Planetary Watch Winding Rings

Have you ever seen a watchwinder as cool as this? I dont think so!

Drawing Out My Thoughts & Some Concept Material.

The first step of any project is to draw out your thoughts, then you can think how you want to make it...

I'll be lasercutting the base, the sides, and the rings. The adapters for the bearings will be 3D printed. The axles will be M5 x 50mm bolts. For the motor and the electronics I'll use a nice aircraft switch, a barreljack connector, and a 10RPM. motor.

Lasercutting the Base

Here I lasercut the base box, and glued it together.

I used www.makercase.com to design my case, then I edited the SVG to cut some holes in it with Adobe Illustrator.

The dimensions are 360x60x50

Soldering the Electronics

I'm no expert at soldering, but it all works, and that's what counts.

I got the switch from ebay:

www.ebay.com/sch/toggle+switch+heavy+duty

I got the barreljack connectors, 12V motor, and 12V adapter from AliExpress

www.aliexpress.com

You could probably get the switch from aliexpress too, just use whichever you prefer.

Lasercutting the Rings

I basically cut 3 rings out of 3mm plywood. I'll do this twice, you'll see why I did that in the end.

The outter diameters are 350mm, 310mm and 270mm. I might add an inner ring later, but I'm not sure yet.

Making Adapters for the Axles

To get nice fluid moving rings, I used bearings and some kind of axles.

I 3D printed these white and yellow blocks.

The yellow blocks hold the bearings, which I got off aliexpress. They're not of the highest quality. But they'll do. These adapters were printed in two pieces.

The white little blocks hold locknuts, which will make it so I can actually turn the rings without slipping. To get the locknut in, I had to use a vice. Because the 3D printing didnt come out as planned. But it's better to have a tight fit than a loose fit in this situation.

To get the 3D printed materials to fit in the project. I made some wooden adapters for them. Which fit so tightly around the 3D printed items, it didnt need any glue!

Attaching the Axles to the Rings.

The rings cut with the lasercutter have to be attached via axles coming from another ring. This will be done by glueing the wooden adapters to the rings carefully.

Cutting the Sides, Mounting the Motor Securely, 3D Print the Wheel.

Here I cut the sides, which the rings will stand on, it's probably not the final design, since I want it to have bearings in it. Instead of just drilled holes.

I also mounted the motor with some leftover screws I had, they were torx screws from an old hard disk I believe.

I have printed a beltwheel to guide the rubberband I'm going to use to drive the rings. A similar wheel will be attached to the rings.

Assembling What I Have So Far.

The image is not really sharp, sorry.

I assembled all the things I made together to form this beauty. I need to make a holder for the watch, and the beltwheel for the rings. I also want to add bearings to the sides, since It's not really working out without them.

Adding Bearings to the Sides, Runs Smoother.

I added bearings to the side, so the axles don't move and mess up the movning objects. Also it just runs smoother. I cut the holes in the sides bigger with the laser cutter to make the bearings fit. Then I cut some rings to fit over the bearings, so they won't fall out..

Holding the Watch

The goal of this project is to wind an automatic watch, hence the name of the instructable. To hold the watch in the middle, I lasercut 6 pieces in the shape of my wrist. Glued them together, and attached them in the middle of the rings. I later created a locking mechanism for the watch. Which you'll see in other pictures.

Adding a Rubber 'belt'.

The rings are moved by a belt, or in my case, a rubberband, because I don't something better to use. I 3D printed both wheels, and with 12V, the 10RPM motor can handle the load. (The motor has 2.3Nm or 1.7 Footpounds of torque.)

That's It, the Watchwinder Is Done!

A few things have to be said:

I wouldn't have done this the same way if I were to do it again. I'd add an extra inner ring, that way the watch spins better and the watchwinder will show off the watch better. Because the watch won't just fall face down.

Also, don't use rubber bands as belts, it just won't work. Use a belt that can't stretch very well. If you worry about the belt sliding off the wheel, you can cut off some rubber and attach it to the wheels.