New clock accepted to gallery

[Acmeaviator]

One of my new Celtic clocks was accepted to the gallery at Funke Fired Arts:D

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c99/acmeaviator/celticclock2.jpg

[bleeth]

Fabulous Brian. I've been waiting to see them on your website!

Dave

[Acmeaviator]

Yeah - bought the website domain and never got it finished:( Right now I'm juggling a job at a business that is prob closing, my wife's pottery business, my shop and both our websites lol. I actually bought the bot to make my wood gear clocks and kits but I'm still knee deep in converting paper plans to bmp's to cut files so I thought I'd knock out a few simple clocks with some movements I had laying around.

[Brady Watson]

Good job!

Now get crackin' on data conversion! Not for nothing, but manually tracing BMPs is an excellent exercise for honing your drawing skills. It is a blessing in disguise & if you learn shortcut keys, you can trace something out very quickly. The time you invest doing this will pay you back later on.

The museum gift shop can be your 1st retail customer :D

-B

[Acmeaviator]

The next one of these I'm going to try using a thinner backboard and cut out all the "interior" pieces to just leave a lattice work. Will be a good workout for my new 1/8" end mills. I thought they would be the smallest I would ever possibly need but now I'm checking out 1/16" end mills:D

[chiloquinruss]

I got a 1/8th collett and use my Dremel bits (really small) and get some really good detail (depending on material of course).

Love the clock, I'm working on converting some scroll saw patterns into bottable stuff. Please post more.

Russ

[Acmeaviator]

Thanks for the great tip Russ - I had not thought of using dremel bits. When I decided to buy my bot I thought converting my plans would be the easy part - not the hardest! I bought a decent scanner and set up a "scanning station" in the basement with all my plans on one side of the table, my laptop and scanner in the middle, and a box for scanned plans on the other side. The major problem with scanning from paper, for me anyway, is going back over the vectors in partworks and correcting for artifacts of the conversion process. A smaller issue is with the scanner making circles into slight ellipses which apparently is a common problem with consumer grade scanners and how their optics work. Anyway - will be posting more soon.

[bleeth]

Brian:

It has been my experience that a scanned image in bmp or jpg etc. brought into cad/cam software is better traced by me then "converted" by software. The main thing has always been to scan at the very highest possible resolution so the lines are as clean as possible. For objects that need complete precision like gears it is better to create them from dimensions.
I recently used Ryan's free gear program and it did a great job. It only draws 1 tooth though so you have to place the rest through an array copy.

I have been given AI and EPS files of logos that were used by printers but were unuseable by Aspire or AC Pro due to loops, crossed lines, etc.

[dave_k]

Dave you peaked my interest... I also have been having problems getting a gear on paper into a partfile that is ROUND without lots of hassle. Maybe I should make them from scratch? What is Ryans free gear program, and where can I get it?

[bleeth]

Ryan (One of the "TV Stars" of SB training) has it on his www.cabinetpartspro.com (http://www.cabinetpartspro.com) site.

If you search this site for gear design you will find other programs including one that is well spoken of and not expensive that have more ability than Ryans. But if you know what you need and have your size defined Ryan's is just fine.

Dana Swift wrote a gear program and another out there is "gearotic" that can make some really wild shaped gears.

[Acmeaviator]

I have a program called "GearGenerator" that I bought pretty cheap awhile back - it does a good job and has a ton of options. I use it for most of my intermediate and power transfer wheels. The wheel that gives me fits is the various escapement wheels - many have unusual teeth that are harder to replicate than a standard involute. Brian Law has some nice clocks and sells his plans in both .pdf and .dfx format which helps alot - though I have had some problems with his .dfx files. In any case they are cheap and will provide a nice clock for your efforts. Clayton Boyer sells paper only plans for a ton of beautiful clocks, orreys, and kinetic sculptures. Clayton is a super nice guy and has sent me free plans when I have ordered a bunch of others from him. His only hang-up is that he will NOT sell his plans in any electronic format. He will email you .dfx of a few difficult or oversize pieces if you have bought from him though.
I'm really working towards my own movement design that I can make myself and get away from the costs associated with buying the movements I use now. Even at wholesale prices they can add up fast.

[bleeth]

Here is a program that does cycloidal gears:

http://delphusa.com/index.htm

Maybe this will save your sanity!!

I've been admiring Boyer's clocks and kinetics for years. Converting to dxf and actually having them come out keeping accurate time could keep one going for a while.

[Acmeaviator]

Dave I could KISS you:D:D Just purchased the software - it's great. Now I need to get up the courage to try cutting some brass on my bot:o

[bleeth]

No prob Brian;
Although I have never cut a gear in my life I keep looking at it as part of (hopefully in a few years) retirement activity.

That program was listed in the CNC Zone forum in a thread that also had Art talking about Gearotics.

BTW: Thanks for the offer but you're not my type!!:D