Gravity Powered Cuckoo Styled Clock

I've always been fascinated by the generous and engineering talent that goes into making many of the clocks around us. Looking at many analog clocks, I often wonder how hard it was to fit the mechanism into the space provided, and how easy it is to make an analog clock. That's why I decided to design my own. This functioning, fully printable clock, when properly assembled, accurately keeps time, and doesn't need to be wound up very often.

You will need to print all the attached parts (except the "assembled" model). Standard quality was good enough when I made it. You also will need:

- Superglue (recommended) or a hot glue gun (less recommended)

- Some sort of heavy, small object that will fit in the wight bucket (I used small steel balls from a magnetic erector set)

- String

- Patience: take the extra time to build it right, rather than fast.

Assembly is (relatively) straightforward. Use the attached model to see how a properly assembled clock should look. NOTE: this model is not perfect. An important thing to know that isn't immediately obvious is that the largest pole/shaft is used in the middle.

IMPORTANT: when gluing the gears onto the poles, make sure that the gears are on relatively straight. Try to keep them pretty flat.

Tie one end of the string around the handle of the basket. Tie the other end through the hole in the winding shaft (the one turning the first gear). To wind the mechanism, rotate the gear COUNTER CLOCKWISE.

In order to make sure the mechanism keeps proper time, the clock has a "one-second-hand", which, as the name suggests, rotates once per second. You can use a metronome ticking at 60 bpm or listen to another clock's tick in order to see exactly how fast or slow the clock is running. Add or remove weight to the basket accordingly, until the hand makes a revolution as close as you can get to once per second.

If assembled and tuned correctly, your clock should now keep accurate time!