In the last post I had built the detectors (feelers) for the quarter, half & three quarter hour ball transitions.
When the balls for the full hour travels down the counter, it stays on the high track all the way to the end where it drops into a cup on a lever that resets the three quarter hour flips and starts the reset cycle for the other 14.
It is that movement of the hour lever that I used to add a ball to another counter (not built yet) for the full hour.
I just know that I will need a ball for that purpose and have to plan for it now.
The second lift was built to provide the balls I needed for the strikes and counters. It is autonomous from the lift for the time keeping side of the clock.
The first step was to make a frame to hold the parts for this section.
Two flat bars were mounted to the front brace extending toward the lift and slightly on each side of it.
A track was built with a piece that would flip back and forth diverting the ball coming down from the lift to either the front or the back.
The back path eventually will end up in an hour counter of some kind. The front path will head across and will either replenish the magazine for the quarter strike balls or be diverted away to be used elsewhere.
So when the hour ball causes the hour lever to cycle, it also flips the diverted to send the next ball coming off of the second lift to the back. I had to gear the shaft to get enough movement to flip the diverter.
When that ball goes through the diverter, it flips it back to allow the following balls to go forward.
Simple right? Well not exactly as it took much longer than I had expected.
Next step is to take care of the excess balls once the quarter ball magazine, (not made yet) is filled.
I’m kind of making this up as I go.