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Art student’s 407-piece hand-carved wooden clock (2016)
- _Microft 5y agoThe Twitter thread (in japanese, the automated translation works quite well though) did not properly embed for me, here is a direct link to it. It has a video of the clock doing its work: https://twitter.com/BellTreeNursing/status/696232697824280577 https://twitter.com/BellTreeNursing/status/69623269782428057... On Nitter, for the un-signed-ups among us: https://nitter.net/BellTreeNursing/status/696232697824280577 https://nitter.net/BellTreeNursing/status/696232697824280577 Here is a five-minute-long video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2SPzv7gwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2SPzv7gwY
- axiomdata316 5y agoThanks for the YouTube link. Auto translate to English subtitles worked good on interview parts.
- yarcob 5y agoI sometimes forget how amazing things you can build by hand. Everybody seems to talk about 3D printers, CNC routers, Waterjet cutters, pick and place machines... But a lot of the things can be made just as well by hand. People have been making gears for a long time before there were CNC routers, all you need is patience.
- _Microft 5y agoThis - or imagine what mechanics and designs could be possible if we combined an idea like this clock with modern methods like you mentioned them. Each gear could be embellished with elaborate designs that would be too time consuming to create manually for example.
- xyzzy123 5y agoFor me the interesting parts of the (kinda hate this term) "maker revolution" are share-ability and remixability. The community and sharing sites are an integral part of this. So you can have lots of people who've never met quickly iterate on a design. Then yet other people customise or use it in unexpected ways. The end result would be not a clock, but a species of mutant clocks spreading across the world.
- GuB-42 5y agoInterestingly, the clock is essentially a robot, using cams instead of electronics for control. With the right cams, I am sure it could trace some of its parts instead of drawing numbers.
- _carbyau_ 5y agoWell, yeah. It depends on what activity you want to do. I prefer spending time thinking about shapes, design and trying to model them. I suck at it. But I am getting better.
- udev 5y agoIs Woodpunk a thing? It also reminds me of how some of Leonardo da Vinci's contraptions look like when they create them in real life (some museums do that).
- 7373737373 5y agoYou'll love Bernard Lagneau's cardboard machines: https://www.artexpoconsulting.ch/aktuelle-projekte/bernard-lagneau-mechanische-kartonwelten https://www.artexpoconsulting.ch/aktuelle-projekte/bernard-l...
- nosianu 5y agoHere is something similar ("useless" complex machine made from wood) that somebody made to create music: "Wintergatan - Marble Machine (music instrument using 2000 marbles)" https://youtu.be/IvUU8joBb1Q https://youtu.be/IvUU8joBb1Q The video shows the details pretty well too, and the piece being played is of quite good quality. One can see that the machine can just play a pre-configured song, but the operator can add and/or change a lot while running it to create variations of that pre-configured song. The machine is programmable, so that song could be changed.
- jrimbault 5y agoChecking the youtube channel, the operator of the machine has continued to refine his design, in the last video it barely shakes (https://youtu.be/ZddqSR1wXkE?t=3025 https://youtu.be/ZddqSR1wXkE?t=3025), if it shakes at all. Weird fun dedication to a passion project ^^
- wincy 5y agoHe live streams all of his work too, which is absolutely amazing to watch four or five hours of him refining small parts of the complex machine he’s working on. I watched him make small adjustments to a tube the marbles drop into so they’d travel at just the right speed to the next point, but without binding. Slightly too loose messes everything up, and slightly too tight makes the marbles get stuck. He’s supported by Patreon fans, which is truly amazing that such a skilled and niche project can be put together from the funding of random people who believe in him.
- pininja 5y agoHe’s so openly collaborative too, it’s inspiring! There’s a vibrant discord community of makers, 3d designs, and engineers helping Martin solve problems and prepare a “Manufacturable CAD.” Like, there are dozens of ideas linked in the video description for a contraption to divide one stream of marbles into four: https://youtu.be/U4B0i0VzXuA https://youtu.be/U4B0i0VzXuA
- thanhhaimai 5y agoThis song is in my audiophile test tracks list. It sounds amazing on a well calibrated HT system. The wood "scratching" of the machine operation adds so much realism to the track; it makes you feel like you're just there in front of the machine. I'm half waiting for him to redo the track again with his latest marble machine. Only half waiting though, since there is no "stopping point" for a hobby project :)
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- smoldesu 5y agoThat must be hell to tour with.
- mythz 5y agoI envy the free time students have, glad to see he's putting his to good use, reminds me all the free time I used to have but didn't appreciate at the time and likely will never have again until I retire.
- Rumudiez 5y agoI guess you had a pretty easy undergrad experience. I was easily working 80 hour weeks throughout college as an art major. The tough part of an art project is it’s never really done, and your work is expected to be flawlessly executed. I’d never had as much free-time then as I do now. Taking care of the kids is just how you chose to allot your time, no need to feel like you missed out on something else because of it.
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- mythz 5y agoI ended up doing 2 bachelors, even combined it was nowhere near 80hrs contact hours, only the lectures were mandatory and examinable so I mainly focused on them. But yeah FT work and kids leaves little left for amazing creations like this requiring copious amounts of free time which is something that gets more valuable when you have little of it, just unfortunate to only appreciate it in hindsight.
- da_chicken 5y ago> Taking care of the kids is just how you chose to allot your time I was with you until this point. When you have kids, your time is not entirely your own anymore. You have duties and responsibilities to them. The "choice" was made 9 months or so before they were born, not in the moment.
- BasDirks 5y agoAh yes, if only you had more time. /snark
- userbinator 5y agoThose who enjoy other mechanisms made from wood may also like https://woodgears.ca/ https://woodgears.ca/ The drawing mechanism reminds me of this technique from 1958 for generating vector characters entirely with analogue circuitry: http://www.nixiebunny.com/crtgen/crtgen.html http://www.nixiebunny.com/crtgen/crtgen.html http://www.glensstuff.com/fouriersynthchargen/fouriersynthchargen.htm http://www.glensstuff.com/fouriersynthchargen/fouriersynthch...
- _Microft 5y agoThis is the same technique as is used for these animations in which a number of spinning circles or pointers magically draws a more or less complicated shape. You can read about it here as well: https://alex.miller.im/posts/fourier-series-spinning-circles-visualization/ https://alex.miller.im/posts/fourier-series-spinning-circles...
- gameswithgo 5y agoA while back we were arguing here whether a car engine could meet modern emissions requirements with an ecu. I believed it was probably possible even if extremely difficult and there was rather unanimous disagreement. I wonder if anyone seeing this would change their mind a bit. And yes, I do know what a modern car ecu does.
- dtgriscom 5y agoYou aren't clear; are you wondering whether an engine WITHOUT an ECU could pass emissions? If that isn't it, what did you mean? (Every new car passes modern emissions with an ECU...)
- userbinator 5y agoI agree it's possible, after all careful tuning of a carburetor can produce great gains in fuel economy and/or power; but of course most people doing it aren't interested in emissions.
- dharmab 5y agoI think you could pass emissions, but you would likely have to compromise severely on price and performance. There are carburetors such as Lectron (https://www.lectronfuelsystems.com/ https://www.lectronfuelsystems.com/) that have some capabilities you would normally use an ECU for.
- mhb 5y agoGrandpa Amu is also fantastic: https://youtu.be/sUTiJ9mJ3RQ https://youtu.be/sUTiJ9mJ3RQ
- codegladiator 5y agoWhy ?
- plandis 5y agoWhy not?
- codegladiator 5y agoI mean really why ? i don't know, have i been working too long ? i have lost vision.
- rnjesus 5y agosee: jfk quote about going to the moon. also, because art.
- drdeadringer 5y agoYou could have lost vision, or passion, or creativity, or motivation, or soul, or similar thesaurus words for these spheres of Humanity. Realms of possibility range from personality type, depression, burn out, or simple disinterest as you age. You might know best or at least better than I/we here on HN for obvious reasons. Granted that not all art is for all people. Many museums, I can be in-and-out in 90 minutes feeling satisfied and that includes the bathroom and gift shop ... and if I go with anybody I either have to loiter or leave and come back to pick them up. Other museums though it is the reverse. Could be that for you as well.
- quickthrower2 5y agoart
- hellbannedguy 5y agoMechanical Art. It's just like the wealthy boys who buy high end mechanical watches. The movements are breathtaking. Only the watchmaker usually gets to see the beauty though, or at most they might see the rotor, and movment back.
- exdsq 5y agoThe artist has made several cool and similar things https://www.uselesscrown.com/gallery https://www.uselesscrown.com/gallery
- voldacar 5y agoThis is super cool, I wish it went more in depth as to how the mechanism works. I assume it contains some kind of camshaft system for each digit that encodes a fourier series? Really beautiful
- GuB-42 5y agoIt doesn't look like a Fourier series. It couldn't do sharp angles if it was (like for the 5 or 7). Looking at the pictures, it looks like a two axis parallel robot where the arms are controlled by a cams with complex shapes. The cams can be seen in picture 11/16.
- voldacar 5y agoI see what you mean, I think you must be right
- drdeadringer 5y agoI recall a young man building a portion of the 'Game Of Thrones' theme video. Think watching a real-life mechanical, clockwork Winterfell or Kings Landing twisting and rising all out of pop-up flatwood in your spare bedroom. I've tried a quick search on Youtube for the video but couldn't easily find it. The kid's friend joked about how soon HBO would hit him up on copyright.
- fennecfoxy 5y agoCams with the shaped required to draw the digit for each digit arm. You can see there's a rod with various cams on for each digit, four of them in total. I imagine there's some sort of slider to engage a cam for the "current digit" so when the redraw triggers the selected cam is the one used for the motion. Many automata use a similar design to to achieve preprogrammed movements, like writing, drawing or playing an instrument.
- 01100011 5y agoThis reminds me of https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/ https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/ They have some cool exhibits(i.e. https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Ho.htm https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Ho.htm). Not sure what the physical museum is like(near San Diego), but the online museum has some cool exhibits, even though the site-design looks quite retro.
- bsza 5y agoAFAIK the first automaton capable of writing was built sometime around 1770. It still works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laJX0txJc6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laJX0txJc6M
- userbinator 5y agoI'm not surprised it does - it's completely mechanical, damage/wear is the main failure mode and as long as it has been adequately lubricated and not suffered catastrophic damage it will continue working. Furthermore, even if parts wear out, it would not be so difficult to create a replacement. In fact, this one only slightly newer (by a few decades) was damaged in a fire and then later repaired a century later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillardet%27s_automaton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillardet%27s_automaton
- bernardv 5y agoNow that’s a project!
- sdze 5y agoImagine this clock at your bedside.
- brundolf 5y agoI wonder if a computer was involved in the design process at all (CAD or somesuch), or whether that was totally by hand too
- felipemnoa 5y agoYes, there was a computer involved.
- drdeadringer 5y agoThis is a really nice clock and far from what I am able to do. Several years ago I went through several phases of "hands-on junk-to-art". The "third phase" was putting together clocks from found material. So now I have a handful of unique clocks, lamps, and metal-pipe figures throughout my living space. Only one clock is misbehaving, but I'm taking my time in debugging and correcting it. But it's a lot of clocks to circle about twice a year. I don't mind so much but it does remind me that perhaps something should be done.
- ErikAugust 5y agoLately I’ve been dumbfounded by the talent of people. I can barely use a coping saw much less design and implement such a wonder.
- Ma8ee 5y agoHow much time have you spent practicing sawing with a coping saw? People are not born with skills. Skills are acquired through practice.
- wanderingmind 5y agoTime is the most fundamental quantity that is innate to life and as a result it has a mesmerizing characteristic. Its an amazing piece of art by the student. If anyone is interested in clock mechanics, there is an effort to build a clock that can self sustain for atleast 10000 years[1]. When completed, it will be a pinnacle of human arts and engineering. This effort is designed by Danny Hills and supported by Jeff Bezos. There is also a technical paper that describes the clock mechanics[2]. [1] https://longnow.org/clock/ https://longnow.org/clock/ [2] https://media.longnow.org/files/2/10_AAS_11-665_Hillis.pdf https://media.longnow.org/files/2/10_AAS_11-665_Hillis.pdf
- bane 5y agoSome might be interested to know about Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a free African-American polymath who among many accomplishments (including surveying Washington D.C.) was an all wooden clock he built by borrowing a pocket watch, scaling up the individual pieces, and carving them out of wood. The clock reportedly kept near perfect time for decades. https://youtu.be/hbQF-kt4B5M https://youtu.be/hbQF-kt4B5M
- felipemnoa 5y agoThank you for this. Was not aware of such a person. It is very nice to know.
- amelius 5y agoI wonder if it can be broken down into logical components, like a computer can be broken down into logic gates. The structure of the thing shows a lot of repetition, so my guess would be yes.
- userbinator 5y agoYes, I agree; without looking at how it works in great detail I can imagine how I'd approach the problem. There needs to be a clock component that outputs the 4 digits of the current time, and a digit-writer which runs through the x/y movements necessary to write a given digit. The repetition is probably in the latter part; other comments hear suggest a series of cams being used to encode the motion for each digit. This also needs to be combined with an offset mechanism to write each of the 4 digits. Finally, a set of cams to write the colon and a sequencer to run the whole sequence of actions.
- pkaye 5y agoSeems like there are 4 nearly identical sections, one for writing each of the four positions. The strokes of the digits might be doing with something like a cam follower.
- narrator 5y agoFrom the article: "Suzuki says that although he used computer software for the design, the simulation of its motion was entirely in his head only, and that seeing it take shape was a major motivation." "Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind. ... My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatever, the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything. " - From Nikola Tesla's Autobiography "My Inventions"
- Exuma 5y agoI always wished I had much stronger spatial awareness like that. In my mind I got strong visualizations that last ~2 seconds before they evaporate like a cloud of vapor, and I need to "rebuild" them over and over in a fairly fragmented way of 2 second spurts to try to visualize certain complex things (in code, or otherwise). This is in the planning phase however. On the other hand, I extensively excel at intuition AS I'm working/experiencing. I will get flashes of insight not from linear thinking, and they guide me along (which often goes against what most people are used to, which is extensive planning). I suppose my way can come off more "off the cuff" but I have built some really complex systems really elegantly, but the entire time never feels like I'm sure of anything until the very last piece goes in and it "all comes together at once." I sometimes envy people like this guy, or Tesla... with their incredible spatial awareness/visualization, where the entire thing can be planned entirely in the mind without rapidly "dissipating." That would be certainly less stressful than my way. Quite interesting how minds work
- 0xdeadb00f 5y agoI definitely identify with your way of thinking as well. Frequently I have an epiphany only for it to just poof away. The harder I try to remember it the further back it seems to get pushed. Maybe I need to cut down on my cannabis use.... Lol
- graderjs 5y agoThis guy is a genius!
- takk309 5y agoThis is not made of wood but is interesting non the less, a 3d printed tourbillion: https://youtu.be/E9prY3ky6Bo https://youtu.be/E9prY3ky6Bo
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- blippage 5y agoThat is some next-level stuff. How could he possibly do it? There's a guy over on YouTube that is making a marble music machine: https://www.youtube.com/user/wintergatan2000 https://www.youtube.com/user/wintergatan2000 He is very dedicated, is quite smart, but he has being trying to build one for years, and has been a never-ending mechanical engineering challenge. Put into that perspective, the clock is no less than a work of pure genius.