Gear O’Clock – Electro Mechanical Educational Clock

After being provided with the high level brief of “an education activity to be located in a clock tower” and an interactive consultation with a sample group of the target audience, I conceptualised, designed and developed the “Gear O’Clock” electro mechanical educational clock. All of the wooden components were designed from scratch with assistance from the gear plugin in Inkscape and were laser cut and engraved. This was originally made as a one off commission, but I would love to make another, a small batch, or even a larger crowd funded batch enabling me to further develop the project and then liberate the design files, source code and relevant supporting documentation. So please contact me if you would like one for an educational setting, or perhaps a interesting and striking time piece.

The clock can be completely dis-assembled and re-assembled, enabling the users to get a hands on understanding about how gear ratios work and relate to a real life solution.

With an addressable LED in each corner the laser cut and engraved acrylic clock face can be lit up in any colour, making this quite an eye catching time piece, when hung on the wall.

To ensure accurate timing, the gears are powered by a stepper motor, controlled via a Arduino and quartz real time clock.