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Gear Clock
by abbtech on October 21, 2009

Table of Contents

License:  Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Intro:  Gear Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1:  Cut and paint the Gears . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2:  Construct the Clock Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 3:  Assemble and Enjoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa)

Intro: Gear Clock

The heart of the clock is a PIC 16f628A microcontroller (PDF). This microcontroller has an internal oscillator however an external 20MHz crystal oscillator is being used
since it will have to accurately keep track of time for weeks and months. The microcontroller is interfaced to two buttons and one motor.

For more details have a l ook at the project Website.

alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock

The Gear Clock Kit is now available. Have a look at our kit page for more details . If you have a CNC machine you can cut your own gears and just purchase the
electronics for the clock .

step 1: Cut and paint the Gears

The gears are made out of MDF. They were painted to have a metallic look however the look I was going for was not achieved. Initially I was thinking of making the gears
look like they were made of metal and left to rust for a few dozen years. I found some cool products that would give me that rusted effect but they were a bit too
expensive. I settled for a can of Krylon Black Metallic Hammered Finish paint. The sample on the lid is a very nice black with subtle bit of gray. I think this might be from a
bad batch since the final look is not as black as it should be. It also made taking pictures of the final clock a bit tough since even with modest lighting the glare was
horrible.

The gear arrangement is as follows:

9 tooth motor gear

72 tooth minute gear with a 24 tooth secondary
72 tooth intermediate gear with a 18 tooth secondary
72 tooth hour gear

To achieve the correct timing the 9 tooth motor gear is advanced 4 steps every 9 seconds. By moving 4 steps at a time the motor routines can be simple since the motor
is always at rest with the same coil energized.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
step 2: Construct the Clock Electronics
Microcontroller

The brains of this project is a PIC 16F628A microcontroller. It keep track of time and activates the stepper motor when needed.
Buttons

The interface is very simple, it consists of two buttons. When the left button is pressed the clock advances time using the motor. When the right button is pressed the
clock decrements time using the motor. The only issue is when you need to correct time by many hours you would have to keep the button pressed for a long time. The
stepper motor is also always energized to prevent the gears from slipping. To overcome this issue when both buttons are pressed the stepper motor is deenergized and
the minute gear can be spun freely.
Motor

The motor is a unipolar stepper motor that has been harvested from an old 5 1/4 inch floppy drive. This is the motor that used to move the read write heads back and
forth, to get one of this size and power you’ll need to find a nice old one. Modern floppy drives don’t have steppers with this level of torque.

This motor moves 1.8 degrees per pulse which means that with 200 pulses it will make one full rotation. Since it’s a bipolar motor it is simple for the PIC to drive it with
only 4 transistors.

Code

The code is basically split into two sections, there is an iterative loop that monitors the buttons for a change in state and checks if the internal clock has crossed the 9
second mark. If one of those conditions has occurred the stepper motor is driven appropriately.

The other section of code is interrupt driven and it keeps track of time. An interrupt is triggered every 0.1 seconds and adjusts an internal clock as needed. There is a true
running clock inside, if you connect the clock PIC pin 6 to a computer serial port operating at 9600 bps you will see the internal clock values update once per second. The
clock value in this case is arbitrary since it is never shown and will not be the same as what the gears are displaying but this same code will be used in future projects
which will use this code display time.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
step 3: Assemble and Enjoy
All the pieces screw together, the only piece that is glued is the stepper motor into the motor holder.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
Related Instructables

DIY CNC (guide) $20 CNC CNC (guide) by LED Binary Parallel Port 3
by Instructables Machine by Instructables Clock by Axis CNC
Multimeter Guides Techbuilder ElevenOf9 Driver, Opto-
Guides
Clock by Isolated,
abbtech Unipolar
Steppers by
ChromationSystem

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
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Comments
39 comments Add Comment

mathman47 says: Aug 9, 2010. 11:27 AM REPLY

I have the kit from Alan, but haven't built it yet. Glad I ran across this I*. I've been trying to come up with i deas for colors and am thinking now about using
one of the Krylon spray cans for a textured effect. Do you know if you can put another color on top? Great job. I love clocks. As I sit at my desk I can see 12
and I have a few to build yet!

Rob K says: Apr 14, 2010. 10:29 AM REPLY

For some reason Icant get any of the DXF files to open on this computer. Photoshop CS2 , AutoCAD2009, Inventor 2010.

Ill give it a try on the schools computer.

abbtech says: Apr 14, 2010. 11:12 AM REPLY

I just downloaded the zip from the site and opened it. Please re-download the file I think something is corrupted in yours.
http://alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/ 

Rob K says: Apr 14, 2010. 10:17 PM REPLY

Iwas only able to view the DXFfiles on AutoCAD, and Inventor when I imported them into MicroStation then resaved them as a DXF in another
folder.

Weird.

Rob K says: Apr 14, 2010. 11:03 AM REPLY

Same on the school computers also. Autocad 2008.

Invalid or incomplete DXF input -- drawing discarded

Ender2007 says: Mar 27, 2010. 5:25 PM REPLY

How do you cut the gear?

abbtech says: Mar 27, 2010. 6:45 PM REPLY

I used a CNC machine but you could print the design and cut it with hand tools.

Ender2007 says: Mar 28, 2010. 1:02 PM REPLY

Thank you for the reply.
I should have been clearer with my question.

I would love to to the same with a CNC but I lack experience.

What kind of CADdid you use to generate the gears?
And how did you process them to the CNC?

Thanks.

abbtech says: Mar 28, 2010. 4:09 PM REPLY

Iused a Fireball V90 CNC machine and cut them using Mach3. You can download the files to cut on your CNC machine here.
http://alan-parekh.com/kits/gear-clock-kit/ 

Ender2007 says: Mar 29, 2010. 6:17 AM REPLY

Thank you so much!
Going there right now...

Doc Holliday says: Mar 14, 2010. 3:00 PM REPLY

As a first step, how do I create really accurate gear patterns without expensive tols and training?

abbtech says: Mar 14, 2010. 7:45 PM REPLY

You could purchase the gears or cut them out using a saw.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
 john3f says: Jan 2, 2010. 6:20 PM REPLY
The step motor used in this project is a " unipolar " type step motor, not a bipolar one. Bipolar step motors dont have a "common, ground, +V, coil split etc.."
connection. Also it's not easy to drive a bipolar step motor. A bipolar stepper requires h-bridge circuit and 8 transistors for the coils to be driven.

abbtech says: Jan 2, 2010. 7:30 PM REPLY

You are very right John. I have updated the page.

john3f says: Jan 3, 2010. 4:48 AM REPLY

Great. The project is really awesome.

abbtech says: Jan 3, 2010. 5:09 AM REPLY

The kit version should be available in about 3 weeks. Custom boards should be in any day now... It feels like a second Christmas. :)

knife141 says: Oct 28, 2009. 5:53 PM REPLY

Very nice project! In terms of getting a rusted metallic look on wood, I've had good luck spraying the parts with flat black, then just lightly dusting with bronze
metallic paint.

Killer~SafeCracker says: Oct 25, 2009. 10:29 AM REPLY

Good job. Now if I could just get the gears I would build.

abbtech says: Oct 25, 2009. 8:09 PM REPLY

Thanks. It might be made into a kit, there has been lots of interest. To be automatically notified is a kit is made available sign up here.
http://alan-parekh.com/mailing-list/ 

Or just keep your eye on this page.

http://alan-parekh.com/projects/gear-clock/ 

newtonn2 says: Oct 25, 2009. 4:23 AM REPLY

Very cool clock! Excellent JOB!

robotguy4 says: Oct 22, 2009. 6:41 AM REPLY

You should maybe add two stationary pointers to the mix... For accurate time reading...

abbtech says: Oct 23, 2009. 11:25 AM REPLY

That would sure help. Thanks for the idea.

benthekahn says: Oct 21, 2009. 8:30 PM REPLY

if you put sea water on steel it will rust it over night.

abbtech says: Oct 21, 2009. 10:00 PM REPLY

It is made of MDF though.
Check out what happens to MDF when it gets wet!
http://forum.hackedgadgets.com/viewtopic.php?t=2589

benthekahn says: Oct 22, 2009. 7:10 AM REPLY

I said that to let you know that you could just cover the gears with thin steel sheet, and rust it over night for very little cost.

abbtech says: Oct 23, 2009. 11:25 AM REPLY

That would be a cool idea!

Koosie says: Oct 22, 2009. 2:25 PM REPLY

Woah, seriously awesome!

Looks a bit like the twin cams on a DOHCstraight six.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/ 
 abbtech says: Oct 23, 2009. 11:24 AM REPLY
LOL, it does!

Re-design says: Oct 23, 2009. 7:34 AM REPLY

First Class.

Doldrum says: Oct 22, 2009. 10:25 AM REPLY

I don't need to tell you how awesome that is. 

carlo$ says: Oct 22, 2009. 8:27 AM REPLY

Outstanding man. The only feedback I have is: you need a reference point on each gear so that anybody that looks at your clock can read the time easily.

Chicken2209 says: Oct 21, 2009. 6:55 PM REPLY

Saw this on my make rss (i think)
Really interested me mainly because I've had the idea of a planetary clock but given very limited budget and supplies i'd be limited to cardboard and an
exacto knife. MDF seems slightly better though... What programs did you use to make the gears? The closest i had was inkscape that has a star tool that
can create a gear looking shape that could function but i think its mainly for looks and not functionality. I like the use of the floppy drive motor too.

abbtech says: Oct 21, 2009. 7:36 PM REPLY

Hi Chicken,

I used Artcam to design most of it. MDF is cheap and tough, I would use it over cardboard.

Chicken2209 says: Oct 21, 2009. 8:04 PM REPLY

How was it cut?

abbtech says: Oct 21, 2009. 9:58 PM REPLY

On a Fireball V90 CNC machine using Mach 3.
http://hackedgadgets.com/2009/04/26/fireball-v90-cnc-router-assembly/ 

newbie2cnc says: Oct 21, 2009. 6:25 PM REPLY

That is an awesome clock! Could we get the files or drawings of the clock gears?

abbtech says: Oct 21, 2009. 7:37 PM REPLY

I have had some inquiries about that, I will make them available in the near future on my site.

Phil B says: Oct 21, 2009. 3:50 PM REPLY

This is nice, but I do not have access to a CNC machine. What about a version of this project that uses wooden wheels with rubber tires driving each other
by friction?

abbtech says: Oct 21, 2009. 4:47 PM REPLY

That is a good idea. As long as slipping wasn't an issue it would work very well.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Gear-Clock/