2024-09-14

Last modified: 2024-09-15 11:05:47

Clock

I wondered if making the wire shorter would reduce the propensity to flutter, because that effectively makes it into a stiffer spring.

Yes! Much better now. Also I found that reducing the drive weight really helps, because that's another way you can ensure that the impulse is delivered over a longer period of time.

You want the impulse to take a long time so that the spring has moved around and won't "snap back" once the tooth is released. You can make it take longer by either making the spring stiffer, or by reducing the amount of force you're applying.

It basically works now, except that it loses energy with every cycle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGgwQO5VR68

If we want to get more energy into the spring then we want to push the fork further when we provide impulse, which we can get from:

• longer lever on the anchor
• shorter fork on the spring
• higher lift on the pallets

I can't make the fork on the spring much shorter, but I can do the other two, so I'll make a new anchor with more lift and a longer lever.

I did that and messed around with it a bit more, and I actually think it might be working now, albeit with super low amplitude.

I worked out that adding more weight to the balance wheel is beneficial because it puts the spring under more tension, which reduces the amount it deflects by when working against the lever on the anchor.

The other obvious advantage of more weight (specifically, more moment of inertia) in the balance wheel is that it ticks more slowly.

The drawback is that there is a minimum amplitude that the clock must achieve in order to allow the escape wheel to escape, and for a given amount of energy in the balance wheel, if it has a higher moment of inertia it will have a lower amplitude.