My Design Criteria

Various people have remarked that I'm making things too complex, certainly for a first clock.  I shall take heed of these older (I think not!) and wiser (definitely) people. So lets start again, with a clean sheet, but based on Clayton's mechanics. Well I love clocks - how about this one that follows the mouse around? I love it's movements which I've adapted from a 'standard' javascript clock. It can get irritating, so switch it off/on here. Overall The width of the clock must be reduced so that it will fit in a spare wall space! I want it to be easy to change the time shown by the clock (while it is running) as it will be inaccurate - Clayton's design requires that the clock be stopped by pulling the pendulum shaft forward to release the pallets and then set the minute wheel. Attempt to reduce friction and inertia as much as possible. Allow the distance between the arbors to be adjusted rather than fixed to allow fine adjustment of the teeth meshing, assuming I can not drill distances accurate enough to get the best out of the wheels. I do not like the winding handle or the fact that the clock numbers are read anti-clockwise in Clayton's design. The clock must be made from MDF as I do not have access to beautiful wood. I would like as much personal symbolism and 'meaning' in the elements as possible. Symbolism The wheels (from Crown to Minute wheel) will increase in size in a constant ratio - 4, 6 and 8 and the number of spokes will decrease from 5 to 3. The frame angles will be 42 - the sum of the first 7 (lucky) prime numbers also the product of 6 and 7 ("at sixes and sevens"), which my family has had a loose association with since 1763 (the yearly  switching of the Merchant Taylor and Skinner London Livery Company precedence order) and, of course, the answer to everything! and 64 - the first number assigned to me as a child (my first school peg number) and product of 8x8 - my car registration number( VG 88) of the two cars I have owned  since 1966 and, of course, Chinese for double fortune The clock dial/hands could be coloured to reflect my interest in photography and colours.

Others The frame design must allow exact positioning of the arbors, rather than having them pre-drilled, by sliding them. The thickness of the wheels can decrease as the torque decreases throughout the wheel train. The minimum amount of wood must be in contact with the arbor shafts - bit difficult this as I do not know how MDF will fair with the strain on them.  Therefore the wheel supports can not be glued, so that they can be easily replaced during experiments.

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