# Krazy Klockwork Mechanism



## Brian Rupnow (Nov 11, 2011)

Last year for my birthday, my daughter bought me this book, "507 Mechanical Movements" by Henry T Brown. Its been a month now since I finished my build of the Popcorn engine, and I've recovered enough to start thinking about another machining project. I am always on the lookout for amusing things to run with my various collection of model steam and gasoline engines, and I may have found another. The picture on the left has a neat looking SOMETHING!!! I don't really know what its called, but it kind of looks like a clockwork mechanism, thus my threads title. I really have nothing to go on here except for the picture, and a very brief explanation of how it works in the book. As the bar "C" rocks back and forth on pivot "A", the "arms" (for lack of a better word) engage the posts on the wheel "B" and give it an "Almost continuous rotation"-----At least thats what the book says. I'm thinking an aluminum wheel about 6" in diameter, with brass "posts". I will design it first in Solidworks, and post the drawings as I go along, as usual. Driven by a small steam engine, it ought to look pretty neat!!!----Brian


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## metalmad (Nov 11, 2011)

But Brian
where does the spark plug go?
Pete :big:


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## Jeremy_BP (Nov 11, 2011)

I love that book. I can't count the number of times I've gone through it. 
I'm definitely looking forward to your execution of this one!


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## kcmillin (Nov 11, 2011)

I love the Idea Brian, and your concept of getting your engines to 'Do' something. Looking forward to the build.

   I gotsta get me that book, it looks like a great read. 

The mechanism you have chosen looks like it could be adapted to a spindexer, making for extremely fast indexing simply by pulling, then pushing a lever. Something like that might make me want to use my indexer (R/T) a lot more often. It would be lightyears faster than turning the crank handle.

Kel


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## ShedBoy (Nov 11, 2011)

I have the same book, cover is pink though. Great book it is amazing some of the things invented towards the begining of the industrial revolution. I got my copy from Plough Book Sales for less than $10. If you like inventing things it has lots of good ideas. It will be interesting to see how you do it, how it catches the next pin after dropping down will be fun to get right. 
Brock


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 11, 2011)

Wow!!! This is difficult! Not the modeling---that took 15 minutes. The math, and geometric relationships are a real brain teaser. Since I am only going by a picture, without knowing any of the geometric inter relationships between all the parts, I arbitrarily choose a wheel diameter and number of posts, then work outward from there. Its been a long day. I have been working 4 weeks straight now on an automated infeed system for a huge metal spinning lathe that spins 8" pipe at 2300 degrees F into oxygen bottles, and my brain is a bit fried. ;D ;D


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## lathe nut (Nov 11, 2011)

Brain, always look down the list of who had what going on, when I see your name I see treat, one must ask between work, that fine ride, family, projects so share, you don't have time to sleep, that is when you do these things while we sleep, looking forward again, Lathe Nut


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 12, 2011)

I THINK I got it.--Trouble is, there is no good way to animate all the movements in Solidworks, and thats a lot of metal to cut if I've got it wrong!!! I had to increase the diameter of the wheel to 7" instead of the original 6" to make room for the arms to "fall" to the next post properly. Actually, they don't fall right into place---The curved bottom portion of the arm falls onto the post, and rides on it as the wheel continues to rotate, pushed by the OTHER arm, untill the rounded hole in the bottom left end of the arm falls and engages the post. At that exact moment, the green arm reverses direction and the sequence repeats with the other arm. I think perhaps I will make it from cardboard and use stick-pins for my pivot points. One thing about doing that---If I have to move the stick-pin pivot points around a bit to make it work, I can measure the "moved" pivot points and fix up the model to match before making detail drawings. Another nice thing is that I can print my "parts" at 1:1 scale on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, and glue them to some cardboard to try this.


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## ShedBoy (Nov 12, 2011)

That will look neat being driven by a small steam engine but what will this mechanism be powering? What sort of machine will require a holting rotating movement? ;D

Brock


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 12, 2011)

Darned if I know!! My intent is that an eccentric on the steam engine will drive a link which runs to the bottom of the green pivot arm to swing it back and forth, thus driving the mechanism. The whole point here is not to do constructive work, but for the entertainment value of such a unique mechanism working. This may rank right up there with the Slinky Machine, the Pumpjack, the Bubble blowing machine, and the Piledriver..


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## tel (Nov 12, 2011)

;D Thm:

But you do really need to incorporate this into this 'un!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 12, 2011)

Tel--I remember that from the first time around. ;D ;D ;D


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 12, 2011)

These are the parts, printed out at one to one scale and glued to heavy cardboard, except for the wheel, which is glued to a scrap of 3/4" plywood. I used the plywood,because I realized that I would probably want to be able to install a dozen or so 1/4" "posts" in it. Tomorrow I will cut everything out, mount the pieces on a plywood backing, and possibly even glue some weights to the cardboard "arms" to make things function. The wheel is 7" diameter. The arms are 3 3/8" and 2 3/8" center to center. In a way, this seems too large, and I may want to scale it down to 75% of its current size, which would leave me with a 5 1/4" diameter wheel and 3/16" posts. However, first I want to make it work, and then if I have to "revise" my Solidworks models I can easily do that. Once I have any corrections made, my software will let me scale my original models and math data to whatever percentage I want before I actually make drawings.


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## ShedBoy (Nov 12, 2011)

You could power a rack and stretch the arms and legs off Barbie and Ken :big:
Wind up a trebuchet!
A crossbow!
 :big: :big: :big:

Brian slow down a bit you make some of us look a bit slow. Looking forward to the build.

Brock


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 13, 2011)

Check out the movie!!! I didn't even try it with the cardboard. I have so many scraps of aluminum hanging around that I just sawed the arms out with the bandsaw from 3/8" plate. The peice of 3/4" plywood scrap wasn't quite big enough to transfer all of the wheel pattern onto, and I really regret that now. However, as a neat mechanical device, it works really well. I think the speed it can run at will be limited by the weight of the arms.--They have to have time to fall and engage the next post down on the wheel, or it gets hung up. I might try tension springs on the arms as proceed with this. What a hoot!!!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 13, 2011)

So here it is at a more "model engine friendly" scale (75% of the original) . I will build this and post drawings as I go along.





View attachment ASSY OF KRAZY CLOCKWORK.PDF


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 13, 2011)

Lets start out by making the main wheel.----Just because we can!!! Its the most complicated part, and once its done its all downhill from then on.---And no whining about 3 place decimals!!!---Brian (Chief Designer Guy).





View attachment WHEEL-SMALL.PDF


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 13, 2011)

Oh heck, we might as well go ahead and make a base while we're at it!!!


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## RMO (Nov 13, 2011)

This is cool! I will be watching.

Mike


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## lee9966 (Nov 14, 2011)

Very cool Brian, looking forward to more.


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## IronHorse (Nov 14, 2011)

That's a handy book to have around. If anyone is interested, I found it for a free download on google Books.



IronHorse


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## ChrisLister (Nov 14, 2011)

Would like a copy bus it's impossible to download here in Europe ??? 

Is there an other option? ;D

Greetings,

Chris


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## mklotz (Nov 14, 2011)

ChrisLister  said:
			
		

> Would like a copy bus it's impossible to download here in Europe ???
> 
> Is there an other option? ;D



I got mine from Lindsay Technical Books...

http://www.lindsaybks.com/

and Amazon has it too...

http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?re...ds=507 mechanical movements&sprefix=507 &rd=1


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## metalmad (Nov 14, 2011)

Hi Brian 
looks like u are neally ready to start cutting stuff 
Pete


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

Tonight we'll start off with something simple---The wheel bushing.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

And we'll do the hub. I had to go back and re-jig the wheel drawing to add in the tapped holes for the hub. If you have already copied the wheel drawing, please copy the new one I've just posted, as some other holes may have moved a bit as well.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

This one is about as simple as it gets.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

Now its time for a difficult part---


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

And the other dificult part-----


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 14, 2011)

This is the last part I have modelled. The three holes at the left hand must remain as shown in the drawing to make the Klockwork mechanism work properly. The hole in the right hand end will probably change as I get deeper into the build stage. I have to figure out what engine I'm going to drive this with, whether or not I will need a gear reduction to slow it down (I think I will.), and what throw I want to have on the eccentric to make the arms drop down only one post at a time. The only metal I have cut at this point is for the full sized prototype which appears in the video. I am currently working 8 hours a day at an industrial plant across town, so my "playing" is restricted to the evenings.


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## jct842 (Nov 15, 2011)

I love it. I just went on amazon and bought a used 507 book for less than $5. thanks john


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 19, 2011)

Oh, I know----I've been lollygagging again. But trust me--I had good reasons. Now however, I'm back on the path, and will try to make more headway with this project. I machined the wheel and the hub this afternoon, and tomorrow will drill a kazillion holes in that plate wheel. I machined and bolted the hub on first so that I would have something to hold onto when I set it up in my rotary table.


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## tel (Nov 20, 2011)

Ah, _there _you are! I was beginning to think you'd got et by a polar b'ar!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 20, 2011)

Here are the eight large holes. Since they are only a cosmetic feature, and nothing has to mate with them, I simply drilled the first one, then advanced the rotary table 40 degrees and did the next untill they were done.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 20, 2011)

And here is the fnished mechanism. I drilled all 24 holes for the brass shafts using ordinate dimensions. I have no electronic travel gauges, so everything was done with the dials for my X and Y axis. I got distracted part way through and had two holes out of place, but I plugged them and carried on. Thats enough work for a sunday morning!!!


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## jct842 (Nov 20, 2011)

once you put the rest of it together I wonder if a person could not add a pendulum and a few gears to it and make a real clock out of it all. If a real long pendulum was used you might be able to get a 5 second or more swing out of it. probably would not want it in your bedroom if you want to sleep though, judging be the noise the mock up makes!      john


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 20, 2011)

I scrounged around in my box of gears and found two that mate properly and give an approximate 4.5:1 gear reduction. The small gear will attach directly to the crankshaft of my Popcorn engine, and the large gear will drive the eccentric which rocks the rocker shaft. I need that gear reduction to prevent the rocker arm from moving too rapidly. If it moves to rapidly the "arms" won't have enough time to fall and engage the next brass pin below it to turn the main klockwork gear.


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## Captain Jerry (Nov 20, 2011)

Brian Rupnow  said:
			
		

> Here are the eight large holes. Since they are only a cosmetic feature, and nothing has to mate with them, I simply drilled the first one, then advanced the rotary table 40 degrees and did the next untill they were done.



In the interest of fairness, I demand a recount! ;D

Jerry


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 20, 2011)

Captain Jerry  said:
			
		

> In the interest of fairness, I demand a recount! ;D
> 
> Jerry


You know Jerry, I was kinda wondering when I posted that, just how the Hell 40 degrees times 8 holes equalled 360 degrees. ??? ??? ???


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## Tin Falcon (Nov 20, 2011)

Well I only see eight. But the math does not support that does it? Oh well, like you said cosmetic. Its all good.
 Just call it a design change.
Tin


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## tel (Nov 20, 2011)

I count nine!


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## dalem9 (Nov 20, 2011)

He had to do one for practice Dale


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## tel (Nov 20, 2011)

Rof} I was forgetting the sighter shot!


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 23, 2011)

Still very much a "Work in progress" but this is what its going to look like mounted on my Popcorn steam engine. I'm finding it tough to find any extra time to spend on it right now, but its slowly coming together.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 23, 2011)

Pete out of Kirkland, Washington has built one of my Krazy Klockwork mechanisms at 1/2 the scale I posted. He says that it works great and presented no problems other than being small pieces to work with. I think he has done an excellent job, and it pleases me a lot when I see someone get enjoyment from the plans I post. Onya, Pete!!! Great stuff!!!----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 25, 2011)

This is a "new improved" version of the rocker arm, and a picture to show what it looks like installed.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 26, 2011)

Progress is being made, albeit slowly. I'm sure that at some time in my past I may have made stranger shaped pieces of metal, but if I did I really can't remember it. However, I'm now almost at the point where I can make my "arms" and "rocker" to work with this new mechanism.Now that I am "working out" 40 hours a week in an office across town on contract I don't have much energy left for machining at the end of the day.---Makes saturdays that much more precious!!!


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## SBWHART (Nov 26, 2011)

Wow Brian just caught up with this thread, thats one crazey movement, hooked up to the popcorn will certainly make it a talking piece.

Great work 

Stew


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## seagar (Nov 26, 2011)

Brian, you have me entertained and interested as usual.I have no idea what it is but where can I get one LOL.

Ian


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 26, 2011)

HA!!!!--I knew if I persevered that someone would stop by and say Hi. Thanks for your interest guys. This is going to be quite a neat project, I think.  Its 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon now and I've been machining since I got out of bed. I'm quite sure my good wife has just about reached her "Husband in the machine shop" tolerance level, so I'm going to pack it in for the day, have a shower, and make noises about going out somewhere nice for supper!!!----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 26, 2011)

I find that my big "cog-wheel" spins too freely. It will have to have a Belleville spring washer under the head of the pivot bolt to put enough preload on the wheel to keep it from "free-wheeling". When those arms "kick" it, if the wheel can run away from the arms, the mechanism won't work.


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## Harold Lee (Nov 26, 2011)

Brian Rupnow  said:
			
		

> I find that my big "cog-wheel" spins too freely. It will have to have a Belleville spring washer under the head of the pivot bolt to put enough preload on the wheel to keep it from "free-wheeling". When those arms "kick" it, if the wheel can run away from the arms, the mechanism won't work.



Brian - Have you considered some of the viscous compounds? Dow corning makes some silicon oils in different viscosity's and they might be perfect for this application. I you have ever pushed a button and watched a door open slowly like a tape cassette door or a drink holder cover in a car, chances are it is a silicon compound that is doing it. It is very temperature stable and stays put. Like silly putty the more force on it the greater resistance. 

Just my .02

Harold

BTW - This is a GREAT build and I am following it very closely. Thanks for posting.


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## ShedBoy (Nov 26, 2011)

That looks great Brian, what is the mechanism going to drive?

Brock


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 26, 2011)

Brock---Its not going to drive anything. In fact, its being driven---by the steam engine. I am always on the lookout for unique, eye catching devices to drive with the model engines I build, and this mechanism falls into that category. It is "eye candy', and thats all it is.  Harold---You are probably right, but in this case a 40 cent washer will solve the problem.


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## hobby (Nov 26, 2011)

Brian nice machinework, but that's a given, you do real nice machinework as it is
However I would like to compliment you on your design work, taking a picture of a mechanism, and figuring out on your own the details to make it work.

That in itself adds to the craftsmanship of a build.
That's how I did my lifttable project, and simulator platform, looked at a picture, and tried to figure out the mechanics from there.

You did an excellent job in figuring the mechanicals from the picture.

Keep up the great craftsmanship.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 27, 2011)

Here is a more succesfull video of the engine running, after I read the instruction booklet on my digital camera!!! ??? ??? ???


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## dgjessing (Nov 27, 2011)

That's great


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## hobby (Nov 27, 2011)

Beautiful,
Combined an engine build, with a mechanical device,
makes for a most interesting project to watch running.

Now if you can find the name of the device in your book, you could google it and see what it was used for in the earlier days, and model that as well.
Just one idea.

Nice craftsmanship and mechanical knowledge to pull this off,
with success.


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## lee9966 (Nov 27, 2011)

Really cool, especially running slowly. Thanks for pointing out the book this came from. There is a similar device in the book that I want to make.

Lee


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## larry1 (Nov 27, 2011)

Brian, Great work thank you for sharing with us all. larry


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 28, 2011)

It is a very neat mechanism to watch. Now, for all of you who may not have a popcorn engine to install it on, it will run just fine as a stand alone mechanism, driven by any engine of your choice. I have taken a bit of time tonight and made up enough details for anyone interested to build their very own "stand alone Klockwork Mechanism". I haven't went really krazy with the drawings, but there should be enough info on the next 5 or six sheets I post. If the jpg format just doesn't do it for you, I could probably be coaxed into saving them as pdf files. If there is any information lacking, somebody let me know and I will post what is lacking. As you all probably have figured out, I want to see others build this, and besides, its a rather blatant attemp to drive my karma count over the 700 mark.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 28, 2011)

This main frame drawing is very "busy" and you could probably live without some of the major cut-outs on it, however this is what I used to build mine from. I used a piece cut from a 9" structural channel with a 1/4" web, simply because I had it. You could easily get away with making it from 3/8" or 1/2" plate and bolting it to a base of your choice.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 28, 2011)

You will notice right away that on the working model I built, I used a peice of 1/4" for 1/2" bar for this part, and you can too, if you want to.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 28, 2011)

I think this is the only remaining part I haven't posted plans for. If I've missed anything, let me know. If you are uncertain how any of it goes together, refer to the vido.----Brian


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 28, 2011)

As I said before, I didn't really go Krazy with the drawings, but a brief word of explanation is called for. The gear (in your case the pulley) is locked to a short piece of 1/4" dia. shaft that sticks through the main backplate to drive the "eccentric wheel" (or arm) on the same side as the main cog-wheel.---And----It didn't need a Belleville washer to put some preload on the cog wheel. ---Didn't seem to need it.


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## archer3d (Nov 29, 2011)

A point from me :bow: I / we really appreciate you posting the plans. Looks and runs great

tom


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 29, 2011)

One of the "kind of neat" aspects of this machine is that it doesn't care which direction the driven pulley or gear turns. As long as that rocker rocks back and forth, the big cog wheel will keep turning the same way. I think thats called "Uni-directional!!!!


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## starnovice (Nov 9, 2012)

Brian Rupnow said:


> Check out the movie!!! I didn't even try it with the cardboard. I have so many scraps of aluminum hanging around that I just sawed the arms out with the bandsaw from 3/8" plate. The peice of 3/4" plywood scrap wasn't quite big enough to transfer all of the wheel pattern onto, and I really regret that now. However, as a neat mechanical device, it works really well. I think the speed it can run at will be limited by the weight of the arms.--They have to have time to fall and engage the next post down on the wheel, or it gets hung up. I might try tension springs on the arms as proceed with this. What a hoot!!!



You face so many frustrations in some of your builds I always enjoy it when I get to hear you laugh.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 9, 2012)

Hey---If it was easy, everybody'd be doing it!!!----Brian


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