Comments on: Project Idea: Clock with Sliding Hands http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256 Sun, 08 Dec 2024 17:19:24 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Fred Jodry http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256&cpage=1#comment-23347 Fred Jodry Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:15:53 +0000 http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256#comment-23347 Easy. make two (or more) clocks that exchange in a cabinet. Real clock cabinets take up space. Easy. make two (or more) clocks that exchange in a cabinet. Real clock cabinets take up space.

]]> By: Keith Neufeld http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256&cpage=1#comment-22237 Keith Neufeld Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:16:19 +0000 http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256#comment-22237 Dave, those are definitely cool ideas! I'm kinda fascinated by the idea of doing it all mechanically, with gears or cams or grooves (good idea, JP!), though. I wouldn't choose the hard way if I were building something to mass-produce; but I'm fascinated by things with gears, from Isaac Youngs' all-wooden Shaker clocks to the <a href="http://www.longnow.org/projects/clock/" rel="nofollow">Clock of the Long Now</a> to <a href="http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/stunningly-intricate-curta-mechanical.html" rel="nofollow">Curta calculators</a>. So I'd love to see one of these done all with gears -- and I think I'd like it even better with a geared mechanism between the shaft and the hand than by having the end of the hand ride in a groove, as good an idea as that is. Just my $.02. :-) Dave, those are definitely cool ideas! I’m kinda fascinated by the idea of doing it all mechanically, with gears or cams or grooves (good idea, JP!), though.

I wouldn’t choose the hard way if I were building something to mass-produce; but I’m fascinated by things with gears, from Isaac Youngs’ all-wooden Shaker clocks to the Clock of the Long Now to Curta calculators. So I’d love to see one of these done all with gears — and I think I’d like it even better with a geared mechanism between the shaft and the hand than by having the end of the hand ride in a groove, as good an idea as that is.

Just my $.02. :-)

]]> By: J. Peterson http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256&cpage=1#comment-22236 J. Peterson Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:46:28 +0000 http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256#comment-22236 You could have a spiral grove in the clock face. A sliding extension on the hour hand has a peg that tracks the groove. The tricky part is resetting the peg to the outer groove at the end of the day. I guess you could this with special mechanics that would force it to the outer groove. Interesting design problem. You could have a spiral grove in the clock face. A sliding extension on the hour hand has a peg that tracks the groove. The tricky part is resetting the peg to the outer groove at the end of the day. I guess you could this with special mechanics that would force it to the outer groove. Interesting design problem.

]]> By: Dave http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256&cpage=1#comment-22235 Dave Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:05:08 +0000 http://www.neufeld.newton.ks.us/electronics/?p=256#comment-22235 Gears? We don't need no stinking gears! There are plenty of other ways of doing it. You could use a fine resolution stepper motor to drive the hands (well, ok, so maybe you would need a gear to drive both the hour and minute hand, since I don't know of any coaxial stepper motors, although it might be fun to design one). As for the lengthening/shortening of the hour hand, there may be other options. What about using some of that Nitinol (Nickel Titanium shape memory alloy) to make the hour hand from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitinol And, then suppling heat to make it change shape from a long pointer to a short pointer. Bonus points for electromagnetically coupling energy from behind the clock face to the hour hand to supply the heat. :-) I'm sure there are many more ways, other than simple mechanics, to perform this. Dave Gears? We don’t need no stinking gears! There are plenty of other ways of doing it. You could use a fine resolution stepper motor to drive the hands (well, ok, so maybe you would need a gear to drive both the hour and minute hand, since I don’t know of any coaxial stepper motors, although it might be fun to design one).

As for the lengthening/shortening of the hour hand, there may be other options. What about using some of that Nitinol (Nickel Titanium shape memory alloy) to make the hour hand from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitinol

And, then suppling heat to make it change shape from a long pointer to a short pointer. Bonus points for electromagnetically coupling energy from behind the clock face to the hour hand to supply the heat. :-)

I’m sure there are many more ways, other than simple mechanics, to perform this.

Dave

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