Assignment: Simple Mechanics: Cuckoo Clock

Collaborators:

Assignment: Simple Mechanics: Cuckoo Clock 

Collaborators: Laura Paajanen, Becky, tilman

Description: In this project, we used simple mechanical principles to create a cuckoo clock that includes a door that opens and a bird that flies through the open door.

Materials:

• balsam wood
• glue
• pipe cleaner
• tongue depressor
• foam core
• lego gears
• servo motor
• potentiometer
• arduino
• usb cable

Images:

Observations/Conclusions:

A goal of ours was to design a simple system.  Most of the construction was very straight forward.  The winding mechanism requires initializing before moving because the gear is placed so that a single turn causes the door to open and the bird to move out of the door.  If the system begins with the door slightly open or the bird too far from the door, it is possible that the door does not open as far and that the bird does not move as far out of the door as we would like.

We were surprised to have to include a number of stabilizing elements in the design (supports on either side of the main gear).  We think, with different materials or more precise methods, we might have been able to construct this system with less of these support elements.

After construction, we considered a few extensions of the design, and given more time, would consider pursuing creating parabolic motion for the bird element so that it seems to be flying up and out of the door instead of just straight out of the door.