Thursday 26 September 2013

7 months too late for Valentine's day (or is it 5 months too early?)

Well, it's finished and I'm happy with the way it has turned out. The mechanism took me a long time to figure out (as always) but it was valuable experience. 

Onto the next one! :)


Friday 20 September 2013

A few pics and stuff

Well, a day late but here are some pics and some video. 

First, here is the video of the old mechanism and the way it was working (not very well):


The wheel on the left was meant to move an escapement thing which would stop the friction slave wheel and hold it in position, until the escapement let it pass again. I couldn't quite get the timing right.

Here is the new mechanism. 


I've gone back to the worm drive as I can handle them quite well now but there is a slight dwell in the movement meaning the movement is quite jerky. I made 2 sets of snail cams but the first set made the movement too slow, so I made a new one to speed things up. The first one wasn't as jerky though. Hmmm. But, it does work and it stops the mechanism precisely where I want it. Now to fit the snail cams and see if they work. 

Definite inspiration from Paul Spooner and his mechanisms. Thanks Paul!

Here are more pics:










I like the new design. It looks a lot cleaner. Hopefully I'll have it finished by next week. Not a good time of year to sell a Valentine's themed model though :)

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Well what d'you know?

I've cracked the mechanism for my valentine's model! It's a bit slow so I need to make a faster gearing system but it actually works!

Inspiration for this goes to Paul Spooner who gave me an idea for an escapement mechanism. Pics to follow tomorrow. 

I now have to wait until February to try and sell it though. 

:)

Sorry for the long gap between posts. Now that I've got the hard part of this model out of the way, I can hopefully finish it soon and start on my Christmas model.