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Inspired by the works of Leo Dorst and Eric Harshbarger, I set out to build
a working clock mechanism in a form factor that could be displayed on a
train layout. The result of this two-week effort is my LEGO Clock Tower,
which made its debut on NELUG's train layout at the Greenberg train show
this past weekend. Except for a two-pound weight and a length of cotton
twine, the entire clock mechanism is made out of unmodified, non-electric
LEGO pieces.
I am working on a complete write-up about this project, but here are a few
preliminary pictures:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=38950
The top portion of the tower (above the windows) contains the complete clock
mechanism, and can be separated into functional layers for easier
maintainance. The head of the clock tower contains four identical clock
faces that are geared together at their minute hand axles. The pulley (a
wheel hub) and gear train are located in the top half of the tower shaft,
and the pendulum and weight hang down the remainder of the shaft and through
a cutout in the display table. A pair of eye hooks attached to the
underside of the table allow me to hang the weight at a slight horizontal
offset to prevent it from interfering with the pendulum motion.
As built, the clock keeps reasonably accurate time. During the train show,
it was rarely more than 3-5 minutes off the correct time, although for a
variety of reasons the clock did not run continuously for any single stretch
of more than a couple of hours without needing to be wound/restarted/reset.
I am still fine-tuning the mechanism to improve the accuracy of the
timepiece, to lengthen the run-time between windings, and to reduce the
weight needed to drive the clock.
Before I forget, if anyone knows of a good minifig-scale pest control
service please let me know -- I've got bats in my belfry!
- Chris.
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: Working LEGO Clock Tower
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| (...) Have you considered making the tower more 'open', so people can see the mechanism? Maybe build the clock faces using clear bricks? This is too clever (and too much work!) to hide... :-) JohnG, GMLTC (22 years ago, 1-Apr-03, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Working LEGO Clock Tower
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| (...) That is very sweet! As a person who tried, not hugely successfully, to get a Leo or Eric LEGO clock working, I'm so impressed that not only did you do it, you did it with 4 faces! Very nicely done! Dave K (22 years ago, 1-Apr-03, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Working LEGO Clock Tower
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| Chris, as someone who saw it first-hand at the show, I just want to say how cool I thought it was. In fact, a number of us used it as the way to see how much time was left in the show! Truly a fantastic job. - Joe (...) (22 years ago, 2-Apr-03, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Working LEGO Clock Tower
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| Good job. Even since recently annoucing that I got my grandfather clock up to 30 mours in weight/runtime, I still have frustrations with it (it now decides to stop at will, etc). The 4-face gearworks is a great innovation. eric (...) (22 years ago, 2-Apr-03, to lugnet.technic)
| | | Re: Working LEGO Clock Tower
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| Oh, I really like this and look forward to seeing how to make it! I never ever would have thought of making a clock out of lego... thanks for snapping me out of my limited imagination. :) "Chris Phillips" <drvegetable@attbi.com> wrote in message (...) (22 years ago, 10-Apr-03, to lugnet.trains)
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