I’m going to have to try this! Thanks for a great writeup.
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Great project! Love the mix of media for this. Terrific!
This is very clever in several different ways. Love the many and varied design choices
Oh, very cool indeed! Any plans to decorate it?
A different project that could use the same materials would be to have the balls navigate a maze—might be fun to watch.
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Oh that is very neat! Reminds me of the sand table that rolls it’s own ball around to create patterns in the sand, but useful!
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yep, similar technology but this version can only move the ball in a circle. it would make a very boring sand table. I built one of those a few years back, used the forge for most of the bits. Thanks for reminding me, I have a hankering to give it some attention.
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I am not loving the looks of this but improvements or a new version are way down my list.
If I were to undertake, I would likely smash it, harvest all the good bits and build anew, better informed from the start. I think a round enclosure with a better clock face in cherry would make me happier. The maple was chosen because it would not make me sad to waste it. Not my favorite wood finish.
There is also a long list of internal improvements that would make the 2nd one go together better and this wish list of other improvements
- Add a 2 button interface for setting/ adjusting the time or move to a better RTC that has less drift
- Improve on the gear placements to remove some of the slop. ( slotted mounting holes for the motors would do the trick.
- Add an access hatch to allow reprograming of arduino or replacement of RTC battery (every 8 years)
- add some noise dampening material (at night when it is very quiet, you can hear the buzz from the motors)
- change to better stepper motors.
- bigger balls
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If that is what would make the project better… 
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Very nice, have you thought about using acrylic for the face?
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yes, will need to see if the magnets are strong enough first or find some really thin acrylic
This is great. I was just looking at men’s watches and saw ball watch. So I am really going to need to try this some time in the future.
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Check this site out, They have laser approved acrylic as thin as 1/16". It’s who I use for my acrylic, they have some as thin as 1/32"
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I have some 1/16" acrylic as well. That stuff was a bit trickier to find than I expected, but it’s handy. I think that the acrylic would get scratched over time and would look crummy. The wood would wear as well, but I don’t think it would look as bad.
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I thought about the ball possibly wearing a path on acrylic but someone mentioned making a path for the ball. Might consider scoring the path to cover the scratch issue.
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So far, (and it is early) there is no sign of a grove in the PG veneer. I suspect a grove would be good insurance and might work to improve the aesthetic. The current one leaves me a bit underwhelmed.
I did test and the magnets are strong enough to work with 3 mm wood or acrylic so I could make a better face with a host of materials. I just might…
The other good news is that it has kept the time well. I am almost to the point where I no longer obsessively check the time on that clock vs. my phone every time I am in the room where it lives.
This obsession happens with every new clock design I build. I have gotten over it with the word clocks. That design has evolved to the point where there are enough trouble detectors built into the system that there is rarely an issue if it powers up successfully.
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I’m thinking about making one and if it works out I’ll do some up for Christmas gifts this year.
Just over a week later. It is still running. Has been fairly accurate, except once when the hour hand was behind significantly (until it reached the check point and fixed itself). Not clear how to fix that beyond having it reset the hour hand every 3 hours of so to reduce the chance of such error. That function seems to work well (i.e. big movements seem to be less error prone than small ones)
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Wow! Smart people rock. This is such an interesting and cool build. Thank you for taking the time to share and document your process.
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This project reminded me of a watch I wanted (and still kinda’ want) a couple years ago. It was originally designed for the blind but I love cool unusual watches. The Timepiece – Eone (eone-time.com)
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The eone was designed in collaboration, or for, a swimmer we know, Brad Snyder. Brad has an incredible story and his book is worth the read.
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