In this project, I designed 3d-printed panels that used servo motors to control dials. After assembling 24 panels four digits could be presented. The aim of the project was to build a clock.
The project started with the CAD modelling. It took some time before I was able to print out all the components. The assembly process was quite challenging, nevertheless in the end I managed to get everything to work out.
The biggest effort was the calibration. It was impossible to place all the dials the same, thus a calibration was needed. Since the 3d-printed gears are not 100% precise, there is some backslash in the system. To make everything more complex the servo motors do not work 100% the same and that needed to be compensated too. The whole calibration process was labor intense manual work.
The whole clock works as planned. Although the dial alignment could be improved, one can easily read the numbers. Maybe some space between the second and the third number would have been useful for better time reading.
Controlling 48 servo motors at the same time took some time to master. However, in the end the movement does not look very jumpy. All in all I found the project successful with some potential improvements possibilities.
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