Tourbillon Wall Clock

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A real mechanical clock, printed. A weight on a ball chain turns the centre wheel once an hour, and the train drives a tourbillon at the bottom: a cage that carries the balance, the lever and the escape wheel and turns once a minute, so it is also the seconds hand. Inside it the escape pinion rolls round a fixed ring, the escape wheel lets one tooth through per second, and the lever passes each push on to the balance, which swings once a second on a printed hairspring. You wind it by pulling the chain, and it keeps running while you do. Four timing screws in the balance set the rate. Every part prints without supports.

• 37 printed parts

• 12 × 15 × 31 cm assembled (L × W × H)

• ≈ 0.3 kg filament in total

• 212 mm bed length for the back plate; the front plate needs 207 mm

Parts

Back plate: Carries the back ends of the arbors, the bearing for the tourbillon carriage, the boss the winding sprocket turns on and the click. Three legs hold the clock 45 mm off the wall; the top one has a keyhole for a screw.

• Size: 212 × 146 × 51 mm

• Print: Front face down, legs up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 57 g

Front plate: Holds the front ends of the centre and third arbors, the stud for the minute wheel, the ring and the bridge. The three posts for the dial are printed on it.

• Size: 207 × 154 × 18 mm

• Print: Flat, posts up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 56 g

Pillar × 4: Keeps the plates 16 mm apart. An M3 × 25 goes from the front plate through the pillar into the back plate.

• Size: 16 × 10 × 10 mm

• Print: Standing up.

• Filament: ≈ 5 g

Drive sprocket: 33 pockets for the ball chain on the back of the centre arbor: the weight pulls it round once an hour. Its shaft goes through the back plate and keys into the centre wheel; an M3 × 40 along the axis holds them together.

• Size: 69 × 69 × 32 mm

• Print: Sprocket down, shaft up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 19 g

Winding sprocket: 16 pockets and a ratchet. It turns on the boss of the back plate one way only: pull the chain down on the left and the weight goes up, while it keeps driving the clock.

• Size: 47 × 47 × 10 mm

• Print: Ratchet down. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 8 g

Click: Stops the winding sprocket from running back. It turns on an M3 × 8, and its thin arm, bent by a post on the back plate, is its spring.

• Size: 23 × 15 × 2 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Centre wheel: 96 teeth. It turns once an hour; its long arbor runs in the front plate and carries the cannon pinion and the minute hand.

• Size: 121 × 121 × 40 mm

• Print: Wheel down, arbor up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 20 g

Third wheel: A 12-tooth pinion driven by the centre wheel and a 90-tooth wheel that drives the carriage pinion. It turns on a 3 mm steel rod.

• Size: 114 × 114 × 12 mm

• Print: Wheel down. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 17 g

Third wheel spacer: Between the third wheel and the front plate, so the wheel stays in line with the carriage pinion.

• Size: 8 × 8 × 3 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Carriage spacer: On the carriage rod, between the back bearing and the carriage pinion.

• Size: 8 × 5 × 5 mm

• Print: Standing up.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Carriage pinion: 12 teeth. Its tube passes through the front plate and the hex at its end keys into the cage base, so the whole cage turns with it, once a minute.

• Size: 20 × 18 × 18 mm

• Print: Pinion down.

• Filament: ≈ 2 g

Fixed ring: 60 teeth on the inside for the escape pinion to roll round, a seconds scale on the front and three tabs that screw it to the front plate (M3 × 8).

• Size: 126 × 120 × 12 mm

• Print: Tabs down. No supports: a 45° cone carries the teeth.

• Filament: ≈ 21 g

Cage base: The bottom of the tourbillon cage: posts for the middle arms and for the escape and lever rods, two banking pins for the lever, and a counterweight that balances the cage on its axis.

• Size: 96 × 96 × 18 mm

• Print: Flat face down. Print it at 100% infill, so the counterweight weighs what it should.

• Filament: ≈ 28 g

Escape pinion: 15 teeth that roll round the fixed ring: while the cage turns once, the escape wheel turns four times. The escape wheel slides onto its hex.

• Size: 30 × 30 × 14 mm

• Print: Pinion down.

• Filament: ≈ 4 g

Escape wheel: 15 club teeth. It lets one tooth through for every swing of the balance.

• Size: 37 × 37 × 3 mm

• Print: Flat, with fine layers. Clean the tips of the teeth.

• Filament: ≈ 1 g

Lever: The Swiss lever: two pallets lock and release the escape wheel, and the fork at the other end is moved by the impulse pin of the balance. The round weight on one side balances it on its pivot.

• Size: 23 × 23 × 6 mm

• Print: Upside down, pallets up.

• Filament: ≈ 1 g

Roller: Carries the impulse pin under the balance. Two small pins key it into the balance hub.

• Size: 14 × 14 × 11 mm

• Print: Table down, pin up.

• Filament: ≈ 1 g

Balance spacer: On the cage rod, between the cage base and the lower bearing of the balance.

• Size: 14 × 5 × 5 mm

• Print: Standing up.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Middle arms: Hold the top ends of the escape and lever rods and the pillars of the cage top. The pointer on the edge is the seconds hand.

• Size: 110 × 102 × 3 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 12 g

Balance: A 74 mm balance on two 623 bearings. Four M3 × 10 timing screws in the rim set the rate: turn them out to slow the clock down, in to speed it up.

• Size: 74 × 74 × 10 mm

• Print: Flat, at 100% infill.

• Filament: ≈ 7 g

Bearing spacer: Between the two bearings in the balance hub.

• Size: 5 × 5 × 1 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Hairspring: A flat spiral, one 0.6 mm line and 4 mm high. The inner ring presses onto the balance hub and the stud at the outer end goes into the cage top. Its length is worked out for a one-second swing in PLA.

• Size: 59 × 56 × 7 mm

• Print: Flat, with the line width set to 0.6 mm so it prints as one line. Don't scale it.

• Filament: ≈ 2 g

Cage top: Closes the cage: three pillars down to the middle arms, the hole for the hairspring stud and the boss on the balance's upper bearing.

• Size: 87 × 83 × 14 mm

• Print: Upside down, pillars up.

• Filament: ≈ 4 g

Bridge spacer: On the cage rod, between the cage top and the bridge bearing.

• Size: 5 × 5 × 1 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Bridge: Spans the tourbillon and holds the front bearing of the carriage. Two M3 × 16 hold it to the front plate.

• Size: 152 × 43 × 17 mm

• Print: Upside down, feet up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 14 g

Cannon pinion: 14 teeth on the centre arbor. The slit tube grips the arbor, so the hands turn with the clock, but you can still turn them by hand to set the time.

• Size: 25 × 24 × 18 mm

• Print: Pinion down.

• Filament: ≈ 3 g

Minute wheel: 42 and 12 teeth, on a steel stud in the front plate. With the hour wheel it turns the hour hand 12 times slower than the minute hand.

• Size: 65 × 65 × 10 mm

• Print: Wheel down.

• Filament: ≈ 8 g

Hour wheel: 48 teeth on a tube that turns on the cannon pinion and carries the hour hand.

• Size: 69 × 69 × 12 mm

• Print: Wheel down.

• Filament: ≈ 7 g

Dial: A ring 124 mm across, on the three posts of the front plate.

• Size: 124 × 124 × 2 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 23 g

Chapter ring: Hour bars and minute notches that lie on the dial. The three M3 × 10 dial screws hold both.

• Size: 124 × 124 × 1 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 2 g

Hour hand: Pushes onto the tube of the hour wheel.

• Size: 51 × 22 × 2 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 0 g

Minute hand: Sits on the hex of the cannon pinion, held by an M3 × 8 and a washer.

• Size: 70 × 13 × 2 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 1 g

Pulley: Runs in the loop of the ball chain and carries the weight.

• Size: 21 × 21 × 6 mm

• Print: Flat.

• Filament: ≈ 2 g

Pulley block: Holds the pulley on an M3 × 16 with a nut. Hang the weight on its eye.

• Size: 34 × 13 × 12 mm

• Print: On its side, as in the file.

• Filament: ≈ 3 g

What else you need

• 4 ball bearings 623ZZ (3 × 10 × 4 mm): two in the balance, one in the back plate and one in the bridge for the tourbillon carriage.

• 200 mm of 3 mm steel rod, cut into a 68 mm carriage rod, two 20 mm rods for the escape wheel and the lever, a 26 mm rod for the third wheel and a 16 mm stud for the minute wheel.

• Ball chain for roller blinds, 4.5 mm balls at 6 mm pitch: about 3.2 m, closed into a loop with a chain connector.

• A weight of 3 to 5 kg on the pulley (start with 4 kg; a cloth bag of sand works) and about 100 g, a few nuts on a hook, in the other loop of the chain.

• M3 screws: 1 × 40, 4 × 25, 3 × 16, 7 × 10 (3 for the dial, 4 timing screws), 11 × 8, plus an M3 nut and a washer. They cut their own thread in the plastic.

• A screw and wall plug for the keyhole, with a head of at most 7 mm.

Print settings

• 0.16 mm layer height (0.12 mm for the escape wheel, lever and roller)

• 3 walls

• 100% infill for the cage parts, the lever and the balance; 20% for the rest

• PLA material: the hairspring is worked out for PLA

For a 0.4 mm nozzle. Filament amounts are estimates for these settings.

How to build it

1. Print the parts: Nothing needs supports. Print the cage base, middle arms, cage top, escape pinion and wheel, lever, roller and balance at 100% infill, because they are balanced by weight. Clean any elephant's foot off the gears and the bearing seats.

2. Bearings and rods: Press a 623 bearing into the back plate from the front and one into the bridge. Push the 26 mm rod into the back plate where the third wheel goes and the 16 mm stud into the front plate for the minute wheel.

3. Back of the clock: Slide the winding sprocket onto the boss on the back plate, ratchet towards the plate, and fit the click with an M3 × 8 so its arm rests against the post. Push the shaft of the drive sprocket through from behind.

4. The train: Put the centre wheel on the hex of the drive sprocket and screw them together with the M3 × 40. Put the third wheel on its rod. Slide the carriage spacer and the carriage pinion onto the 68 mm rod and push it into the back bearing. Stand the four pillars on the back plate and screw the front plate on with four M3 × 25.

5. Ring and cage: Screw the ring to the front plate. Press the cage base onto the carriage rod so its hex goes over the carriage pinion. Push the two 20 mm rods into the base, slide on the escape pinion and the escape wheel, and the lever. Screw the middle arms onto the three posts (M3 × 8).

6. Balance: Press the two bearings into the balance with the spacer between them and put in the four timing screws, all equally deep. Slide the balance spacer and the roller onto the rod, then the balance, so the impulse pin goes into the fork. Press the hairspring's inner ring onto the hub and screw the cage top onto the middle arms with the stud in its hole.

7. Bridge: Put the bridge spacer on the rod and screw the bridge on (2 × M3 × 16). The cage should turn freely and stay wherever you leave it; if one side always ends up at the bottom, stick a little weight on the other side.

8. Dial and hands: Push the cannon pinion onto the centre arbor, put the minute wheel on its stud and the hour wheel on the cannon pinion. Screw the dial and the chapter ring onto the posts (3 × M3 × 10). Press the hour hand onto its tube and fit the minute hand with an M3 × 8 and a washer.

9. Hang it up and start it: Hang the clock on a screw in the wall and check that it hangs straight. Lay the chain over both sprockets, with the pulley and the weight in the loop on the right and the small weight in the loop on the left. Turn the hairspring's inner ring on the hub until the impulse pin sits in the middle of the fork when the balance is still, then give the balance a gentle swing. To wind, pull the chain down on the left.

10. Set the rate: Compare with your phone after a day. If the clock gains, turn all four timing screws out by the same amount; if it loses, turn them in.

The weight hangs on a chain: hang the clock on a solid wall and keep small children away from the weight.

More

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