Project: Clockwork

[blueonblack]

Time for another build. This will be another scratchbuild, mostly wood with some other materials as "accent" pieces. Try as I may, I seem to be unable to simply modify an existing case. Here are some pics of the materials to be used:

Old 2x4 lumber that has been drying in my attic for about eight years now.

Three pieces of some very nice birch plywood and a small coil of 1/4" copper tubing.

A block of hard maple and the motherboard tray out of the generic case from my very first computer build.

250mm fan scavenged from my current Enermax Phoenix case. I actually ordered one from our friends at Xoxide, but the one that came on my Enermax is reversible so I swapped them for this build.

Cool on/off switch from Ebay. (More on this later...)

The gears from five clock movements scavenged from various sources.

Not pictured (as I do not have it yet) is the motor to turn the gears. Still deciding on the size, speed and orientation. Anyone interested in this kind of thing should check out solarbotics.com.


I am going to try not to go as manic with this build as I did with the last one, and this promises to be a more challenging project, so updates may not be as frequent (for those who care). The above-pictured motherboard tray is the only factory-made case part I will be using. This will be a transplant of my current system, so no hardware will be needed. Wish me luck!

[blueonblack]

As it turns out, I am going to have to mod one of the parts I bought to do the mod. The on/off switch I bought it very cool, perfect for this build, and is a momentary switch as needed. However, it is a normally CLOSED on/off switch. Not viable for a power button. So I had to make it a normally OPEN switch. Here it is again:

And disassembled:

Trouble is, there is a small copper contact in the middle of that red board between the large contacts. That closes the circuit while it sits. When you press the button it forces the red board down and the small contact slides under the bends in the larger contacts, breaking the circuit.

I had to make it so that it was normally open, so I first removed the red board and threw it away. Next I put a small piece of heat shrink on one of the larger contacts:

Now it's normally open, but I have to be able to make a momentary connection when I press the button. Notice I left the very top of the contact uncovered by the heat shrink. Here's the solution:

I screwed 3 machine screws onto a long #6 screw then cut it off. (They are screwed together in the pic.) Then I used 5-minute epoxy to secure them inside the hollow metal cap that you press to activate the switch. Done. Now when you press the switch in about 1/2" the two copper contacts touch the machine nuts and make contact. When you let go the spring pushes the cap and the contact-making nuts away. Perfect.

[DonT-FeaR]

ok this should be interesting

should make the gears turn ever so slowly

not sure where they are going but hey

[The boy 4rm oz]

I have been waiting for your next mod mate. You last one was excellent. Can't wait for more on this.

[The_Crippler]

Oooooooooooooh...clock gears. I'm a fan of gears. I approve of this project.

[blueonblack]

I have been waiting for your next mod mate. You last one was excellent. Can't wait for more on this.

Thanks very much. Might I say that Lexa is coming along VERY nicely!

[The boy 4rm oz]

Thanks mate. She is almost done now.

[DonT-FeaR]

yea i cant wait till we lan lexa and moditor the high rollers.... lol

love the idea for this mod..

[Cheron]

indeed the last one was great. cant wait for this one. love the gears.

[blueonblack]

Just a parts update, got the gear motor I ordered from Solarbotics.com:

Rated at 78 rpm at 5 volts, still trying to decide the diameter of the main drive gear, and thus the overall speed of the geartrain. I'll probably wire in a rheostat to make the speed variable, probably run the shaft of the rheostat through the side of the case near the geartrain and solder a single gear onto it to hide it. That way I can control the gear speed externally by turning that "control gear".

Since the geartrain and the big fan will both be on the left side of the case, and the fan is 12 volts, I think I can wire the gear motor and the fan into a single Molex plug, making cable management much easier.

Also, I have all six sides cut out for the case. I learned from my last creation and decided to dry-fit them on my desk to get an idea of the shape and size. It's too big. Again. Some rethinking is in order to minimize this thing's footprint.