Hi steve. Sorry to bother you again but I am running into issues again. I just finished printing the weight shell but when I fully pack it with a combination of slingshot ammo and BBs, the weight is barely over 4.7lbs. I had 2 questions:
Is it alright to operate at this weight with no downsides?
If there are downsides, do you have a recommended filler? I am in the US if that helps
It might run with that weight, but the pendulum amplitude will be small which males the clock less reliable. It would run much better with a bit more weight.
There are two options to increase the drive weight.
1) Fill the weight shell with lead shot. I designed the clock assuming lead shot, but there are risks with lead. I now prefer BBs for filling weight shells.
2) Add an extension to the bottom of the weight shell to make it larger. This design has a quarter and half size extension. The half size may be a good choice.
Adding the extensions is the easiest (and safest) solution if you already have the weight shell printed.