Kinetic Project

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.