The hour balls appear to be moving through the striker mechanism smoothly now.
It is time to focus on the section that will select and release the proper number of balls to the striker.
Back in February I talked about the hour Magazine and its eventual function. That was to act as a counter for the hour by the accumulation of a ball every hour. Also to store balls that would feed into the striker mechanism when selectively released to power the striker.
Things a getting a bit crowded in that area and it became obvious that I would have to build and test much of the mechanism for the selection outside of the clock.
I built a jig the simulated the vertical columns of the clock where the magazine mounts. This should allow me the freedom to work on all sides of the selector and manually test the operation before mounting it back into the clock proper.
The selector has many parts that work together and I suspect will be challenging.
I used aluminum for the jig because:
- It is a soft metal and easy to cut and tap.
- It is cheaper than brass.
- It will be obvious which pieces are part of the clock.
The second photo shows the Hour Magazine mounted on the jig. The horizontal brace is part of the clock.
Since the last posting I have been working out the design of the mechanism for the selectors. I think I have enough to at least get started. As in the past some of this will be worked out on the fly.
That is the exciting part.