciting ongoing projects on Thingiverse. He’s just upload what might be a final version of his work. This version includes the escapement, pendulum, gears for the seconds, minutes, and hours, and a set of nested concentric gears to provide the corresponding second, minute, and hour movement. And, let’s not forget he’s made this entire clock parametric in OpenSCAD – in case you need to print up a grandfather clock or a teeny-tiny watch.
As quickly as he’s been developing this project, it hasn’t been without it’s obstacles. Syvwlch explained some of the benefits to designing such a complex mechanism in OpenSCAD:
There are none of the usual frustrations. If you made a mistake a few steps back, it’s not a big deal. I had the math on how to size the thing to fit inside a MakerBot completely wrong. It took me two minutes to fix it.
As if designing a printable clock weren’t enough, Syvwlch has also set up his OpenSCAD file so that it will kick out STL’s for easy printing on just about any 3D printer AND so that it can show you an animated diagram of how the parts fit together and operate. I can’t wait to start printing up these parts.
Winner of the Pattywac Makerbot United Challenge for collaborative design: makerbot.com/blog/2011/05/16/pattywac-makerbot-united-challenge-winner/
Thank you team! :-)
Video of the first ticking powered escapement mechanism:prototribe.net/vidplay/testjig2.html
___________WARNING_________
Several bugs have been fixed since this release, and the current tip-of-the-spear for development is a simplified 2-gear clock with only minutes and seconds.
Current development version to be found on git hub here:github.com/syvwlch/Printable-Clock-Project
Current version of the 8-Gear Clock (revision D):thingiverse.com/thing:8284
Current bleeding edge development version of the test jig:thingiverse.com/thing:8275
Current repository for the latest version of the clockwork library:thingiverse.com/thing:8155
Thanks to RustedRobot for his continued assistance debugging the clock!
___________WARNING_________
This is both a derivative of the printable clock PoC, and of my escapement library: thingiverse.com/thing:7822 . The involute gear profiles are from the MCAD library.
(EDIT: The clock got a mention by Cory Doctorow on boing boing!boingboing.net/2011/04/23/model-files-for-a-wo.html )
I cleaned up the code so it would render faster, moved all the gear work into the library, and created a laidOutToPrint() module to facilitate creating the STLs of the individual parts. I included an optional print volume visualizer, so you can check every part doesn't exceed the printer's capabilities.
The assembled() module is still fully animate-able, and I've added colors to help see if everything meshes properly.
The clock itself now has clip-on hands, front & back frames, and most importantly, I switched to a different set of gear ratios (3.2, 3, 2.5 & 2.5) which allows for bigger shafts by keeping the ratios small.
Assuming an 80x80x80mm printing volume, you now have a bit more than 12mm (almost half an inch!) available for the overall diameter of the shaft, the two sleeves that slide over it and the necessary clearances.
I think this configuration is close to final, except for the escapement, which will need fine-tuning... but without re-printing the rest of the clock.
6 Comments so far
Syvwlch
The model got a shout out (well, he used the image to illustrate a point about shared digital models) from Cory Doctorow over on Boing Boing!
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/22/models-and-the-scien.html
philip
im looking forward to see some videos of the printed clockworks soon! awesome! maybe some schools find out about that stuff. would be great to get taught in math while printing out the stuff youre taught to understand.
Syvwlch
I agree! There is no better way to understand something than to model it, print it out, put it together and see how it works!
Model files for a working 3D-printable clock | Battery and Charger Forum
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