Post by johan on Feb 1, 2024 16:02:42 GMT
Is there someone that can point me to information on how to design and make a clockwork motor? I have searched the net but can't find anything about (apart from "used for toys"...).
A friend gave me a box with clockwork gauge 0 trains. Now I find this really fun that you can have a train running with nothing more then winding a spring. So I thought of making a gauge 1 engine with a clockwork motor. The idea being that even if you are not allowed to run a steam engine (fire risk) then at least you could run something else then "just another electric train".
I understand the basics. You wind the spring, that provides a torque and drives a geartrain. You need some ratchets to make sure it only runs in 1 direction. But I'm stumped about how you select a spring and get the speed right. I found a bit about phonograph motors and they seem to use a variation on the Watt regulator but using friction (when the balls move outward they rub against the wall of the mechanism). Now that doesn't strike me as good engineering. The only other way I see is an echapment like in clocks. But it seems to me that would not give a smooth movement.
So if anyone can point me to some articles, books, plans or has some practical experience with these things, that would be very nice.
A friend gave me a box with clockwork gauge 0 trains. Now I find this really fun that you can have a train running with nothing more then winding a spring. So I thought of making a gauge 1 engine with a clockwork motor. The idea being that even if you are not allowed to run a steam engine (fire risk) then at least you could run something else then "just another electric train".
I understand the basics. You wind the spring, that provides a torque and drives a geartrain. You need some ratchets to make sure it only runs in 1 direction. But I'm stumped about how you select a spring and get the speed right. I found a bit about phonograph motors and they seem to use a variation on the Watt regulator but using friction (when the balls move outward they rub against the wall of the mechanism). Now that doesn't strike me as good engineering. The only other way I see is an echapment like in clocks. But it seems to me that would not give a smooth movement.
So if anyone can point me to some articles, books, plans or has some practical experience with these things, that would be very nice.
