NOT laser made - Totally off topic clock machining

Well it’s not totally off topic, as something is being made. But holy crap this guy has got some incredible skills and tools! Check out this machinist’s work as he builds a clock from scratch (as well as the tools to make it) in his home machine shop. So far there are 15 videos in the growing series, and even though it has nothing to do with lasers, there are plenty of techniques demonstrated that would be useful to makers of all types.

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He does great work, watching him made me buy a lathe. The great thing is you can make a laser cut wood clock, get plans from lisaboyer.com, or one of these colobri www.derekhugger.com plans are pricy. I have some plans waiting on my Glowforge.

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There’s a trailer for the 2017 project - surely going to be fun to watch!

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Clickspring’s new project does look really interesting.

Someone recently made available a 3D model of a Curta calculator and I’ve been thinking about machining or 3D printing that. The 3D print would be faster but I’m not sure the parts would have enough precision or integrity to make the calculator actually usable. Clickspring’s implementation of an Antiklythera Mechanism would be a lot more doable and brass always looks good.

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It’s begun!

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I love this guy! I watched the entire skeleton clock and special tools series with my daughter last year. Even makes his own screws and fasteners! His teaser last year had me excited to see what he was going to make next. Excellent video presentation and craftsmanship.

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What?! This is sooooo awesome! Thanks for posting and bringing it to our (my) attention!

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Ok, I’m giving in to subscribing. He’s the absolute best there is on YouTube for beautiful making.

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If I can make something that is 1/100 that amazing with my GF, I’ll be ecstatic. I love the notion that beyond its standing as a most ancient machine, the AM is a sort of time capsule holding the heritage of science and technology. It’s a miracle that anyone ever got to see it again. Aren’t we lucky?
Thanks so much for sharing. :blush:

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If one of them was on a ship, what are the odds that an AM was not such an uncommon object? But in the ensuing centuries all the ones that were accessible above water would have been trashed, remelted, broken down for new uses etc.

It’s like the story of all the classical-era books/scrolls that got scraped down, thrown out, used for toilet paper…

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Yes, considering its existence was such a shock would suggest it was not that common. No others have survived.

One thing that makes me wonder is that no screws were used, yet it was the application of advancing an index on a threaded rod that enabled accuracy in producing incremented scales - essential in making gears and such.

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There is just so many levels of fascination about this, especially what steps were taken to desconstruct and represent. What other marvels are left to be discovered?

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Yes! Regarding the sophistication in the mechanism, at that point in history - makes me wonder why it took us another 4 thousand years to reach the moon!
We did take a few steps back, Alexandria, etc. But the technology represented in that thing leaves me on the brink of disbelief. :no_mouth:

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It couldn’t have been common, but if there had been another dozen or six scattered around the classical world they all might well have been lost. If find it hard to believe that it just popped up out of nowhere – there must have been earlier, simpler versions of the same kind of thing, and there must have been the tooling that produced it. But in a culture where craft secrets got passed down within a very limited group of people it could be easy to interrupt that transmission, and then the knowledge would be gone.

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Unless aliens gave it to us or left one behind when they last popped back through the Stargate :smile:

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My father was one of the last true watchmakers in Illinois or the Midwest really. Worked at his bench until he was 88 years old. Thank you for sharing this. Dad would have loved watching them. Much of what I saw, Dad did on a much smaller scale. I do have to say, in the video everything looks so clean and orderly, dad’s workspace looked more like an alchemist’s lair. The end result was very similar and the quality of the work, well, Bulova, Patec Philippe and Rollex were the standard to meet. Dad would propose when I didn’t have a tool to complete a jewelry project, " don’t have a tool? Well then, make it." And I would. I will enjoy the videos for the fond memories they evoke and perhaps to honor them in some way with my new Glowforge when I receive it.

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