Can a mechanical clock be made on the Glowforge?

That is my concern. I am not sure I applied it correctly; I had zero experience with it before applying it to the clock gears. I don’t know if it just needs to be ground into the gears or not. I do know that I have not witnessed anymore times when the gears are bound to one another (which is what I was going for), but something else is going on now too.

Perhaps it just needs a fan?

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I’m not trying to play devils advocate but you have to look at what changed prior to the problem. Part of why I suggested making a 2nd clock is having 2 running so you can try different things on one and not the other to see if it does make a difference, I believe it is called the scientific method. :slight_smile: Your work is impressive, your drive unmatched, and your belief is unwavering, just try not to loose objective observation in it all. Worst case scenario, once you get it all figured out you will have one you can gift to friend or family so they have you with them forever.

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Not exactly. He also disassembled and reassembled it. :smile:

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yeah I saw that as well, I’m just trying to be helpful, not hurtful.

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He’s not one to be put out by these comments. He’s been doing some amazing work discovering all sorts of clock design info as he’s gone through his trial & error development. Never had an issue where he found he messed something up and had to go back and fix it. It’s been fascinating to watch it develop.

We cover a lot of the theory in the horologist exams but my specialty is watches and not clocks so I haven’t been too much help to him because the physics aren’t linearly scalable.

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I understand, I’ve read most of the forum and find it very informative and helpful in many ways. I guess I should just put my dunce hat on and go sit in the corner :wink:

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Wow, I get busy and the chat explodes over here!

Well… I think I just found one… I do think I applied the Dry Moly incorrectly.

I was reading and researching a little more, and I missed a step when applying it. The “wipe off the excess” step. I sprayed it down and let it cure for couple hours, but according to what read, I really need to wipe off the excess after 15 minutes. So, I think some of my edges/sides may have a thicker/uneven coating. This may or may not be effecting the running of the clock.

Another thing I have been thinking about for a while is the fact that I did completely disassemble the clock to get the gears coated. I have not completely disassembled the clock in quite a while. When I reassembled it, I am not sure the same brass axle rods were placed in the same axle orientation (I don’t know because I didn’t keep track that).

I know some of the rods are slightly longer or some of the ends are smoother than others. If the clock had been broken in with certain rods in certain locations, and then I moved those rods around, it would require the “troublesome” rods to break in again at their new location.

I am considering disassembling the clock again to examine the rods and frames where the rods sit. If I do have a rod or two that are longer, I could then even them up and polish all the rods to ensure they are smooth on the ends.

I am also considering removing the pendulum and the weight again, and running the gears as fast as I can to break them in (like I did in the very beginning). I am thinking that if I do have extra build up on the gears that might help rub it in.

Not seeing the gears ever binding again has shown me that the Dry Moly must be working. I just need to find what is leaching the power from the gear-chain now, because it “appears” to be stopping because there is not enough torque to push the pendulum.

@jamesdhatch, one of my friends called me a horologist and I wasn’t sure if should be offended or not! Then I realized it is someone who studies/makes clocks and/or watches. :wink:

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Some folks also use it to refer to people who collect watches.

The British Horological Institute is the gold standard for qualifying watch & clock makers. They have exam series to qualify for the two levels of certified membership MBHI or FBHI. It takes awhile to work & study for the exams and then you go and test in person. It’s a grueling testing series that a huge portion of the test takers don’t pass. So you study and take it again…

No better education out there for watch/clock makers. If you’re interested in it as a career it’s your ticket to any job. (But until you’re designing and building bespoke watches you’re not going to get rich :slight_smile: )

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Yeah… I think I will just stick to making machines as a hobby. I do love watching clock repairs though. That was why I started watching “The Repair Shop” on Netflix. But, they don’t work on enough clocks (just my opinion).

I just enjoy the science of it, and making things I can share with others.

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How many certifications like that do you hold :star_struck:

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Don’t have my MBHI yet :slightly_smiling_face: Working on it though. It’s my retirement keep me busy & make a few dollars strategy. It’s also challenging to operate at the scale of watches - everything needs to be small & precise including my own hand movements.

It’s a nice alternative to the plasma stuff I do which is the other side of the scale thing. But it’s kind of funny that someone will pay me more for a large firepit as they will for a cleaning & repair on a $5,000 watch. Heck I could go full-time building custom auxiliary fuel tanks for motorcycles at $1K per - I am always booked 6 months out for those.

If it weren’t for the pesky real job I’d be able to take advantage of the opportunities :slightly_smiling_face: But, health insurance.

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This morning I did witness a gear bind with the hour-gear (after proclaiming that issue solved by the Dry Moly). But, every since I attempted to break-in the clock after applying the Dry Moly (by running the clock forward about 72 hours in less than 10 minutes) it has run much better. It has been running for about 8 hours straight, currently.

I have noticed that it is running slower, even though I haven’t adjusted the pendulum. So either the pendulum as inadvertently “adjusted” when I disassembled the clocked, or (more likely) the Dry Moly affected the running of the clock more than I anticipated.

I will continue to monitor it, but I will try to adjust the pendulum tomorrow if I see it continuing to run slow.

Edit: If anyone is interested in my notes and the clock’s “run log” here is a link to it.

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Well after “breaking in” the gears again, the clock ran for over 16 hours! (I may want to do that again.)

I am not sure if the clock is still running slow, but I will continue to monitor it and possible adjust it today.

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If anything gives, the pendulum will be lower and thus slightly slower, It might be useful to have away to measure that. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Actually, I learned that lowering the bottom pendulum actually speeds up a compound-pendulum. That was why I had such a hard time setting it the first time.

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The clock has been running MUCH better since the speed-run break-in event. It has been running “non-stop” since yesterday. Now, I qualify that with quotes because I have not WITNESSED it stopped, but the time tracking indicates that it did stop because there are gaps in time.

When I monitor it closely, I can see the clock is running fast. But if it goes a long time between checks, it appears very slow. So, I am “guessing” that it is stopping and restarting itself? (Like my kids running down the hall is enough to start it again.)

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Ox before the cart, Time lapse camera maybe?

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I love that idea!

I need to get one of those…

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Not sure if this will help, just an FYI…I did some research into the woods I used in the Celtic Knot Trivet. I purchased the wood from https://ocoochhardwoods.com/ back in 2018. They have a variety of exotic woods in thicknesses from 1/16 to 3/4. Once the design is perfected there is a link to some very nice woods.

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