One thing about this machine that is truly surprising, is just how small the teeth are.

There's a well established theory as to how the tooth divisions were marked out, but employing that process to mark out multiple wheels has forced me to question whether it can reasonably be applied to the Antikythera Mechanism.

So in this video I propose an alternative process of wheel division, using only the non precision tools of the period.
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In this episode the basic structure of the mechanism comes together, and I put forward a theory on a simple method for achieving the extremely close clearances observed in the original device.
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Its an extra length episode for you folks, so please enjoy!
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Hey Folks,

This video is the first episode in a companion series to the main Antikythera Mechanism project, that I'm calling "Antikythera Fragments". Sort of like the ongoing Spare Parts series, but specifically for the AM.

The reason for the separate series is that there's a lot that I'd like to discuss about this machine, that requires a large amount of speculation and guesswork. I'd like the main series to be as fact based as I can get it, so when I know I'm clearly deviating into speculation territory, I'm going to hive the topic off into one of these "Fragment" videos.

It doesn't mean that I think the speculated idea is necessarily wrong, just that its more open for discussion. I'll share my thinking with you, and hopefully you'll have your own thoughts and share them too.
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The first subject I want to cover is the topic of workholding that I briefly touched on in the 2nd episode.
Enjoy!
 
Chris.

I'm back on deck for 2107, and we're off and running folks. The first episode of the new series gives an overview of how I intend to tackle the project. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Chris.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement folks, more details on the next project will be released on Sunday morning 18/12/2016

Cheers,
Chris.
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This is the big one folks, I do hope you enjoy it!

Cheers,
Chris.
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Whilst a mainspring is a convenient way to store the energy that a clock needs to run, it does come with a few drawbacks. One is that the torque it generates reduces, in a non linear fashion, as the mainspring unwinds. This inevitably leads to variations in the rate of the clock, so it's definitely something to be avoided or minimised if possible.

It's also bad news for the clock if the user should get a little enthusiastic during winding and try to carry on past the physical limit of the spring. The barrel hook or spring hole can easily be damaged, or worse, fail completely.

A fusee is generally accepted as the gold standard for addressing mainspring torque variability, however both of these issues are neatly dealt with in this design by the use of a stopwork mechanism.
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In this video I reach a significant milestone for the clock, the very first tick of the escapement. Enjoy!!

I had every intention of making these parts at the same time as the pallets, and getting the thing ticking in this video. But I had so much footage it seemed like a better idea to split over two videos. So this is the first of two videos on the escapement, the next one should be out in about 10 days.

Cheers,
Chris.