THE GEAR MACHINE


-HOME
-Clockworks
...Grasshopper Clockwork
...Inertia Clockwork
.........Gear Cutting
.........Sample Gears
.........Rotary Table
.........Parts Disassembled
.........Escapement Revealed
...Simplicity Clockwork
...Gear Machine Clockwork
...Concentricity Clockwork
-Eggs
...Egg Drawing Machine
...Brown Eggs
...Green Eggs
...Fun With Trigonometry
-CNC
...The Milling Machine
...Inside the Controller Case
...Rear of Controller Case
...The Interface Board
-ProTrac Support
GEAR MACHINE

Designed and built by Ed Legler, 2004.
elegler@edlegler.com

The idea with this kinetic sculpture was to have a lightweight sculpture that would fit on a table top.  The flywheel is 8 inches in diameter.  With an overall gear ratio of 13.63:1 it has a very soothing feel when turning the handle.  Ball bearings provide a very free wheeling movement.

The handle is made of turned ebony.
The gears, frame and flywheel are made of 1/2 inch thick Finnish birch plywood.  Tung oil and paste wax give it a rich, warm shine.

The bearings are ABEC 5 roller blade bearings.
The frame is held together with 5/16 inch diameter brass rod.  The same brass rod is used for three flywheel weights.

The large gears have 43 teeth and the small gears have 18 teeth and are all 10 pitch.