Pythagoras Clock part VII (Tick Tock)

Yesterday night I worked with the electronics and a little bit of programing. The Pythagoras mechanism is making tic tock for the first time.

Here is a video of the first tick tock:



I learned a lot of things:

• I used a simple fade up / fade down routine but the response of the solenoid is not linear with the voltage
• I need to work on the mechanism:
  • Add weigh to the stopper lever
  • Polish the surface of the escapement wheel’s  teeth in contact with the pull lever as in some positions it get stock when returning
  • polish the arbor of the  escapement wheel and reduce the play as it is too loose in the arbor and some times it touches the third wheel. I placed some washers but I thin I will need to mill a new escapement.
  • Polish the rest of the arbors and teeth of all the wheels

This is a lot of work pending that will be done after I return from my business trip and find some time.

I made some provisional fixes and modified the program non linear analog output to smooth the solenoid action and added some weight to the stopper and the results were promising:



I am very exited with this project this will be a fantastic clock!