Member postings for Alan Wood 4

Good morning Andy

Your model is similar in many ways but I cannot see the fine tune rods that are on mine. These hinge out of the central boss. Looking at your pictures there appears to be something behind the boss that might perform the same function but I can't see what it is.

My method of setup was : -

Measure and check that the two rods are balanced about the central boss.

Set the rods to be vertical with the clock at rest and with a the escape wheel blocked from rotating and clear of the pallets.

I then every so slightly tilted the rods so the balls at the top were closer than than those at the bottom. It is a tiny amount and must not be overdone. If you do the escape wheel will spin and modify your pallet shapes ... not good.

Release the escape wheel and then watch the action as you rock the rods back and forth. The pallets will rock in and out and should cleanly engage. You are correct that as one engages it causes a slight backward motion of the escape wheel to release the previously engaged one. This action is assisted by the action and reaction effect of the spring as shown in your picture. Do not try to change the profile of the spring. I had different types of spring and replace them with two compression springs which works OK but is not strictly a correct implementation. I rather like how yours has been done.

Once you have got some motion going there must be a fine tune mechanism which must be to do with the plate I can see behind the central boss. You will have to play with the tilt of the ball rods as per above

I am guessing the rear has the two meshed quadrants that swing back and forth with the ball rods. There will be a timing adjustment on these to set the accuracy. Mine is not wonderful on timing but does provide a great source of interest to the grandchildren. The people who produced mine did not make an accurately toothed escape wheel and the wheel has an eccentric wobble so timing

I am no expert and simply spent a lot of time watching the action and making fine adjustments. No doubt the forum experts will have other opinions but hey ho.

I have posted a copy of the instructions that came with my clock on the relevant webpage which might be helpful.

**LINK**

Kind regards

Alan

Good morning Andy

I would be interested in some pictures when you have a minute. Don't despair, it is all about tinkering and learning new things and new techniques otherwise you don't broaden your skills and knowledge. Keep me posted on your progress and if the pictures reveal any idea I will come back to you.

Kind regards

Alan

Hello Andy

Have a look at my website for more details.

If you want a couple of the 3D printed bosses let me know.

**LINK**

Kind regards

Alan

Good evening Stumpy and thanks for your message. Tormach gave me three references in the UK before I bought and I am in regular communication with one of these.

I no longer post on the forum but deemed this information worthy of breaking silence to those interested. With hindsight I should have put a link to the post on my website to make life easier. If you follow this link you will get my full write up which is on the opening page, second entry down.

The fix worked for me straightaway and has been good ever since. The other good thing is that once you are connected you get live updates automatically downloaded to the machine. I think this problem dropped off the end of the shift register in doing the upgrade checking and there will be a 2.0.1 issued shortly.

It is important to watch Dropbox loading if you enable this.

There is quite a lot of other Tormach/Fusion 360 and 3D printing on the site which might take your fancy. This includes an illuminator light for the Tormach spindle using an ebay Angel Light.

Hope that helps.

Kind regards

Alan

For those who have recently upgraded to the newly released PathPilot Version 2 and in the process lost connectivity to the shared network folder, I have posted a fix on my website. Care is also needed if you install the new Dropbox sharing feature. I have also posted same to NYC CNC forum for those subscribing.

www.altrish.co.uk

I think his 2nd and more recent 'I am not going to post anymore' is due to a PM exchange we had between us.

I had asked via a forum post for specific information and support on a subject and immediately received from him a string of unsolicited links in response, which, while generic on the subject, were going to be first stops for anyone with any meagre ability with a search engine.

Subsequently via a PM I commented to him that I thought that his local search engine service could put some people off and perhaps 'less might be more' and certainly less likely to undermine his standing and his in depth personal knowledge and experience.

If I am the cause then clearly I must have touched the same nerve as others had earlier in the year.

Good evening John and Martin

After a lot of suck it and see I have the clock ticking along nicely.

As earlier discussed it took some understanding and I now see how the pallets push down on the EW to keep the momentum on the pendulums.

I came to the conclusion that as the springs were of different shapes there was bound to be some inconsistency. I have therefore replaced the pressure A spring with a torsion spring mounted in an existing hole on M2.5 bolt and have replaced the spacer mount pillar with a similar dimension post but with an eccentric notch filed in it so I can rotate it and change the spring pressure. It is not a good picture but you can see the new post and spring if you squint. The old spring can be seen on the larger picture in the album.

As yet I have not replaced the pressure B spring. This one is important in the set up to act as a stop for the pallet disengagement.

The two lengths of the pendulum arms are not very different now I have brought it into time. The lower one if anything is slightly longer.

The tick and tock sound fairly similar but sometimes do change slightly for short time. I think there is some bowing of the EW and the pallets hit differently as a result.

Thanks again for all your support and advice.

Kind regards

Alan

I think the clock was sold as a kit and has come to me two or three times removed.

It all looks OK and the movement certainly has power.

I think the counterweight is a fine adjustment and changing the pressure point B timing is critical but I can't be sure if the tail is wagging the dog.

B opens on engagement and A is under compression and vice versa so B must act as damping on disengagement.

Thanks to everyone's help I can say I have made progress today. I can make it run for 10 to 20 beats then it stops. I don't seem to get a happy compromise whereby both pallets clear the tooth peak either in going or outgoing.

There are so many variables .... changing the position of the pendulums wrt to the rear quadrants, changing the pendulum lengths, changing their angle of dangle.

Tomorrow is another day.

The Wine Society at Stevenage keeps a stack of empty wooden wine shipment boxes in their shop entrance which you can take for a small contribution to charity.

These make lovely drawers and storage boxes for little cost and they have a nice regional branded image on the end face.

There is the added advantage that if you are desperate and it's after midday you can always sniff the wood.

Progress but it is remarkably fussy thing.

Following your collective contributions I realised that the spring has a double action to push the pallet arm in both directions.

Pressure #A in the drawing is obvious but I had missed it needs the Pressure #B to force the pallet to disengage.

By adjusting this pressure I have got it to engage and disengage and it to run .... for a few strokes at least. Some fine tuning needed.

Excellent input John and very much appreciated. I am near Newbury.

I will experiment further and come back to you, Will also PM.

Alan

The glossy sales sheet from Devon Clocks that came with the clock claims lignum vitae but it looks like SRBF to me.

Both landline and mobile numbers go to voice mail

Devon Sea Clocks who are the original kit supplier seem to have morphed from Devon to Monmouth and so far have not replied to my messages. Interestingly while the original Devon based company offered a number of kits, the new company has reduced these down to one (Congreve) with 'Sea Clock to follow'. I am interpreting this as a redesign being underway.

I think the copy in my hands has been built from a kit and is marked 98/500. It is a nice looking device complete with cover and what is more important, the wife likes the look of it and it has been sideboard approved.

The main clock movement seems to work fine and has plenty of power but the EW and pallets are not controlling it.

There are two quadrants at the rear that mesh and are rocked by and control two front mounted pendulum arms with balls on each end as per Harrison H1. These rock in anti-phase. The shaft holding these components has ball races in the front and back plates.

The pallets sit at the centre of each of the pendulums bosses and should 'flop' (for want of a better word) in and out of the EW as the pendulum arms rock. The pallets are made of what looks like SRBF and rock freely within their boss and there is a small bias rod to change their emphasis as to when they flop in the pendulum cycle. There is a pallet spring on each which clearly is meant to give a return but both these were floating free on receipt.

The combination of these components is the cause of frustration.

The springs appear too strong for their action and the routing of the springs inside the centre hub and its intended pressure point is not clear. It is also unclear whether the arms of the two pendulums should be symmetrical about the centre boss. When I set this equal the rear quadrants naturally bias to the end of their curve rather than central so have a restricted movement.

If I remove the EW the arms swing freely but not for an extended period. It maybe that the ball bearings on their shafts have not been de-greased but this is a complete strip down which I want to hold off doing for now unless it inter relates to the problem.

Ideally I need someone who has done a similar laying on of hands.

Alan

The problem is specific to the Devon Sea Clock design and not generic grasshopper or Harrison related both of which are well documented on the net.

I have come by a Devon Sea Clock and needless to say it does not run. It is a grasshopper escape mechanism with some aspects of Harrison's H1 design.

After a few hours of frustration I still cannot get my head around the setting up of the grasshopper pallets and associated springs. I realise the pallets do not follow the EW profile but simply 'peck' in and out but the mechanism is not obvious.

Thoughts appreciated ... doesn't have to be on a Dawlish postcard.

Alan

This is a copy of an old post relating to Abrafile replacement which might be of interest.

While browsing in Axminster I saw their Japanese Free-Way Saw and was taken by the very thin spiral blade that is available for it. The problem was that the blade had a chunky loop at each end to grip it in the saw frame. The loop is crimped to the blade with a small diameter boss not unlike the diameter of the bulbous ends of the Abrafile.

On one end of the blade I trimmed off the loop to leave just the boss. I then replaced the non handle end of the saw body clamp with a 7mm square 36mm long section piece of steel with a tapped M4 hole in one end. At the other end I milled a trough (12mm) to take the boss and a lead hole/slot to suit the blade diameter.

The blade mount is fastened in place with a M4 cap head and washer and the blade is tensioned as normal by revolving the handle.

The blade stroke length is reduced to around 4.5" but that aside the blades are quite aggressive on brass and aluminium.

Hi Colin

As a comparison it might be worth looking at William Smith's Gravity Arm Gearless clock which also uses the pin wheel and daisy mechanism. It has a seconds pawl off the pendulum which initiates the pin wheel pawl and hence the daisy. It is a pain to initially set up but once you've got your head round it, it keeps reasonable time.

While Bill described how to build many different styles of clocks, they were practical descriptions on how to make them rather than any heavy theory behind them. His other books and videos on practical workshop skills relating to clocks (and Morse keys) are an excellent grounding for anyone coming new to the hobby.

Alan

I have a close tolerance but significantly overlapping joint I wish to seal that is inaccessible for soldering or brazing. Is there a compound I can use that will withstand steam pressure ?

Thanks

Alan

Further comment on Muzzer's about cloud storage.

I logged on in the classroom in the US and had my desktop just as I left it in the UK.

I arrived back home and immediately had all the examples we worked on and the setups used for the CAM. I have these as references to work back against in my further adventures. No thumb stick transfers. No import routines.

Wonderful.