Hello everyone!! I have a customer wanting me to produce a fairly sizeable clock with custom-made hands. It’s going to be going in a cafeteria school. They want a large knife and fork for the hour and minute hand. I am just trying to figure out how to produce it. Does anyone here have any resources for a clock mechanism that could hold a little bit more weight for the hands than the typical clock? My worry is that with the large hands the mechanism will not be able to handle it and either lose time or not work at all. Any help would be much appreciated! Hope that you are all having a great Monday!
I haven’t built anything like that, but I’ve bought things from “Clockparts” on Etsy and they’ve been very responsive. They’ve got some high-torque mechanisms listed that might fit your need.
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Check out high torque movements. They are out there, I prefer seiko brand. Clockparts.com is one spot, and I’ve also ordered form klockit.com , but also if you are ok with plugging the clock in, check out american time. (american-time.com) There are definitely options.
You’re definitely going to have to make the clock hangs are light as possible, regardless of which movement you end up with.
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All of the retail “high torque” movements are designed for lightweight stamped-metal hands. They might state “up to 18” but that’s for a counter-balanced <1oz part.
If your thought was to cut a fork and knife from acrylic or wood, it’s not going to work. You can’t just add counterbalance because the bearing surfaces simply aren’t designed to carry weight.
Edit - I had not come across the american-time site when I was thinking about a project along these lines (mine would have exposed. animated mechanisms). Looks like they would have something with the power needed - for a price.
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Thanks everyone!! I’ll look into those resources! Any suggestions for a lightweight durable material for the hands? (that’s laser compatible)
Define?
I mean what’s the clock going to be like? Are you making a traditional school style clock with protective glass etc?
Sorry I should have clarified. Something that is going to last a little while. I was thinking foam core. Maybe something a little bit more durable. This is what we are aiming for for General Style
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1/16" acrylic, maybe?
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Cool idea. I question whether or not it’ll last a minute in a school cafeteria, but… 
Yeah hmm, acrylic will probably be too breakable. Delrin maybe? dunno about its density.
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Yeah… I know… But it’s what they want… 
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They are refurbishing Big Ben. Presumably that mechanism can handle some weight. You’re in Canada, Harry wants to move there, perhaps a deal could be made?
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Genius. I’ll get on that asap. 
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Okay so the customer decided that with all this in mind we are not going to go with custom-made clock hands but most likely with just regular clock hands and make the background creative. Pizza Time Clock anyone? LOL
My mother had a clock that was all math problems. 3x4 instead of 12, etc…
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Seems american-time has solutions for that -
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That’ s just a challenge.
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Apparently, unlike custom-colored acrylic, there is demand.
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Ahh the good old bar band days.
When there was chicken wire across the stage you knew they took their music seriously.
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… except american-time appears to sell mostly to county school boards.
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