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vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

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Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 7
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      Ie the gear down to generate minutes/hours to tell time is also what creates the leverage to control the dynamics. The range this trick works goes from Big Ben to desktop size. And then you switch to a balance wheel oscillator instead of gravity, to go down to wristwatch size.

      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 7
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      I’ll write this up as part 2 of my clockmaking blogchain, here’s part 1. Highly recommend this ROKR kit. Commune with Galileo and Huygens for under 50 bucks.https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2020/08/13/clockmaking-1/ …

      2 replies 1 retweet 23 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      Today, for the first time, it’s been going continuously for over an hour without stopping, after some fairly brutal microsurgery on the gear train. Sometimes you gotta brute force this shit a bit

      2 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      2 hours and counting. Holy crap there’s a small chance this will run a full 24h. Afaict I’ve bullied all the frictions into submission. Fingers crossed 🤞

      2 replies 0 retweets 14 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      3 hourspic.twitter.com/W1Oskyz4jj

      1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      Since it's a mechanical clock, 12 hours is the full cycle test. If it makes it past 12, there's no sticky bits anywhere in the gear train. Interesting... just hit me that since such clocks are typically meant to be wound every day, each windup is n=2 full cycles.

      1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
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    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      If it makes it, I'll do a final light tightening of all wobbly bits, maybe paint some fluorescent numbers on the dials and hands, and put it up on a shelf.

      2 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
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    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      Dammit. Stopped at 4.5h. And now cat is rubbing aggressively against table it’s on. Not out of the woods yet.

      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
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    9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      I'm going to have to resist the temptation to fight this endlessly. I mean this is laser-cut wood, push-fit assembled. Still, getting it to run a full spring-wind-down seems like not too much to ask. I don't need perfection. Just outlast the unwind.

      1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
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    10. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      Rube Goldberg Chindogu idea... attach an arduino meta-control loop that notices if it stops via optical sensor interrupted by the pendulum, and gives the rocker a li'l kick if it does

      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
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      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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      I think the cat is jealous of the clock

      5:16 PM - 16 Sep 2020
      • 5 Likes
      • Nate Angell Vanse 🟢 Erik Vincent Smykal Nick Parker
      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          Anyone who gets this kit built and ticking smoothly on first attempt is some sort of mechanical genius. I’ve gone: 10s, 30s, 55s, 5 minutes, 25 minutes, 55 minutes, 4.5 hours, and now back to 20-30 min range. I suspect it’s the spring force wind-down.

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        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          Yup. Rewound to full tightness and it’s going steadily again. I may be down in the noise zone of friction. It’s not a specific sticking point. To test this, I’d have to note all gear positions at each stall. Should be uniform random?

          1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
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        4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          I’ll measure this, but after first stall at 4:30, with each gentle impulse on rocker it went for a shorter interval each time. By the time it was ~1 minute, strength of initial impulse was determining the duration so pendulum was driving, not spring.

          2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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        5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          I’m sciencing the shit out of this problem that Huygens cracked in 1658 😎 Bringing up the rear of the scientific revolution like a boss.pic.twitter.com/njIIgjGPrP

          3 replies 0 retweets 10 likes
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        6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Grinch Knipps

          Looks like the spring is maybe not actually designed for 24h 😬 Well let’s see how long I can get it to run, and how much energy is left in the spring when it runs out. I’m guessing 5-6h with my slightly shoddy assembly, maybe 10-12 if perfectly assembled.https://twitter.com/Knipps/status/1306438464175403008 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Grinch Knipps @Knipps
          Replying to @vgr
          Not sure if it’s the same kit, but the Amazon listing says it’s not meant to run for an extended duration. - This is a model clock kits, not a real clock. - The clock will run for a few hours once it is fully wound.
          1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
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        7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Sep 16
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          New record: 4:59....😬😬😬😬 Damn thing couldn’t scrape through to 5 huh I’m gonna call this done. Looks like this is actually close to the spring limit. Probably only has another hour of juice left tops, if I keep rejogging the rocker

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
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        8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Oct 14
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          Venkatesh Rao Retweeted Ribbonfarm

          Wrote it all uphttps://twitter.com/ribbonfarm/status/1316538512976404480 …

          Venkatesh Rao added,

          Ribbonfarm @ribbonfarm
          'tis done. Clockmaking: 2 https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2020/10/14/clockmaking-2/ …
          Show this thread
          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        9. End of conversation

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