For my midterm project I designed and created a laser cut acrylic clock. It is designed based on the typical grandfather clock design, and displays the current hour and minute by using two wheels with vinyl cut numbers that can be viewed through cutout windows.

Design process:

I designed the entire clock using SolidWorks. The gears come from the SolidWorks toolbox, but I had to modify several aspects of their design. I designed the basic shape and hole placement of the front and back plates, and then used Illustrator to add an engraving of my name as well as a helix swirl. I followed a guide to design the escapement gear, and decided to prototype it before everything else to make sure that it works.

Early prototyping:

I laser cut a test escapement gear out of wood to ensure that I drew the correct geometry, and used a gear that I found in the OEDK as a weight at the end of the pendulum arm.

 

Laser engraving the front plate:

Half assembly:

 

Tapping the holes for the pendulum holder:

 

Final assembly: