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March 14, 2021

Kinetic Project

broots Energy, ITP

To better understand the function of a mechanical clock I made a simple Graham escapement, also known as a deadbeat escapement, based on a 3D print from user Dynasus over on Thingiverse. While my initial goal with this project was to find a method of counting days using a mechanical method I realized that I had a lot to learn about the basic function of mechanical clocks. Although using a different pendulum mechanism the explainer below that walks through the inner workings of a mechanical watch.

The escapement is an important part of a mechanical clock that converts the oscillating motion of a pendulum to a continuous and regulated forward rotation.

One modification I made after an initial 3D print was to the shaft of the escape wheel.

With some testing I found that the escape wheel could use 1/4 the weight (15 grams) of the spatula I was using (60 grams) and still have enough force to rotate the mechanism.

I modified the design of the shaft that winds the thread to have a smaller radius to shorten the distance the weight drops on each rotation of the escape wheel, effectively letting the mechanism run longer on the same length of string.

Measurement Project Simulation Project

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