Re: Getting Started w/ Mechanical Clocks


drachs@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I want to learn how to
design and fabricate these beautifull things.
... but I don't know where to start.

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For ultra-basics you might consider a simple wooden clock kit.

No special tools are needed and it's difficult to assemble one that
does NOT work... after a fashion :-) By the same token, it's
virtually impossible to come away from a wooden clock WITHOUT a
complete understanding of the gear-train and mechanics that are
fundamental to a pendulum-type time-keeper.

For the novice, especially so for youngsters, a wooden clock is a kind
of No-Fault project, very difficult to do wrong and superbly satisfying
when a touch of sandpaper and whiff of graphite produces a stately
tick-tocker. The lack of accuracy is acceptable because the builder
understands the reasons for it, laying the ground work for future
projects which embody less friction and more precision.

-R.S.Hoover

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