When you think of making something using a lathe, you usually think of turning a screw, a table leg, or a toothpick. [Uri Tuchman] had a different idea. He wanted to make a clock out of the gears used in the lathe. Can he do it? Of course, as you can see in the video below.
Along the way, he used several tools. A mill, a laser cutter, and a variety of hand tools all make appearances. There’s also plenty of CAD. Oh yeah, he uses a lathe, too.
Initially, the clock ran a little fast. A longer pendulum was the answer, but that required the clock to sit on a table edge because the pendulum now extends below the bottom of the clock!
We have to admit there is a lot going into this, but it looks great by the time it is done. We are impressed with the range of different tools used and the clever design. Of course, he could have made the gears, too, but using the metal gears already available is a nice touch.
You can, of course, get by with less. Much less. Or, you might elect to try something even more elaborate.
Now, how to make it run for longer without adding more gears?
Either put a spring mechanism in it or put it on top of a really, really tall pole.
All these makers… makin me realize.. I need a shop.
Ah, but where do I find a pantograph like that? And the time to practice the accent that is surely required? And the humour… “Lathe is monstrosity that can make thread, bob’s your uncle. Also while killing you…”.
I’ve only rarely watched Hackaday videos all the way through. This was really well done, enjoyed every moment. Nice shop. I was trained on a pantograph like that in a mould shop, machining copper electrodes for a plunge EDM, as a 20 year old apprentice. I didn’t appreciate it at the time.
If you haven’t already watch his earlier videos on YouTube. He’s a bit crazy but the things he can make 😊
You can’t keep the dials concentric with a 1:3 and 1:4 transmission if you keep the gear tooth the same size (Different sized gear teeth is the standard solution).
But it is very simple to add a 5th gear just to bridge the gap between the 1:3 transmission.
Unfortunately this also reverses the direction, so you’d need a 6th gear to fix this. These gears can be any size you have at hand.
You can keep the spindles concentric, 8 driving 32 and 10 driving 30 gives 4:1 and 3:1 without changing tooth size. This is the standard arrangement in a large number of mass produced mantel clocks. I realise you probably wouldn’t have these gears from a lathe screw cutting setup…
Somebody else thought about this more then I did :)
8 teeth is a bit low though. In “real” force transmitting applications undercut will be a severe problem, and also the lack of room for an axle. (Although pinions with even less teeth are used, Hand drills often go as low as 5 teeth (But with significant modifications: spiral teeth and profile shift.) I’ve even seen pinions with just two teeth used in commercial applications
But other ratio’s win which both the transmission ratio’s are the same and the teeth count of both sets are possible. Just multiplying all gear teeth with 1.5 will give 12:48 and 15:45 and those gears may be found in a “standard” lathe gear set. Or do some research for [AndysMachines] to get some nice video’s of making your own gears.
Adding more weight to the pendulum is the same as making it longer
Not true. Adding more weight has little effect. The time of the pendulum swing is only dependent on the distance between the pivot point and the centre of gravity of the pendulum.
A lathe can no doubt be used to make gears. with the right setup index and broaching tools.
After all it’s been said that a lathe is the only machine with wich you can make another ust like it.