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Chiming Clock Idea

I had a random idea the other day for your clocks. The idea is a clock that will chime every hour. The idea seems simple but the gears would probably be complex. I think it would be cool if it would play the Westminster quarter, the sound that big ben makes. This may be hard to design in a 3d printed clock, but it would be cool.

5 comments

5 Comments

rays

Mar 16

Well---- You could cheat and have one of the micro processor driven clocks "chime" with a speaker. (Ducking

down to avoid the shoe being thrown).

Steve

Mar 16

Replying to

I have considered adding a speaker based "chime", since all other experiments have not sounded good.

Traditional chime bars are difficult to find and only sound good when placed inside a resonating sound box. Holding the chimes loosely will create a dull sound. Holding it firmly against a solid object creates a much richer sound. 3D printed clock frames would need some serious experimenting to make anything reasonable sounding. And the mechanism for operating the chimes would easily double or triple the number of gears required.

I also tried some wind chime style rods using commonly available components like metal conduit. It followed the best known methods from a few web sites but never sounded rich enough as a clock chime.

The next best option might be a simple battery powered chime module. They appear to be available for around US$15 including the clock movement or US$10 for the standalone module. There are two wires coming from the clock movement to trigger the chime unit. Not sure if it is a simple connection or if it needs an electrical pulse to trigger it.