Category Archives: Ball Clock

The last post was for the hour ball. The second lift delivers a ball to the top about 10 seconds after the minute ball exits.  Running on different paths the second lift provides balls for the striking section.  Also one … Continue reading →

 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 … Continue reading →

When I first started out building the clock, I knew I wanted to be able to strike the quarter, half and three quarter hour.  When making the counter section, the last three flips were dedicated to this function. The idea … Continue reading →

To utilize the aux power shaft, I had to be able to control when the reset of the flips occurred. There had to be some sort of a clutch to engage the reset cam on the shaft.  This is getting … Continue reading →

Not everything on a project like this can go as planned it seems, especially when you make things up as you go along;  I have had to remake a few pieces that didn’t quite work out the way I had … Continue reading →

After completing the reset shafts for the track flips, it became obvious that I needed extra power to drive the reset shafts. When making the main drive train I left an extra shaft available on the top of the gear … Continue reading →

Up to this point I only had the balls that traveled around the counter just route to the racks without really doing anything.  Once all of the flips have created a track around and back to the front it would … Continue reading →

Now that the ball clock can run and keep time, the next step is to work on the counter and get it reset at the appropriate times.  The concept of the counter is to have a ball flip another small … Continue reading →

Having completed an exit path for the balls on the time racks, the extra ball at one o’clock had to have a way to blend back into the lift.  There was not enough elevation left at this point for it to … Continue reading →

Having mounted the ball racks and able to cycle the balls through the various time configurations it is now necessary to provide a path for the balls to return to the lift.  Tight quarters dictated tight solutions. In any ball … Continue reading →