Building a Grasshopper Escapement Skeleton Clock

[willofiam]

I used red loctite to lock the screw in place then double and triple checked the direction I needed to grind off the trailing edge of the hook....Really...I didnt want to make it backwards...and trust me I can A final touch on the sharp corners and it appears that it will work....WHALLA.

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[willofiam]

Barrel, caps, arbor....on to the next adventure :D

[willofiam]

O.K. I do have a plan...I think ...the next step is to make a ratchet and click for the mainspring barrel. A fly cutter would do the job just fine BUT I had to put the multi tooth cutter process into action. Using O-1 tool steel I chopped off a chunk of 1" round stock. I found this horizontal bandsaw several years ago from a shop that had upgraded, paid a fair price and I hafta tell yah...it has saved ALOT of arm work with the hacksaw. Its dirty and grimmey and the paint is chipping off BUT it cuts faster than I do most likely because I am getting old and fat and my hair is falling out....

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Using a sacrificial chuck in the 12" Craftsman lathe I faced, drilled, bored a nice little cutter blank. Just to mention about drilling a piece of metal....using a center bit to get the center started then a small drill bit (I use a 1/8") following that with a drill bit one size smaller than the reamer size works really good. When reaming use a very slow speed and cutting fluid.

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[willofiam]

And here we have the blank. In the larger lathe I used the compound on the cross slide to get a specific angle...Now I wont be able to tell you how I figured all that out BUT there was some type of thinking involved....with this particular angle put on the blank all I had to do was dish it out to the radius I wanted...hopefully...

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[willofiam]

Now the curve or radius does not have to be exact, I think it is more of a appearance thing. I chucked up the blank while on its arbor into the Schaublin 70 which gave me some good control. Unlocking the top-slide from its axis allowed me to swing the cutter in a arch, by setting the cutter a particular distance away from the top-slide center point cuts different radius's. and WHALLA a almost finished multi toothed ratchet wheel cutter. Oh, and a bit of polishing

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[willofiam]

Mounted on the mill in a spin index I thought I would make it a 4 tooth cutter then changed my mind and decided to make it 8 teeth, why I am not sure but I think it may have been because of the angles and material that would be left, anyway it worked out and I like the 8 tooth cutter. Nothing fancy about cutting or gashing these teeth out, just want to make sure you get past the area you want to use. Though the slitting saw is offset approximately 6-10 degrees to give the cutter tooth a radial rake to aid in chip formation, these are not form relieved or have any relief put into them so the radial rake gives it a scooping type action.

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[willofiam]

Wrapped in iron binding wire I used the torch to heat it up to a nice cherry red and quenched in oil to harden it, I did not temper it. Now we have a nice cutter in stock....In the background lay the C360 brass round stock completely unaware that this cutter is silently eyeing it up and planning its attack.

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[gerene]

Very nice work Wiliam! Looking forward to see your progress!

[willofiam]

Hey gerene hope all is well with you, thanks for the response. Here we are setting up in the mill to cut the ratchet wheel teeth with our new cutter. Set up with a approximate 6 degree undercut so the click wont slide up and out of mesh with it 16 divisions are figured into the dividing head. The last photo shows a design I am putting into some of the parts. I was also setting up in the lathe to cut the square hole BUT it wasnt working how I would have liked so after parting it off I hand filed the square hole to size. I think using the lathe would work great for making the square if the setup was right. I now have a idea I got from you-tube for quickly making a square broach...I think his name is Oxtool, he has some good stuff on there, anyway using the cutter grinder makes it quick and easy, I will put something up next time I do a square hole and show off the little cutter grinder I recently acquired.

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H

[willofiam]

Just parting off the ratchet in the lathe, I find that a bit higher speed and a slow feed into the part works good for brass when parting. Last photo is the paper click design glued onto some scrap C360 using the piercing saw to cut out by hand. The actual layout for this is to put the ratchet wheel on the arbor, slide a piece of paper under it, place the pivot screw (which I had already made) thru the paper pivot area and mark out the tip of the click, the rest is drawn out to make it look nice AND clear the other teeth of the ratchet wheel, Placement of this click, the size and weight of it does not require a click spring, it drops down into the ratchet by gravity and if is designed correctly it should lock, pull or slide itself into the ratchet for a nice positive lock.

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[Bernie Weishapl]

Very nice William and looks like excellent work. Will be watching the progress.

[willofiam]

Hey Bernie, I was wondering where you were....hope everything is good with you and yours...
I made the next part out of order, just me thinking again It is the great wheel for the fusee along with the fusee ratchet, click and spring. I decided to make the ratchet wheel first, that way I could turn the boss for it and fit the ratchet hole to the boss, might not make sense at this time, thats juts me...No cutter making here, I happened to have one on hand, a multi tooth 60 degree cutter. In photo # 2 notice the little pip I left when I faced the piece, helped in lining up the cutter to center. This too is offset 6 degrees for that positive locking action a ratchet needs, then set the dividing head to 30 divisions and WHALLA. Later I make the click and click spring, for now this is drilled and reamed to 7/16".

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[willofiam]

How do everyone. lets see if I can help explain how to find the offset for radial rake and or tooth cutter offset for things like ratchet wheels or an escape wheel ect...This is a simplified way of doing it and adequate for making cutters or ratchet wheels. say we need the 6 degree offset and we are using a 1" diameter brass blank for our wheel or ratchet.
first find the circumference.
Multiply pi (approximately 3.14) and the diameter of blank to get the circumference.....3.14 (pi)x 1" = 3.14"
We want 6 degrees....that is 6 degrees out of 360 degrees, or 6 divided by 360.....6 ~ 360 = .0166
now take our circumference times .0166 or 3.14 x .0166 = .0523"
move the cutter from center .0523" to get an approximate 6 degree offset

thats pretty close for these small angles and what we have going on here.

another example;
a 1.75" diameter blank and we want 8 degrees offset
1.75" x 3.14 = 5.495 (circumference)
8~360 = .022
5.495" x .022 = .122" move the cutter .122" from center of work piece.

If anyone notices a mistake with what I did please let me know right away so we can correct it, or if you have another way that is easy to understand please put it up, Thanks

[It's Time]

William
Just stop to catch up on things. Your build is looking very good. A beautiful clock when done and it will not be long now. Keep up the fantastic work.
Nelson

[willofiam]

Hey Nelson, hope all is well.
Here I will just show some photos of the great wheel, fusee ratchet, click and click spring. In the book he went with a brass clickspring, I decided to make mine out of steel giving it my own little twist, really...instead of the thin edge of the spring contacting the click I put a twist in the steel before hardening and tempering so that the larger flat edge would be making contact, most likely over thinking it all Notice the square nose tool bit, relief was ground on both sides and underneath, this worked good as I could cut all surfaces without changing the cutter. Easing up to the diameter for the ratchet wheel boss worked good for me, checking the fit often with light cuts.

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[willofiam]

Flipped around to get final thickness

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Sandwiched between aluminum washers on a arbor getting the final blank diameter.

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Setting up in the mill and dividing head for 96 divisions

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[willofiam]

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Preparing the click pivot post

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preliminary click design by placing the ratchet wheel over the paper template will give the proper angles and clearance.

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notice the scribe lines on the steel with the drawn lines on the paper used to line up center for the pivot hole.

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[willofiam]

Drill and ream a proper size hole, scribe the lines to the steel, cut out by hand and file to a nice shape. In the 3rd picture you might wonder what I am up to and why in the world take a picture of a horizontal belt sander....well...I had a idea . Since I dont have a surface grinder...yet...and I needed to reduce the thickness of this piece a bit. I used a piece of wood, drilled a flat bottom hole with a forstner bit just small enough to have to press in the click. This will hold the click flat and secure while sanding the thickness. Works great...

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[willofiam]

Looking for some approval of the thickness reduction technique I sought out my audience for their input. Now these 2 coonhounds of mine, Jed and EllyMay, are pretty good pups. They will sit in the shop and watch my every move, telling jokes to each other about how goofy humans are....each gave me 2 wags of a tail for approval....actually they were just wanting a treat....again...

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Jed approves the smell!!!!

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EllyMay approves the taste!!!!

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[willofiam]

Now that the dogs have given their approval of the click I can now do the finish work. The click spring is made out of O-1 tool steel, curved...twisted...shaped....hardened...tempered...WHALLA

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