Pendulum Clock

[wagnmkr]

Since my machining days are done, I miss making stuff. I learned to spin and weave, and continue to do that, but it isn't quite enough.

I had a 3d printer about 5 years ago and did quite a bit with it, but nothing to really show anywhere near what they can do.

I just got a new Ender3 s1Pro and after setting it up and tweaking it a bit, I am ready to try a project.

This is what I will attempt ....  https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-small-pendulum-wall-clock-136608

I am doing a test to make sure the machine will do the quality required for it to run. It should do as the original was done on a similar machine.

[crueby]

That should be a pretty clock, nice design. 


The one thing I learned quickly when trying to print parts for gears and shafts is that sometimes the design needs minor tweaks to get the holes the size needed, and get the gear teeth to mesh well. The printers often have a little tolerance to the side walls that you have to take into account by printing a test piece and measuring it.
 

[wagnmkr]

That is what I am testing now Chris. These few test prints will give me some of the answers I need.

[Krypto]

I printed one of Steve's other clocks, the Coup Perdu, because I liked it's auto-winding feature.

As long as it's setup correctly, your printer will easily print that clock. These clocks were specifically designed to work well printed from the average 3D printer.

[wagnmkr]

Thanks for the confirmation. I chose this one to begin with because it did seem tried and true and there was a lot of work done on it by the originator.

You did a fine job on yours. Does it keep good time?

Cheers

Tom

[Krypto]

It can do a decent job, within a minute a day, but I had trouble keeping the clock running. The first run went over a week, but later on I had troubles. I think the spring I used for the clutch was a little strong and perhaps some of the gear axles, which are just 1/16" music wire, may have bent a little while adjusting the time. It's difficult to diagnose the problems with the clock when it will run for a few days and then just stop.

This was a winter project and I kinda forgot about it until now. Right now the workbench is clear so maybe I'll try and tear it apart, inspect the axles, give it a good clean and see how it runs after that.

Here's a video I shot the highlights the re-winder mechanism.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dM3IGUsbnE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dM3IGUsbnE</a>

[wagnmkr]

I have the main frame pieces printed and epoxied together. I did it in two pieces as my printer bed is barely big enough to do 1 piece and I wanted to do a good brim around the parts to keep them from lifting, which apparently is what these pieces want to do no matter what printer they are on.

[crueby]

Krypto - did you make that re-winder gizmo?

[ddmckee54]

wagnmkr:

Everything expands when it gets hotter.  The plastic that you are using will shrink as it cools, causing the warping.  Heating the print bed helps, but when you start printing tall parts, you'll still have a 150 degree C temperature difference between the top of the print and what's contacting the print bed - something is bound to give.

When I was printing the main hull part for my RC Benchy I kept getting one spot that lifted off the bed, and a layer shift about 70-80% thru the print - it was a 22 hour print with no support and was about 210mm tall.  You were supposed to be able to print it with no support and no brim.  I printed it 4 times before I got a good one.  First with no brim and no support, second with support and no brim, third with a brim and no support, and lastly with support and a brim and got a winner. - took over 26 hours.  It was all caused by the print warping slightly as it cooled.

Everybody's printer has a different personality and behaves differently.  You need to find out what yours' likes and work with it.

Don

[AlexS]

Awesome. Hint me to get back working on my metal clock

[Krypto]

Here's the website of the designer of these clocks:

https://www.stevesclocks.com/

The clock I posted was SP8 "Coup Perdu" while wagnmkr is working on SP1 "Small Pendulum Clock". On my clock, the re-winder was baked into the design, all I did was hit CTLR-P and keep the filament flowing

Wagnmkr, are you using PLA filament? You shouldn't have any problems printing these parts.  There's nothing simpler than flat parts, although I did make sure that my printer was well calibrated with no excess of first layer smoosh to avoid elephant foot to keep the parts dimensionally accurate.  See the 1st picture of a clock gear printed on a sheet of PEI.

The last 3 pics are of the MOON light. It's the biggest thing I ever printed as I pushed my old Ender 3 to the max. As you can see in the 1st pic, as a sphere there's not much of the object holding it to the table. Nevertheless, after 2 days I got a perfect print without any warping or other issues.

Yes, there's a LED bulb inside providing light and it's oddly realistic. M-O-O-N spells moon! 

[wagnmkr]

wagnmkr:



Everybody's printer has a different personality and behaves differently.  You need to find out what yours' likes and work with it.

Don

Every filament type has a personality as well and I am getting used to both a new machine and filament.
It is getting there. I am using pla at the moment and I am finding better results if I have the cooling turned off so no fan on the part.
You are correct about the temperature difference between the top and bottom of a print. The fan seemed to be cooling it off too quickly.
It has been five years since I played with these things and there are quite a few changes in the machines.

Cheers

Tom

[wagnmkr]

Krypto, I am using pla on this. It is Crealty CR series matte. I am finding it is very sensitive to the cooling fan.

[wagnmkr]

Just a quick family shot of what has been printed so far.

There are a couple of pieces that I might redo. I have never had a lot of success at tall, skinny things, and there is a bunch of that stuff in this project.

It is getting better though.

[wagnmkr]

This was supposed to take 12 hours to print, according to the slicer numbers. I checked it twice before I started and got the same time with both. But, for some strange reason, it took just over 15 hours to print .

I had not changed anything on the control panel during printing so I have no idea why this happened. It all worked and I managed the colour changes with no drama, I just can't figure out why it took so long.