Skeleton clock

[Jim Dornon]

Gary's clocks website is down. Does anyone have the plans on cdr or other for the clock (with the beer bottles as weights)or any clock for that matter. Jim

[George Elston]

Is this the one? I don't see anything that says beer bottles, but I raided the site a couple of months ago, still haven't built a clock yet but it's on my 2do list.

[Patrick Licata]

What is the site??

[Duane Parcells]

Hi
I am about 2 hours away from completing the clock. I have all of the files, the dxf drawing and all the pdf's, you will need them all eventually. Gary's site is down and he says he will have a new ISP soon. (said that a few weeks ago)
let me know which drawing you want!
Duane
p.s. this one uses steel for the weights.

[Todd Schwartz]

Duane, we expect pictures and a full report. :)

Todd

[Duane Parcells]

Gary's Clock

All done on a laser and lathe. Materials used: 1/2" walnut, 1/4" Walnut, 3/8" baltic birch, 1/4" baltic, 1/8" baltic, 1" delrin round, 1/2" delrin round, 3/16" delrin sheet, 1/4" delrin sheet, 2",1",3/4", 1/2" and 3/8" round walnut.
Problems encountered, The holes in the spindles for the dowel pins must be centered. Not so easy. The bearings for the pulley wheels.... Made in America at a retail cost of 21.00 each plus shipping, or you can buy them from a company that imports them into Tawain and sells them back to us for 99 cents each. Bought twenty, let me know if you want. DXF file trying to cut 21 times each..... fixed. There are a few mistakes in the files that can cause a little aggravation. I'm sure that I will have paid more than I want to think about for a clock that will be very noisy and keep lousy time. Yes, would build again with more attention to minute details that help in accuracy.
Duane

[Jim Dornon]

Thank you to everyone who responded. I am going to try it in acrylic. I do need to shrink though I think. My engraver is only 16" wide. Any thought on how to shrink everything so it is consistent ? Jim:)

[Duane Parcells]

Trying to scale down something this complex may give you more problems than can be overcome. You should have no problem cutting the gears on a small laser. There are a few 3/8" gears but most are 1/4 and 1/8. The base and other wood parts are not difficult wood shop projects if they are too big for your laser. There is a fair amount of lathe work.
Duane

[Doug Fennell]

Duane, when you ran the files, was it necessary to account for the kerf of the laser, or is it not that big a deal? What I'm getting at is, did you run an outline of the parts to negate the kerf?

It looks like a really fun project. I cut out a few of the gears tonight just for giggles, with good results.

[Doug Fennell]

Here's another question - how do you get the DXF to vector as one continuous line? On some of the gears, the gear teeth will be cut out of order - is it possible to make a contiguous line from start to finnish?

[Duane Parcells]

Hi Doug
On the laser cut line, no adjustments. On the continuous cutting vectors. Very good question. In Coreldraw, clean out the parts of all the garbage the laser can't use. The best way to get a single curve out the part is to use the Smartfill tool. Fill the part then move it and delete the original that is underneath the new one you just made. Highlight your new part and set it to no fill and hairline outline. You now have a single curve that the laser will cut in the correct order. If the smartfill tool doesn't work it is usually because there is an open path in the part. I don't run anything from a autocad or eps file that doesn't get the above treatment. If you don't it may cut the outline first and cut internal cuts after the part has fallen down, or sometimes it would make what should be 2 long continuous cuts, it would do it in several hundred small cuts.
Duane

[Doug Fennell]

Duane, tried your suggestion and it worked perfectly! Thanx

[David Morrow]

Well, mine may not be wood but it's still a fun project in aluminum and brass. Just seems to take a lot longer.

http://www.ldrider.ca/cnc/garysclock/garysclock.htm

[Duane Parcells]

Hi David
I had found your website about the same time I found Gary's. Nice Job! Is it running and quietly keeping perfect time?
Duane

[Frank Corker]

Well, mine may not be wood but it's still a fun project in aluminum and brass. Just seems to take a lot longer.

http://www.ldrider.ca/cnc/garysclock/garysclock.htm



Dave when that's finished post the pictures. From the site it looks amazing!

[David Morrow]

Hi David
I had found your website about the same time I found Gary's. Nice Job! Is it running and quietly keeping perfect time?
Duane

No, it's one of those projects that I pick up periodically. I'm currently trying to make at least 3-4 pieces per week; we'll see how long that lasts. The big hurdle now is the final bit of re-engineering the shafts for the last big gear.