{"data":{"model":{"id":"69659","slug":"pendulum-clock","name":"Pendulum Clock","authorship":"author","club":false,"excludeCommercialUsage":false,"price":null,"eduProject":null,"ratingAvg":"5.0000000000","myRating":null,"ratingCount":5,"description":"

The goal was to create a compact, reliable, accurate and easy to build mechanical clock without any extraordinary modern or futuristic design and shape so they both look nice and have good readability as a common wall clock for your living room.

I designed this clock with respect to a classical concept of mechanical pendulum clock: 8 day run time, a pendulum hanging on a spring, cyclodial gears, Harrison mechanism, number of gears and their ratio. Many aspects of the design come up from more than 60 years old book.

All parts should be easy to print and I tried to use as much 3D printed components as possible and if not (such as ball bearings and springs), use some common and not expensive components.

Properties

Seconds pendulum
Graham escapement
One week run time with 79 cm drop (11.3 cm per day); designed as 8 day
Cyclodial gear design (their approximation to be exact): this is standard in most of the regular clock (note that almost all clocks online use standard involute gearing that is not best for clocks)
Harrison mechanism: no need to stop the pendulum while winding
Accurate time: error up to 30 s per week or better
Customizable clock face

Before printing

Required or recomended tools and parts

If you have access to a common workshop (at home) you should be totally fine.

3D printer - build size at least 200\u00d7200 mm
Filament - PLA
Vice/press/hammer especially for pressing bearings into place
Pliers
Files for finishing parts (should be needed only for finishing the pallet, but usually you need them here and there\u2026)
Standard printer and stick glue (like Kores) for printing clock face
Weight (about 1.5 kg + a few hundreds grams for the pendulum) - steel balls, bolts,\u2026
Drill and glue if my tolerances don't work for you\u2026
Hacksaw and files or a lathe and a milling machine if you make the main shaft out of steel
Patience :)

Required parts

\u00d81.4mm steel shafts or nails (32mm) (or 1.5mm with drillbit\u2026)
\u00d80.6mm nylon fishing line (or a bit thinner)
3x 608 ball bearings
\u00d86mm wooden rod (1m)
7 pen springs (~\u00d84.5 mm \u00d7 20 mm): 6 for Harrison mechanism (but it will work even with 4-5) and 1 for hands mechanism.
Small (steel) hook made out of steel rod (~\u00d83mm) for hanging the weight (but not necessary, you can hang the weight by a string directly)

Cut the nails (or rods) according to this table:

Length	Quantity
8 mm	10*
10 mm	4
15 mm	4*
20 mm	2
25 mm	2

*3 gear shafts can be made as one part 36 mm long.

Fishing line: roughly 2 m for winding and about 50 cm for the weight (here you can use regular string/cord). I recommend using an \u201ceight knot/loop\u201d whenever is a knot or loop needed.

Ball bearings: Be sure they are clean, without too much grease (you should be okay without any grease).

Wooden rod: Cut it to approximatelly 98 cm, it very much depends on your pendulum weight. It is a good idea to first cut it into a longer piece (or don't cut it at all if you already bought a 1m long rod). Only if the sliding mechanism doesn't allow you to set pendulum position, reduce the rod length even more.

Printing

I designed this clock for printing with standard 0.4mm nozzle. However, priting small parts with smaller nozzle diameter is a good idea. Use your standard settings, don't print too fast. Print gears and smaller parts at lower layer height (0.12 or 0.1 mm).

All STL files are in mm.

You can choose among different dial versions:

Or create a custom version for yourself by editing one of these (same for the numerals and hands).

You can also choose whatever color combination you like, I personally like one color for gears and different for other parts.

Part name	STL file name	Qty	Comment
1. Skeleton
Back plate	Back_plate.stl	1	I created version with improved stiffness, but the difference should not be too big.
Back_plate_stiffness.stl
Middle plate	Middle_plate.stl	1
Front plate	Front_plate.stl	1
Cover	Cover.stl	4
Friction bearing	Bearing.stl	8
Front cover	Cover_front.stl	1
Dial	Dial_main.stl	1
Dial outer edge	Outer_edge.stl	1	Use brim.
Dial center	Center_filled.stl	1
Center_empty.stl	Use brim.
Center_hex.stl
Center_pattern1.stl	Looks cool when printed on glass bed.
Pin	Pin.stl	4
2. Gears
2.1 Main shaft
Shaft	Shaft.stl	1	Use at least 5 perimeters. If making out of steel, see drawing bellow.
Washer	Washer.stl	2
Main wheel	Main_wheel_120.stl	1
Ratchet wheel large	Ratchet_wheel_large.stl	1
Pawl large	Pawl_large.stl	1
Ratchet wheel small	Ratchet_wheel_small.stl	1
Pawl small	Pawl_small.stl	3
Large pawl stop	Stop.stl	1
Drum	Drum.stl	1
2.2 Minute shaft
Minute wheel	Minute_wheel_64_12.stl	1
Locking nut	Locking_nut.stl	1
Rotating part	Rotating_part.stl	1
2.3 Third shaft
Third wheel	Third_wheel_60_8.stl	1
Extension tube 1	Tube1.stl	1
2.4 Escape shaft
Escape wheel	Escape_wheel_30_8.stl	1
Extension tube 2	Tube2.stl	1
2.5 Pallet shaft
Pallet shaft	Pallet_shaft.stl	1
Pallet	Pallet_exact.stl	1	Only for precise printing or machining like SLA.
Pallet_not_finished_yet.stl
Pallet making tool	Pallet_tool.stl	1
Pallet_tool_nut.stl	1
Pallet nut	Pallet_nut.stl	1
Crutch	Crutch1.stl	1	Connected together
Crutch2.stl	1
Crutch nut	Crutch_nut.stl	1
2.6 Hand mechanism
Pinion 10	Pinion_10.stl	1
Wheel 1	Wheel_30_8.stl	1
Tiny washer	Tiny_washer.stl	1
Wheel 2	Wheel_32.stl	1
Tiny stop	Tiny_stop.stl	1
Hour hand	Hour_hand.stl	1
Minute hand	Minute_hand.stl	1
3. Pendulum
Pendulum spring	Pendulum_spring.stl	1	Use at least 4 perimeters.
Hook	Hook.stl	1
Connector	Connector.stl	1
M6 rod	M6_rod.stl	1	M6 x 80 mm threaded rod
Pendulum bob part 1	Pendulum_bob_1.stl	1
Pendulum bob part 2	Pendulum_bob_2.stl	1
Regulating nut	Regulating_nut.stl	1
4. Winding handle
Handle	Handle.stl	1
Handle knob	Handle_knob.stl	1
Handle screw	Handle_screw.stl	1
5. Weight
Pulley body	Pulley_body_1.stl	1
Pulley_body_2.stl	1
Pulley caster	Pulley_caster.stl	1	Put on 608 bearing.
Top part	Weight_top.stl	1	Drill the hole in case you use a wider cord.
Bottom part	Weight_bottom.stl	1
Pin	Pin_6mm.stl	1	Can be made out of \u00d84-6mm wooden rod (lenght 30 mm)
Tube	Weight_tube_{length}cm.stl	1	You really don't need to print this. Just use thick paper and make a custom length tube.

Figure: Shaft nominal dimensions.

Slicing gears: Be sure to always check a printing path! In case it looks like this:

check \u201cavoid crossing perimeters\u201d in Prusaslicer. This will probably cause stringing and bad surface finish, you really have to prevent this. Good result should looks like this:

Also disable thin wall detection if it looks like this:

Good slicing:

Another challange is to print without elephant foot, that will cause incorrect tooth geometry and larger friction. Feel free to play with elephant foot compensation and maybe set value a bit larger than usual.

Slicing skeleton: Use at least 4-5 or even more perimeters, otherwise you will have issue with bending and low stiffness.

Printing the escapement wheel: Be sure, that teeth are not wider at the tip, good result should look similar to this picture:

Post processing

Only the pallet needs to be really post processed (until you print the exact version on SLA printer). To make this process easy, I modeled a tool with the exact dimensions. Make the faces smooth and flat. No burr should be there. Finished pallet should look like this:

Assembly

Cross section for a better idea:

Step 1: Preparing the skeleton

Press 608 ball bearings and insert glue printed bearings (not much so u can change them in the future) into middle and front plate.
Mount front cover on front plate with 8mm shafts.
Press 10mm shaft for hand mechanism to the front plate.
Attach large pawl and its stop to the middle plate using 10mm shaft.

Step 2: Main shaft

You need about 19 \u00b7 \u03c0 \u00b7 30 mm \u2248 180 cm for winding, additional 20 cm (some part still hanging even when the weight is fully winded) + additional length for creating knot and loop, cut a 240 cm piece of fishing line for now.
Make a knot at the end of fishing line and push it through the hole in the drum.

Assemble the main shaft, use 2 20mm shafts.

Step 3: Minute shaft

Use 2x 25mm shaft.
Insert pen spring between the parts.
You may use a small handle (Small_handle.stl) for easier screwing and tightening (but don't overtighten the thread).

Step 4: Third shaft

Use 15mm and 8mm shaft (or one long shaft).

Step 5: Escape shaft

Use 15mm and 8mm shaft (or one long shaft).

Step 6: Pallet shaft

First press two 14mm shafts - pins into crutch (Crutch1.stl) - these two will touch the pendulum rod. Then make whole crutch by connecting Crutch1.stl and Crutch2.stl with two 8mm pins.
Attach two 8mm shaft pins to the pallet shaft (or once again use one long shaft).
First screw the pallet into place, than the crutch (you can tight the crutch just enough so you can change its angle in the future (but you cannot set the position very precisely this way)).

Step 7: Place the shafts into place

Now put all pre-assembled components with the back plate and covers in place as in the following picture. (A bit tricky is to place pallete shaft with long crutch so start with this component.)
Make sure the large pawl is in its place and does not hang elsewhere.
The most difficult part is to put in place the front plate, because you have to put into place all the shafts at one time.

Step 8:

Secure the front plate with four pins.
Put on the hand mechanism.

Step 9: Finishing the body

Put on the dial and hands.

Step 10: Pendulum

First put some weight into the pendulum, then put the connector inside and close the pendulum with the cap. After that press in the wooden rod from one side and screw threaded rod from another side.
Press the hook onto the wooden rod in the right angle, so the pendulum bob is in the perpendicular to the cutout in the hook.
After that screw the regulating nut on the M6 rod.

Put two 10mm pins into the pendulum spring and put it into the frame. Than hang the pendulum so the rod is between two crutch pins. Try holding the pendulum rod in one hand and using your second hand to hit the spring.

Step 11: Weight

Weight assembly should be fairly easy, but first you have to make a string with two loops. Then push it through the bottom piece, put on the tube (I made one just out of rolled 1mm thick A4 paper wrapped by a thin one with some texture on it - see pdf in files), put some weight in and close it using the top piece.
Now complete the pulley.

Step 12: Winding handle

Complete the handle.

Finally push the fishing line through the pulley and make loop at the end (don't cut it yet, you may find out that you need to move the loop a bit further). Hang the loop onto a small stump on the front plate (from behind).

Setting up the clock

Hanging the clock

Hopefully, modeled keyhole should work just fine as it is common way of hanging stuff on a wall. Now you can hang the weight on the pulley and wind the clock by rotating the handle clockwise.

Time

Just carefully push the minute hand to set the time. Try moving only forward, because moving hands backwards might stop the clock.

Beat - The Tick-Tock sound

First of all, don't care about your pendulum length. You have to make your clock create regular tick tock sound. If you hear something like \u201cticktock-pause-ticktock-pause\u201d move/rotate your clock slightly until you hear the regular sound.

Is your clock running? If so, congratulation! (If not, see issues below) Now you want to make your clock run accurate. To do so, longen or shorten you pendulum with adjusting nut at the bottom of the pendulum bob. You can use trial and error method or if you want play with math yourself, just use this well-known equation (linear aproximation for small angle)

where T=2 s, g~9810 mm/s^2 (for Czech Republic) and l is the length (in mm). To make this process easier, you can use my short script in COLAB, which uses the expression above (currently only in czech language).

Possible issues: Your clock is not running or you have similar problem. Don't give up. The issue is ussualy one of the following:

Clock is running for a while and then it stops: Too much friction or too light weight. Check your gears, they must rotate freely. Maybe try adding a bit weight.
Another possible issue is that your crutch is \u201cknocking\u201d on the pendulum rod because of (small) space between two crutch pins. This causes loss of power and even stopping the clock.
Escapement doesn't work at all: Check the escapement wheel, the teeth might be too wide, try to make the teeth thinner/sharper with a file. Also check your pallet if the shape is correct.

Conclusion

That's it! Your clock should be running. I hope you like my design.

In long term of use, you may have change the pendulum spring from time to time just to be sure it won't break if it is made out of PLA (I haven't tested it for long enough time to be sure it will last). The best way is to make this spring out a different material, the best option is to use thin hardened steel as this is the way of hanging a pendulum in regular clock.

In the future I may add more versions of the dial or/and create a version including a second hand.

If you like my design, please consider a donation.

EDIT (02.01.2022): Design with second hand is now included.
EDIT (15.01.2022): Added STEP files of the clock dial and hands so you can modify its appearance.
EDIT (15.01.2022(2)): Fixed clock dial files.

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Pendulum Clock

Model files

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