Small projects...I was trying to think of something to do with an Arduino board the other night but that one got out of hand. The idea was a mechanical clock, with a motor to pulse every second. I thought I’d be in with a half a chance using timing belts and pulleys. So I look up and pick a range of pulleys and a motor, managed to work out the ratios. By this point, the project had expanded to a clock probably with a 2 foot dial and a wild guess of £200-£300 for belts and pulleys alone!

That really ended the notion but I was still curious to see if I could do it (unlikely) and started trying to sketch things and looking for software that might help (deciding that it would take me ages to even get started with FreeCad…). One thing I did find though was one site where, by coincidence, the owner had at one time hit on a very similar clock idea, down to the same range of pulleys and abandoned for similar reasons to me.

That at least led me to a site that kept me amused for a few hours while I couldn’t sleep and may perhaps have some practical use one day. That gear arrangement btw is some form of approximation (with a couple of gears added and this doesn’t take what would be the hands to a common central point) of what I’d have needed with the belts and pulleys. I’d have liked to have speeded it up so the final (hour) gears showed a ratio of 1RPM rather than the minute stage but the program wont run that fast.

Oh well back to more sensible things like getting the green houses ready.