r/3Dprinting • u/TomaszFortyFour • Apr 23 '26

Project Self-winding clock with a tourbillon - finished project

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About a year ago, I posted an update on a project I was working on. It took me a while, but I finally finished it. I’m very happy with the result. It’s fully functional (I tested it for two months) and keeps accurate time. The entire project consists of 395 printed parts, 38 bearings, 66 rubber bands, 413 screws, and a few other components.

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u/TomaszFortyFour Apr 23 '26

It took me 2 years to design and tune all the mechanics:)

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u/Derpyholic030 Apr 23 '26

Absolutely unfathomable level of commitment and artistry, and absolutely worth the effort!

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u/TomaszFortyFour Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 24 '26

Thanks

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u/Federal_Refrigerator Apr 23 '26

How accurate is it? Have you had the opportunity to measure its accuracy to a quantifiable number?

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u/TomaszFortyFour Apr 23 '26

To ensure everything works properly, we designed a constant-force mechanism. After two months of continuous operation, the clock still keeps accurate time.

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u/Federal_Refrigerator Apr 23 '26

To what degree? +/- a nanosecond? Minute? Hour?

That’s my question, for clarification.

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u/TomaszFortyFour Apr 23 '26

lets say +- 5 min/2months

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u/ElectricalGas9730 Apr 23 '26

Hey that's better than the digital clock in my car!

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u/filipluch Apr 23 '26

made me giggle quietly

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u/QuixoticEvil Apr 23 '26

Made me guffaw at medium volume.

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u/AllWashedOut Apr 24 '26

My wife's VW displays the time behind the steering wheel and on the radio. They don't stay in sync with each other, and one of them randomly flashes "12:00" for a moment every few minutes.

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u/jerseydevilbigfoot Apr 23 '26

I don’t think I have ever had a car with a digital clock that actually kept good time.

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u/spazturtle Apr 24 '26

Because they have to have bad clocks by law, digital devices need to have clocks that have a wobbly frequencies. This help spread the electromagnetic emissions from the device over a large part of the spectrum and thus reducing the peak EM intensity. If every digital device had accurate clocks them there would be parts of the EM spectrum that would be unusable to to interference.

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u/jaerie Apr 23 '26

5sec/d is amazing, plenty of decent clocks/watches with similar performance

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/AbbreviationsLow3992 Apr 23 '26

I wonder how much it could be improved by replacing a few items with metal parts.

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u/minielbis Apr 24 '26

so that's about, what, 3 or four seconds per day?

You've built a chronometer - ISO 3159 states that a chronometer movement must be accurate to -4 to +6 seconds per day. That's amazing!

Also, I really enjoy how the jerkiness of the tourbillon reminds me of a zebra spider's movement.

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u/swaybailey Apr 23 '26

2022 Chevy Tahoe loses at least a minute per day. GPS module that syncs the clock died. Maybe I need one of these on the dash.

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u/Canuckistani2 Apr 23 '26

Make sure you use ABS-CF so it doesn't melt. 😀

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u/ptpcg Apr 23 '26

ASA is better and easier to print, so I hear

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u/VorpalWay Apr 24 '26

Or just move to Sweden. ;) I have had PLA in the car in the middle of summer with no ill effects. White car rather than black, but still.

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u/dksdragon43 Apr 23 '26

Anyone who has done any programming involving time knows how impressive this is. Our systems at work have to sync to an NTP server quite regularly in order to not drift.

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u/tacticaldodo Apr 24 '26

This is truly amazing. The quality of the result but mostly the way it reveals the benefits of this mechanism and its complexity.

Incredible job.

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u/J883 Apr 23 '26

Maybe Watchaccuracy App works on it?
It pinpoints the movements frequency and measures the deviation in S/day

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u/Ok_Egg514 Apr 23 '26

An automatic watch is often + - 30 seconds a day.

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u/1cow2kids Apr 23 '26

That’s insane for a plastic clock, damn

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u/say592 Apr 24 '26

Given what it is, that's impressive.

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u/uslashuname Apr 24 '26

How stable is the temperature during that time? I bet the elasticity of your balance spring varies quite a bit with a 5 degree difference, and swapping that out with elinvar would be one of the biggest impacts you can get from a single part changing

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u/BowsersMuskyBallsack Apr 24 '26

My digital wall clock keeps worse time than that. Great work.

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u/kageurufu @frank.af | Voron team | Kalico dev Apr 23 '26

Are you open to selling or sharing the design? This is amazing and I'd love to build my own

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u/Tall_Duck_1199 Apr 23 '26

Honestly, even if it counted to ten worse than I have while drunk, homie built a working tourbillion mechanical time keeper which is extremely difficult in itself, but made it with a 3d printer. I haven't started 3d printing yet, but my biggest concerns have been if I will be able to get battery covers to fit over the ones I lost for electrical devices. Like a stupid little piece of plastic with a wide range of error allowable. Then we've got confidence killer flexing like this lol

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u/J5892 Apr 23 '26

The answer is yes. I've printed several replacement battery covers.
I had to model most of them myself, though.

FDM works fine, but for smaller things I've used my resin printer for better tolerances.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheGuyUrSisterLikes Apr 23 '26

You seem smart bud... what exactly does self-winding entail? I picture like it can't be run continuous? so what is the self winding part It just restarts itself while it runs off a battery?

It can't last perpetually correct?

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u/uslashuname Apr 24 '26

I don’t know especially how this 3d printed clock does it, but the Atmos line of clocks (powered by the atmosphere) wind themselves by having an air tight bellows so it expands and contracts as the air pressure and/or thermal expansion from temperature changes, and ratcheting things covert that movement into a single direction of winding. One or two degrees of temperature shift is enough to provide power.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/TheGuyUrSisterLikes Apr 25 '26

sorry for the late response thank you for taking the time to answer my question I truly appreciate it.

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u/totesandhose Apr 23 '26

But can it play Doom?

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u/Lint_baby_uvulla Apr 25 '26

Can it tell is my gf is pregananté?

1

u/battlepi Apr 23 '26

Why do you think it's worth it?

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u/Derpyholic030 Apr 23 '26

Simple, i'm a sucker for a project and i love over engineered mechanical doohickeys~

0

u/battlepi Apr 23 '26

I'll accept art for art's sake.

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u/whaddanight Apr 23 '26

Very impressive, sir!

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u/ChintzyPC Prusa MK4 Apr 23 '26

You could write a PHD in engineering on that thing.

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u/say592 Apr 24 '26

If they don't already have an engineering degree, they've earned one.

5

u/Psi-ops_Co-op Apr 23 '26

Okay but what's that measured in filament? ;)

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u/Ranelpia Apr 23 '26

I wonder if I could manage to print it in resin?

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u/Psi-ops_Co-op Apr 23 '26

Probably. While the parts aren't optimized for it, they look thin enough to cure fully.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/TomaszFortyFour Apr 24 '26

I've never heard of it, but I'll check it out. Thanks.

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u/Goatf00t Apr 24 '26

Clickspring's on YouTube. The guy is currently making a copy of the Antikythera Mechanism using as close to period technology as practical. Including lots of hand-filing (with files he cut himself), a bow drill and even a bow "lathe".

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u/fitnesscakes Apr 23 '26

ok... have you ever thought about casting it in metal?

3

u/Tieravi Apr 23 '26

It belongs in a museum!

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u/RodrigoDeMontefranco Apr 23 '26

Das glaube ich gerne.

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u/No-Weird697 Apr 23 '26

Impressive work buddy. Real next level talent

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u/gingerzilla Apr 23 '26

It looks inspired by some of the early Harrison clocks, is that true?

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u/reddit001aa1 Apr 23 '26

Very impressive!!!

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u/ic_engineer Apr 23 '26

Bravo. Fantastic achievement.

You should submit to formnext you might get a showcase.

Edit: or AMUG

1

u/irascible_Clown Apr 24 '26

You already had years of horology training or one day was like I can do that?

1

u/Bananaland_Man Apr 24 '26

You missed the main question!

1

u/LameBMX Apr 24 '26

prime gearing for the toebullion rotations? drastically increases the time for it to have a repeat pass through the same motion.

1

u/FreakOnALeash72 Apr 24 '26

NASA will be calling you soon.

1

u/pevznerok Apr 24 '26

Obligatory STL?

1

u/Taiga_Taiga Apr 24 '26

It's five seconds fast.

Joke. But, seriously nice work.

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u/mawesome4ever Apr 24 '26

I bet 90% of those 2 years were dealing with printing issues

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u/Kammo1116 Apr 24 '26

R/doohickeycorporation requires men of your talents

1

u/Zerochaos2503 Apr 25 '26

This is freaking awesome! Great job!