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Mechanism Man
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« on: April 02, 2008, 02:47:28 pm » |
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Hello Ladies and Gents, Having more or less hi-jacked the last orrery thread, which was susequently moved to 'off topic' due to idle chat (sorry Amaturehour), I thought that I'd start a new one with some photos of the progress I've been making on building my own. All is going well so far, and the pictures show the first mock up of the rough cut frames containing the first few gears, as well as a photo of the gears themselves. More to follow - and very soon if all goes to plan.     |
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« Last Edit: April 02, 2008, 02:50:01 pm by Mechanism Man »
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Hieronimous Stonebender
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« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2008, 02:57:57 pm » |
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Wow, looks promising.
Are those lasercut or ...?
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2008, 03:02:22 pm » |
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All hand cut with a scroll saw. A bit time consuming, but works well if you're carefull.
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Maggoty Anne
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« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2008, 03:08:45 pm » |
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Good god, Mechanism Man.
I hope it works. It would be a crying shame for those beautiful gears to go to waste.
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"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's
work is terribly important."
-Bertrand Russell
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Jarod20
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« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2008, 03:54:42 pm » |
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I am impressed by the precision the teeth seem to have. Completely wood? what are you thinking paint wise or staining?
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Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not.
~George Bernard Shaw
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MechanicalMouse
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« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2008, 03:58:05 pm » |
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Where did you get the design or have you designed it from scratch? Either way amazing work
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2008, 04:18:19 pm » |
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All scratch built and designed by myself, mainly because I looked all over for plans and couldn't find any, so thought that I'd give it a go myself. Once you get your head around the gearing, there's not actually that much to them.
As far as painting/staining goes, I haven't decided yet, but I have to be carefull that whatever I use doesn't effect the teeth of the gears - it would be heart breaking to make it look nice but have it jammed solid!
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doctor philosophiae
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« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2008, 05:08:12 pm » |
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If it doesn't work you could always make a cog-mobile!
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Tallest
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« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2008, 06:06:25 pm » |
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Very nice! Any chance on some layout files posted here? I can't help but think what a great excuse this would be to commandeer the schools cnc plasma cutter for. I'm thinking make one a few meters tall out of steel as a lawn ornament. maybe power it with wind?
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2008, 06:45:14 pm » |
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I will certainly be posting the gear ratios, as for the layout of the frames - we shall see how this one turns out first, I may still have got it all horribly wrong!
Materials wise, at the moment its all 6mm marine grade birch ply - great for gears as it's easily worked, stable and very strong (no shearing off of the teeth to worry about). All the gears will run on brass tubes running in brass tube bearings, should mean it won't wear out and go loose and sloppy any time soon.
Right then, back to frame sanding - where's my mask?
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rogue_designer
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« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2008, 07:31:17 pm » |
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Huzzah!
That's coming along brilliantly Mechanism Man!
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Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
(Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes. But deserve a nice glass of absinthe. I have some Montemarte in the cabinet, if you wish.)
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2008, 08:06:06 pm » |
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Thankyou! Shall we try to stay in tactile this time?
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Khet Thelonius Maxwell
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« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2008, 08:10:27 pm » |
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Yes, let's try. Hopefully your planned gear will work as it's always heartbreaking to plan something then have it not turn out how you wanted. And if you can get it to work you really must release the plans as doing something like Tallest planned would be too fun to resist! A giant Orerry standing two meters tall just sitting in your front lawn...
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Disclaimer: The above post may not necessarily reflect the views of the Poster. Furthermore, the above post should also be taken with a grain of salt. Preferably, many grains.
"Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months" ~Oscar Wilde
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macmangan
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« Reply #13 on: April 02, 2008, 08:11:14 pm » |
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This is fantastic! Birch ply gears wow. Very inspiring to start making scratch built gears. Good luck on completion sir.
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Michael Bend Esq.
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« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2008, 08:14:01 pm » |
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May I inquire as to the detail of the model, i.e is it simply the planetary orbits, or are the moons orbits also accurate?
It seems I may have to Hi-jack the school's lazer cutter and make one.
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If you're not scared or angry at the thought of a human brain being controlled remotely, then it could be this prototype of mine is finally starting to work.
- John Alejandro King
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2008, 08:48:08 pm » |
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I've designed it to for all the planets out to Saturn, and all will run with an error of no more than 1 or 2 per cent over an Earth year. The earth will rotate on it's axis the 365 times per year, and our moon will do 13 orbits over the same period. I would have liked to go out further than saturn, but the gear trains involved in slowing them down enough would be horrendous, it made me go pale at just the thought of the size and/or number of gears needed to achieve it, so saturn is my limit. So far, all the gears are meshing beautifully smoothly, but there are still lots to fit. Keep crossing those fingers. And yes, a 10 foot one based on this design would be bloody brilliant!!  |
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rogue_designer
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« Reply #16 on: April 02, 2008, 08:52:51 pm » |
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I was curious too...
How are planning to calibrate it? ie. All planets in the approximate correct position for a given date - or is it more of an arbitrary model, showing the motion, but not tied to a specific timeline.
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #17 on: April 02, 2008, 09:10:22 pm » |
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I do have a calibration table for the next 2 years, so I'll set it up for the day it's finished, but yes, it'll be more of a close representation. As I put on another thread, you wouldn't want to plan a trip to Mars using it!
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rogue_designer
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« Reply #18 on: April 02, 2008, 09:23:32 pm » |
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I wonder how difficult it would be to tie the gearing to a calendar readout of some sort.
Hmm - will give me something to think about on my flight this afternoon.
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Hieronimous Stonebender
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« Reply #19 on: April 02, 2008, 10:46:16 pm » |
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I do have a calibration table for the next 2 years, so I'll set it up for the day it's finished, but yes, it'll be more of a close representation. As I put on another thread, you wouldn't want to plan a trip to Mars using it!
He he... Impressive none the less... I would never had the nerve to start a project like this... Then again... I'll see how yours turn out, and then maybe... |
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #20 on: April 02, 2008, 11:02:45 pm » |
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I wonder how difficult it would be to tie the gearing to a calendar readout of some sort.
There will be a calender showing the basic seasons for Earth, but nothing more elaborate I'm afraid. Unfortunately, the complexity of making it accurate enough to dial in a date in the future, and then end up with correct planetary positions is well beyond my mathematical expertise. For instance, how would you begin to take into account leap years? I don't think that any self respecting astronomer has any competition from me just yet when it comes to space predictions. Tonight I've fitted the bottom layer of gearing (driving the shafts for the first three planets) into my newly sanded frames and so far, so good. There is the odd bit of fettling needed every now and again to get the gears meshing as well as I need, but other then that it's all working fine. Sounds nice too! More photos tommorrow. And a film soon after that?! |
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amateurhour
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« Reply #21 on: April 03, 2008, 02:43:04 am » |
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Mechman, you're a lifesaver. This is exactly what I've been looking for. Seeing as how I don't have access to an industrial setup like that, I'm worried, because I will have to hand cut all those gears, but I've got nothing but patience for this project.
I'm looking forward to the blueprints and build up.
Thanks for all of the help and inspiration so far.
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Mercury Wells
Rogue Ætherlord
I insiste that you do call me WELLS. :)
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« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2008, 04:13:34 am » |
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If it doesn't work you could always make a cog-mobile!
"Holy steampipes, Cogman!" "My thoughts exactly GearBoy. Quickly...to the Cogmobile!" (Sorry, I just had to write that*.  ) * I'll just hand in my resignation now. |
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #23 on: April 03, 2008, 09:06:43 am » |
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If it doesn't work you could always make a cog-mobile!
"Holy steampipes, Cogman!" "My thoughts exactly GearBoy. Quickly...to the Cogmobile!" Hmm, Cogman you say? Cogman... That could work... A new identity, and damn, I look GOOD in spandex! |
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Mechanism Man
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« Reply #24 on: April 03, 2008, 09:25:13 am » |
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On a more serious note, I kind of ground to halt last night for the stupidest of reasons, I have four larger sizes of brass tube (up to 11mm) that I didn't think to check that I had drill bits for! It's always the silly things that trip you up. When I first joined the RAF, one of my armament tutors used to say that we should always apply the rule of the six P's before we do anything - that being 'Prior Planning Prevents P**s Poor Performance'. I think I should have remembered that when I bought my materials. Doh!  |
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