Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Table of Contents
File Downloads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 12: Assembling the Ecliptic and the Moon's Inclined Orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Author:action pig
Action pig loves you. Also truth and justice.
James Ferguson was a self taught builder of astronomical clocks circa 18th century. He was also a painter and philosopher and all around amazing guy who built this
machine to resolve a religious dispute in a tavern. The paradox is that three gears (F,G,H) are driven by a single gear (D) and turn three different ways. That's right -
same driver, three different results. Gear F remains stationary, gear G turns in the same direction as gear D, and gear H turns in the opposite direction. The guys in the
tavern couldn't believe it either!
How? It is really a reference frame issue, as gear D is a fixed gear around which the other gears rotate. For more information, see step 3 - Gear Theory for Winners.
Credit
I built this project using Ferguson's original work, "Select Mechanical Exercises: Shewing How to Construct Different Clocks, Orreries, and Sun-Dials, on Plain and Easy
Principles." . If you enjoy manuals on building clocks and like miscellanea from the 18th century, I highly recommend it. For instance, Mr. Ferguson will tell you all about
inflation rates from 1100 to 1750, how many guineas would settle the debt of the British Empire, and also solves the mystery of who really invented logarithms (and why
they are so great). Ferguson is really quite delightful. If you want a fantastic manual on orrery bulding, see Ferguson's biography which includes his many clock and
orrery plans.
Also, Ivan Law (Gears and Gear Cutting ) taught me everything I know about designing with gears. His book is simple, straightforward, and best of all, thin. Highly
recommended for those interested in designing or machining gears.
Image Notes
1. Sketchup model (all hail sketchup!)
Image Notes
1. D
2. H
G
F
3. E
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Step 1: Things You Need
Materials
Tools
A Gear Cutter - I'll go over how to cut gears in step 5. I used a laser cutter as I do not have a desktop CNC, vertical mill, lathe, or scroll saw. I ordered these parts from
Outfab, a laser cutting service that charges a flat rate rather than charging for time plus materials (for instance, a 12" x 12" cut costs around 30-35 bucks, depending on
the material.) Due to the small size and numerous teeth of my gears, getting charged for cutting time would have been prohibitively expensive. I highly recommend
Outfab for your complex laser cutting needs. Oh, and they have free shipping to the US and free sample cuts.
Basics
Gears are used to transmit power between one shaft and another. If Gear A is moving clockwise and it turns Gear B, Gear B will turn counter-clockwise (the same
movement is passed on but in the opposite direction). If you need gear B to turn in the same direction as A, a 3rd gear, or idler (pinion) , is needed. The diameter of the
gear (and the number of teeth) are directly related to the speed of the gears.
Tooth form
I'm not going to go into the specifics on tooth form - it involves a lot of exciting math - but the take home point is that there are two types of gears: cycloidal and involute.
Both types of teeth allow the teeth to engage without locking. Improperly formed teeth will result in noise and a loss of efficiency in the gear train.
I am almost certain that Ferguson used the cycloidal form, but involute is the standard today (and is most likely what your gear generator will be making).
Pitch Circle (or Pitch Circle Diameter, PCD): The imaginary diameter of the gear teeth and bearings in peripheral contact (where the two gears will actually mesh).
Imagine that you have replaced your gears with two circles that turn each other with friction - the diameter of these circles is the pitch circle diameter.
Pitch Diameter (PD): the PCD in inches (a lot of definitions depend on whether you are using metric or imperial units. Swayed by common practice, I go with imperial.
Once you pick a system be sure to be consistent).
Pressure Angle: The angle on an involute gear between the acute angle formed between the line of action and the common tangent to the two pitch circles. You don't
need to worry about the formal definition much - you just need to be consistent. A pressure angle of 20 is common.
Diametrical Pitch (DP): The number of teeth divided by the pitch diameter. Two correctly meshing gears will have the same DP (and pressure angle, see above). For
instance, if you need two gears, one with 20 teeth and one with 10 teeth, and you choose a DP of 20 than the 20 tooth gear will have a PD of 1", and the 10 tooth gear
will have a PD of 0.5".
Center Distance: The center distance is equal to the sum of the pitch diameters of the two gears divided by two. In the above example the center distance is equal to
(1"+0.5")/2 = 0.75"
Gear Ratio: The ratio of gear teeth required to reduce or increase the speed of the shaft. For instance, for every revolution of the 20 tooth gear, the 10 tooth gear will turn
twice, and so the speed is increased by a factor of two.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Step 3: Explaining the paradox
So, back to the paradox. The gear frame is rotated around the immovable gear D. Gear E is a thick wheel that takes equally deep into the teeth of the three wheels F, G,
and H. As the frame turns gear H turns the same way as gear E, gear G turns in the opposite direction, and gear F remains stationary.
This is, of course, a question of relative motion. The motion of the gears with respect to E depends entirely on the relative numbers of teeth with respect to D. Gear H has
more teeth than gear D, gear G has less teeth than gear D, and gear F has the same number of teeth as gear D. As a result, when the frame is rotated around the center
axis, the effect on F is counteracted entirely by the movement of the wheel E, so it does not appear to move at all. But H, having more teeth than gear D, is not
counteracted entirely by E, and so turns in the same direction as the motion of the frame. The opposite is true for gear G. We have solved the paradox!
Now, I know what your thinking. How can the middle gear have a set number of teeth and engage three wheels with different numbers of teeth at a set center distance?
What about the diametrical pitch? The truth is, Ferguson is using a fudge factor - by offsetting the number of teeth by a small amount, the DP of the center gear is close
enough to work. The paradox also works if, instead of using a single gear in the center, you use three gears (each at the correct DP) that move as one. This eliminates
unnecessary noise (but it does lose a bit of style).
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Step 4: Turning the Paradox into an Orrery
By choosing the right numbers of teeth, the paradox can show the different lengths of days and nights, the change of the seasons, the retrograde motion of the nodes of
the moon's orbit, the direct motion of the apogeal point of the moon's orbit, and the months in which the sun and moon must be eclipsed. The numbers of teeth are as
follows:
D - 39 teeth
E1 - 39 teeth
E2 - 41 teeth
E3 - 34 teeth
F - 39 teeth
G - 37 teeth
H - 44 teeth
If you choose to have a single large gear for gear E, the number of teeth should be 39.
Of course, you might ask how Ferguson cut gears without any of the above equipment. Automatic gear cutters (like the one above, pictured) were capable of turning out
relatively precise gears and were turned by hand. Some of these cutters used a pantograph to trace the correct tooth shape onto the blank (would that be a great
instructable or what?)
See the next step for how to create gears in sketchup and transfer the files from sketchup to inkscape for laser cutting.
I should note that after this build I have started designing with larger gears (DP ~16) to strengthen the teeth.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. automatic gear cutter
Note: Inkscape also has a gear generating feature (we need inkscape for the laser cutting template) but I like sketchup more for general design.
In order to export faces to inkscape from sketchup you need to install this plugin . After selecting a face or edge, right click and select "Export to SVG File." From the
window that pops up you can name the file and select its destination.
File requirements may vary for whatever laser cutting service you use. Outfab specifies line thickness and color (see guidelines here ).
Image Notes
1. I abandoned the cut-out gear design for simplicity and added strength.
2. Click here
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Step 7: Digital Plans
The digital plans are below in pdf form (the svg file seems to be too big for instructables). Please note that the pdf is not formatted for a 12 x 12 cutting space and be sure
to check that the line thicknesses and colors are appropriate.
Image Notes
1. The extra hole is used so that the three middle gears move together without glue
File Downloads
There is one very important exception - ON NO ACCOUNT SAND, FINISH, OR GENERALLY ALTER THE GEAR TEETH. You want to avoid anything that adds noise to
the mechanism.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. This is an early version of the dial plate (I later expanded the calendar to include
the zodiac)
Assemble the three center gears around a 1/4" post. A second post is added to keep the gears moving together. I tried gluing the gears in an earlier version of this project
and it turned out messy and added noise to the mechanism.
The three outer gears are each attached to concentric hollow tubes (aluminum, from inventables ) using epoxy. These tubes will control three flat plates above the frame.
As mentioned earlier, one of these will appear stationary, one will move clockwise, and one counterclockwise.
The outermost tube rises ~0.5 inches above its gear (or about two thicknesses of the plywood), the middle tube rises ~0.75" above its gear, and the innermost tube rises
~1" above its gear.
In order to keep the frame horizontal, I extended the innermost tube below the frame just enough to add a washer (see picture).
Remember, the center and outer gears need to be able to turn within the frame (no gluing the posts!!!)
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. All of this sits below the frame
Image Notes
1. Post to keep 3 gears moving together
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. Outer gears
Also, each hole in the frame had to be sanded a little in order to accomodate the dowels and aluminum tubes.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Step 11: Marking the Ecliptic and the Lunar Nodes
The ecliptic is the belt through which the sun and planets appear to travel from our perspective on earth and is represented by the signs and degrees of the zodiac. The
signs of the ecliptic on the large dial plate show where the sun is located as seen from the earth. The moon's apogee (the farthest point in the moon's orbit) is
represented in this machine by a small ecliptic around the earth.
I decided early on that I wanted the ecliptic and lunar nodes to be made of metal. I experimented with etching and even pasting on paper with the printed signs before
deciding to use a color wheel to represent the signs of the zodiac. The paint chipped when I wrapped the bushing with wire, and I touched it up later.
For the ecliptic and nodes I used bushings (like washers, but with larger openings). One is OD 2", ID 1.5", the other is OD 1", ID 0.5".
The ecliptic is the small bushing. To create the pattern I used masking tape for a guide and enamel paints to represent each constellation. The small ecliptic will always
be parallel to the large ecliptic, so referencing each sign to each color is relatively easy. An easy cheat is that earth is always inclined towards the beginning of cancer
(which is gold in my machine).
The node is the point where the moon's path crosses the ecliptic - in other words, the moon's orbit is on an angle (~ 5 degrees) with the ecliptic, and will cross it as it
rotates around the earth. There is an ascending node (or north node) and a descending node (or south node) directly opposite from each other. I borrowed from the
yin/yang symbology and assigned the north node to the color black (yin), and the south node to the color white (yang).
Ferguson used the symbol of a dragon to mark the north and south nodes. The north, or ascending node, is meant to be the dragon's head, and the south node is the
dragon's tail. This comes from the old belief that a dragon swallowed the moon during an eclipse.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. Ecliptic
2. South
3. North
Step 12: Assembling the Ecliptic and the Moon's Inclined Orbit
A bent wire is used to illustrate the position of the moon's ecliptic and is set on the bottom (largest) disc. I used 1/16" hollow aluminum tubing. I would have preferred a
solid wire, as it would be less prone to breaking. As shown in the second picture, this wire points to the small ecliptic, and needs to give room for the moon's orbit to turn.
The moon's orbit should be inclined at about a 5 degree angle (technically 5 deg 9'). The nodes show where the orbit intersects with the ecliptic, and should not be on the
inclined extremes.
The earth should be inclined at an angle of 66.5 deg from the horizontal, or 23.5 deg from the vertical. Ideally the meridian and equator would be marked on the earth to
show the lengths of day and night, however, my earth is a little too small for this.
The ecliptic should be mounted as shown above (it is not set at an angle).
All three small discs should fit tight enough to turn with the gears but loose enough to be set by hand. Because the lunar orbit is not based on the 365 day calendar, these
discs need to be set by hand at the beginning of each year. In other words, no gluing the discs to the metal posts!
Image Notes
1. Apogee wire
2. Lunar orbit
3. Earth and small ecliptic
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. The angle is not shown from this perspective - it should look flat between the
nodes
The crescent separates the enlightened half of the earth and the half that is in the dark. It is set in the frame, and must be bent to allow the apogee wire and the lunar
orbit to rotate. Ideally the crescent would go all the way around the earth - because of the orientation of the apogee wire, my crescent is less than half of a circle.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Image Notes
1. Apogee wire
2. Lunar orbit
3. Earth and small ecliptic
In order to set the machine to run, you need an ephemeris. A good one can be found here . The mean apogee is used to set the apogee wire and the mean node refers
to the ascending (north) node. Remember, the orrery will only be accurate for the year that you set it (if you keep rotating the machine, it will be reading for future (or past)
years rather than the one you set it for).
In the picture above, the moon's apogee is about 2/3 of the way through Gemini, and the ascending node is approaching the center of Scorpio. The sun is at 10 degrees
of Aquarius. When either node is between the solar ray and the earth, the moon is said to be in conjunction with the sun. If a new moon occurs within 17 days of
conjunction the sun will be eclipsed. If a full moon occurs within 12 days of the sun, the moon will be eclipsed.
If an earth with the meridians is used, this machine can be used to demonstrate the seasons and the lengths of the day. If I were to build this machine over again, I would
make it larger - mine is ~9.5" across, while Ferguson's was about 15" across, which gave him more room to add detail and allowed larger tooth gears to be used.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Related Instructables
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/
Advertisements
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Paradox/