Bob Mackay

Clock with Magnetic Gears

This is a wooden gear train, powered by a stepper motor, where the cogs drag one another around using magnets rather than gear teeth. The cogs do not touch.

The cogs are on two shafts. All the cogs on a shaft are the same size, although they have slightly varying numbers of magnets, to give the required division by sixty and then by twelve needed to drive the clock hands.

More recently, I have made a 3d-printed version of the clock.

Movie - in Insane Mode!

Movie of 3D-printed version.

Also viewable on YouTube.