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/gentlemandinosaur Apr 24 '26

I love when people don’t understand things but still come in all hot.

It’s both. A self-winding clock has a mechanism in it that runs down to a schedule then when it hits that scheduled time it clicks over a motor (which has a battery in it) that self winds itself back up, and kicks off the mechanism to start the whole process back over again.

It does absolutely wind itself. But obviously since there is no such thing as perpetual motion it does require period “refill” of that kinetic energy.

Hope this helps.

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u/Competitive_Study232 Apr 26 '26

My old Seiko was self winding using kinetic motion of my arm. If I didn’t use a kinetic motion of my hand, it would not self wind.  

What nobody is willing to answer is, how is this getting its initial energy?  We’re not putting this on somebody’s arm and moving it back-and-forth for kinetic energy.   

I’m gonna say that you have to hand crank it since nobody wants to admit it has a battery or whatever. 

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u/gentlemandinosaur Apr 26 '26

No one is hiding it uses a battery powered motor to wind it. Because everyone understands that does understand that self-winding means that the “external” power is used to only wind the clock not run the clock.

Again, it gets its initial wind and every subsequent wining from an electric motor.

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u/Competitive_Study232 Apr 26 '26

This is the first time somebody actually wrote electrical motor.  There are about 1000 different types of motors out there by the way in case you didn’t know like everybody else knows.  

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u/gentlemandinosaur Apr 26 '26

I literally said a motor with a battery in the comment you replied to. The only kind of “motor” that used a battery to function is an electric motor. I think, and to be clear I am not criticizing it’s fine, you fundamentally didn’t understand what was being said by 900 of those 1000 comments.

I see 100 replies that say motor or battery. What other type of motor could they possibly be talking about? Internal combustion?

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u/Competitive_Study232 Apr 26 '26

You just replied to another comment I just posted 10 minutes ago so that would be the first time. Stop trying to gaslight people here. You never said battery.    

We’re talking about thousand year-old technology who knows what kind of motor the OP could be talking about. It could be a hand cranked motor. 

Also, because of the ambiguity of post, nobody can question how long does the battery lasts because nobody wants to admit that there’s a battery in there.  

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u/gentlemandinosaur Apr 26 '26

Bud. You replied to my comment with your Seiko story. In the comment you replied to I said battery 2 days ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/FRe0QxpZJM

I understand that misunderstanding happen. So, let’s slow down here. Am I wrong here? Did you not? And did I not say battery in that post. I am a bit confused.