DIY Moon Phase Dial

[Gina]

52 minutes ago, MarkyD said:

A nice piece of acrylic with some twinkly leds in it would be the icing on the cake

--

Mark

Interesting idea but I don't really think so.

[Gina]

54 minutes ago, saac said:

I love the blue card and the one with the subtle green light, just comes across really crisp and clean.  Gina this is absolutely fantastic, I'm well envious you have something really special there.

 

Jim

Thank you Jim   Green or yellow/green light seems to work well with the light blue card.  Yellow light on the blue card shows as green.

[Gina]

10 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

If you can get to The Range they do a lot of card/craft supplies etc. at good prices

Thank you Neil   Yes, I've heard of them though not actually been there.  I have a friend who has a huge range of craft stuff who might have some suitable card.  I'll phone her tomorrow and see.

[Gina]

Another photo.

Found a roll of paper - pity it's not blue with white stars

[Gina]

I think if I stick the pieces of card together the join will hardly show.  One other possibility - I have A3 watercolour art paper which I could colour wash with some watercolour paint

[Gina]

Added shaped piece of card to the top right corner and glued the pieces of card together.  The top bit is actually slightly different from the rest but it doesn't show.  I have yet to add lighting for that dark patch top middle.

[Stub Mandrel]

Much better :-)

[Gina]

Corrected colour balance.

[Gina]

Having a day off from projects today   Need a rest

[Gina]

I have the clock hung on the wall using the screw the original analogue pendulum clock was hung on but I'm not happy with the position so will probably put a screw in the wall in a different position.  The case looks rather deep but the moon phase dial needs the depth.  I considered making the clock thinner but the moon dial still needs 100mm and I don't think it would look right with the top curved part thicker/deeper than the main clock.  I think it may well look a lot better once I have the domed top part made and fitted.

There are a number of minor things to put right as well as the remaining case construction.  Also, there are several things I need to think about.  On top of that I'm feeling a bit stale regarding this project and need to step back a bit from the rock-face. 

Here is a list of the little problems I need to resolve (in no particular order) :-

1. Card in the RHS top corner has caught on the ratchet wheel and bent back.
2. LED strip to be mounted behind a crosswise frame section, to light dark area.
3. Seconds wheel hub had printed eccentrically on UP 3D printer,  causing problem with hands.
4. Noise from the stepper motor is more than I would like.

 

[Pan Euro]

Even with those "issues" it still looks good Gina.

Ed

[Gina]

Thanks Ed   Yes, I am quite pleased with the appearance   But appearances can be deceptive   That photo was taken around 1pm... can you see a problem?  Scroll down...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to issue no.3 above the minute hand magnet isn't close enough to operate the Hall sensor causing the time setting to fail and the clock doesn't show the right time   I have to fix the problem with the seconds wheel hub.  Either get a 3D printer working properly or turn an aluminium hub on the lathe.

[Gina]

Here is a diagram of the seconds wheel, axle and ball bearings.  The defective part is shown in yellow.   The ali plate is mid grey.  The bearings are held in 3D printed housings, not shown, attached to the ali plate and main box.  The extra hub was required since the gear wheel was not tight enough on the axle to drive it.

[Gina]

Just checked my round metal stock and I have a piece of aluminium stock about 25.5mm diameter and 110mm long which would be ideal for making a new hub.  Threaded hole for an M3 grub screw to hold the hub onto the axle and three more to attach the seconds wheel.

[Gina]

I plan to turn this aluminium hub tomorrow in daylight.  I'm hoping it will be somewhat more successful than 3D printing one as things are at peesent

[Gina]

The main noise from the clock drive is a rattle with a quieter buzz.  The noise varies as the motor gear rotates so I reckon I may be able to reduce it.  In fact it might be better once I get a new hub on the mating seconds gear.  Suitable placing of sound damping foam may also help.

[Gina]

It's cold today and may be a bit too cold out in the back porch where the lathe is - have to see, might be better a bit later if the sun stays out.

[Gina]

Started the parting off - everything takes a long time on this lathe as cutting has to be taken very slowly or the tool jams in the work.  These cheap Chinese lathes are not built strong enough and things move!   Better the nothing though - or an electric drill in a vice

Should add...  diameter of workpiece too big to go through hole in chuck so needed to chop off a suitable length for the job.

[Gina]

I think my lathe needs another service - everything seems to have worked loose.  And I'd forgotten how long turning takes compared with 3D printing   Done a bit more but it will take several hours to complete...

[Gina]

I'm going to have another go with my UP 3D ptrinter - see if I can get it to work.  It's too cold out where the lathe is and I don't feel like spending an hour or two servicing it.

[ChrisLX200]

My lathe is also in an un-heated garage, I never feel like working in there when it's cold these days ;-)  Heating the whole place up takes ages so wasteful (and expensive) for small jobs. I won't use a propane space heater because it chucks out so much water vapour which settles out on the cold metal tools, so only an electric heater is viable really.

ChrisH

[Gina]

I don't think heating my back porch would work - too much ventillation

[Gina]

I've combined 3D printing with turning   Printed the item very slightly oversize (about half a millimetre), carefully opened the hole up to 5mm to fit the shaft tightly then put shaft with hub attached in the lathe and trimmed it down to round and concentric on the 12mm hub and perpendicular on the gear end.  Only needed a couple of tenths of a mm but it's amazing how much this error is multiplied at the end of a 130mm clock hand with bearings only around 50mm apart.  Now to see if I've succeeded

[Gina]

Not tested properly yet but looks like it may be alright.  Been doing other odds and ends while I've got it all stripped down.  Cut back the top of the box so that I can mount a string of LEDs to light the dark patch and the moon drive.  Also trimmed the card so that it doesn't catch on gears and straightened it out etc.  Applied white lithium grease to the gear wheels with the hope of reducing the rattling...

[Gina]

I think it's alright now   The seconds hub I mean.  The hands seem to stay pretty much the same distance from the dial all the way round and both Hall sensors work.  I need to adjust the hands a bit as the minute hand is tending to catch on the hour hand.  It's only very slight so heating one or other hand and bending it a little should do the job.

The gears rattle when running fast for setting up and there's quite a lot of wobble.  I think the spacing of the main axles may be just a bit too much with the gears barely meshing so I might adjust that.  The spacing of the motor gear and seconds wheel are near enough perfect.  The gears didn't print perfectly so there is a bit more backlash in one place than the opposite side.  The error is less than half a millimetre so good enough.

Once running normally the gear rattle has completely gone and there's just a slight hum from the motor which is only audible in a quiet room without other sounds (TV, radio, etc.).  This is with the clock on the table so things might be a bit different when it's hung on the wall.

The background card is now clear of all moving parts but could do with support round the edge to keep it flat.  OTOH I may replace it with something stiffer later.  Just a bit of nit picking really.

Now that British Summer Time has arrived I shall need to add an hour to the RTC when setting up the time.  No problem.