The wooden mechanism secrets of master clockmaker John Harrison

If you've read the book Longitude, you know that John Harrison was the man who created a clock capable of telling very accurate time while on a ship at sea. To accomplish this very difficult task, he develop many innovations. The video shown here uses a replica long case clock (commonly called a "Grandfather clock") to show the innovative elements of the wooden clock movement. Most of these new features have to do with reducing friction, minimizing the effects of temperature and humidity, and reducing wear. Worth noting are the use of the grasshopper escapement, Lignum Vitae bearings, a novel pinion design in which the trundles rotate, and adding gear teeth to a circular blank to ensure that each tooth is as strong as possibe.

For more on John Harrison, check out Dava Sobel's book, Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time.

Better still perhaps is the one with pictures titled, The Illustrated Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

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Laser-cut wood clamp for fusing your own belts with urethane belt material

Did you read my latest automton-making tips article? If not, it shows you how to fuse urethane belt material to make belts of any size for your mechanical projects. The method desribed works well and is much, much cheaper than purchasing a belt welding kit made for the job. Still, the method I present could be improved. Probably the trickiest part is pressing together the two ends of the just-melted belt material. If you are just a little off, or the ends slide, you will end up with a lumpy belt.

Michael Henriksen over at BustedBricks.com read my article and came up with a way to clamp the belts during the process. He's now offering a laser-cut wood clamp kit for a very reasonable £6 or about $9.00. Not only does it make holding the belts easier, but his new clamp allows you to use a soldering iron to melt the ends of the belting. Here's a shot of the clamp in action.

As you can see from the photo, the clamp makes the process easier and more consistent. It also allows you to use a a tool that many people already own or can get very easily. Check out this selection of soldering irons if you don't already have one. A basic model will do, though you might consider getting more than one tip and dedicating one to melting belt material.

Here is where you can get the new welding clamp for polyurethane belts.

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How to make your own pulleys and belts for small mechanical projects

The latest installment of my quarterly column, Dug's Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks is now live on the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre site. To celebrate two full years of Tips, we'll have some fun with pulleys and belts. I show you exactly how to make small wooden pulleys for automata and other small mechanical projects, drawing on my previous article on How to Cut Wooden Circles for Your Automata Projects. I also show you what an O-Ring Splicing Kit looks like and how you can use one to create belts of any size to go with your pulleys. This should be all the information you need to start using pulleys and belts in your projects right away. I hope that it proves useful to readers.

Here is where you can read Dug’s Automata Tips, Techniques and Tricks No. 9 on Making Pulleys and Belts for Automata Projects.

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