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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.
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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
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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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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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