Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement

Construction instructions for Clock 40

I have been experimenting with various types of escapement used in earlier clocks and have by
now incorporated quite a few of them in my wooden clock designs. There is however been one
design that I have never gotten around to, and that is the escapement designed by Galileo, used
in a clock design he developed from his pioneering work on the pendulum. He described the
design to his son who produced a drawing of it, unfortunately, they had both died before they
could see the clock completed. This is my tribute to that design, I have tried to stay close to the
original by retaining the teeth, Pin and finger arrangement shown in the original, but included more
teeth to keep the gear ratios manageable. This is not as accurate an escapement as the Graham
escapement nor as efficient as it only picks up the impulse on one side of the pendulum swing, but
it is non the less an interesting designed carried entirely on the front face of the back panel so the
whole of the mechanism is completely visible.
It is quite a compact design and can be made either by hand on a scroll saw or using a CNC
router or even 3D printing.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Equipment
The following equipment is desirable:

CNC Router or Laser or Waterjet and if not one of these then a Scrollsaw or a Bandsaw. Small
Lathe, this is not essential but it would make making the clock a lot easier for all the round parts
that are needed.
Small Milling machine or Pedestal Drill with work holding vice. There is a lot of holes to be drilled
and cleaned up after CNC machining and fabrication so the drill is pretty much essential. It may be
possible to get away with an ordinary electric drill in a stand but a work holding vice is still
necessary.

Drill Bits in the following sizes, Ø1.4, Ø1.5, Ø1.9, Ø2 mm, Ø2.1,Ø2.9, Ø3mm, Ø3.1,Ø4 mm ,Ø4.1
mm, Ø6.5

Router Cutters Ø 2, Ø3 and possibly Ø6 for cutting out the larger frames.

Hand tools; all the normal things that are used in the workshop, Files, screwdrivers, hammer,
pliers etc.

If you want to save a lot of time, then look at a Sanding disk and a Drum sander but these are
really nice to have.

Consumables
Sandpaper in various grades from rough to fine
Danish oil for finishing.
Gorilla Glue
PVA wood glue
Dry Film Lubricant in a spray can for the gears after everything is finished.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Materials
For all the wooden Parts
The choice of material to build the clocks from is a very personal one and is really
down to you to decide. I prefer to use actual timber, Cherry for the frames and
Maple for the gears and other parts. I use timber machined to a standard size of 125
mm x 6 mm and 125 x 9 mm and these are fabricated into blanks for the larger
components by gluing two strips together.
You can, however, use a high quality grade of plywood (Marine Ply) or MDF this
route is a lot quicker as you can layout multiple parts on a sheet and have the whole
thing cut out in a day, still need to put in the time cleaning up the parts and making
all the other bits, but generally speaking the whole thing can be done more quickly.
You can also use Perspex with which you can create some colourful clocks
Whatever you use, the flat 2D parts are all laid out for you on the Profile cuts sheet,
this comes as a DXF file that is 1200 mm square, you can manipulate this in your
own CAD program, which you will probably need to do, to be able to feed the files
into your CAM program.
For all the other parts
Ø4 mm Drill Rod or Silver Steel 300 mm Long for all the shafts and numerous pins.
Ø2 mm Drill Rod or Silver Steel 700 mm Long
The 30 Ø2 x 15 mm pins used in the Pinwheel can be bought on the Internet
instead of being cut individually from a longer rod. Search for ‘Dowel Pins Ø2 mm’
Ø 50 Wooden dowel 100 mm
Ø16 Wooden dowel 75 mm
Ø10 Wooden dowel 20 mm
No 5 wood screw 12 mm long for constructing the weight.
Woodscrews
6 MM Threaded rod 500 mm long
Ø8 mm Brass Rod 110 mm for the Drive Shaft
1 mm, 2 mm, and 3 mm Plastic sheet for hands and pallets, ABS or HIPS
Note these are the minimum amount of material necessary to build the clock I used
more in the prototype and you may well be advised to by extra to cover those
accidental losses that occur. If I have missed anything here, you will find them in the
parts list for the clock anyway.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 1 Preparation of the Frames

Fit Bearings into the Front and Back frames

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Glue the Frame spacers, and Brace to the front side of the Back frame
as shown by the red lines and clamp both the Front and Back frames
together using the Threaded rods and the M6 Nuts and Bolts to hold the
frames accurately together as the glue dry's.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Now apply glue to the Backing plate and the tops of the two Wall spacers and stick to the
underside of the Back frame. Use the Backing plate pins to locate the plate, use woodscrews to
locate the Wall spacers.

Fit the Finger and Latch Pivot Pins to the Finger

support part and then screw Finger support part to
the back frame. This is a temporary fix and will need
to be adjusted later but for now fit it so the to pivots
are horizontal to each other.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 2 Assemble the Gear train Parts

Assemble each gear train sub assembly in turn by driving the shaft through the centre holes in the
spacers and gears. This should be done on a Drill press or similar setup to ensure the the shaft is
fitted square to the gears. All gears should be a tight fit on the shaft and the gears and spacers
should be glued together to ensure that there is no movement between the gears when a load is
applied. The 30 pins fitted to the Escape wheel should be fitted first using the same Drill press
setup.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 3 Assemble the Drive Parts

All the Orange parts should be glued together and then pinned to the Brass Drive shaft. The Pawl
pins should be fitted to the holes in the 38 toothed gear. The drive gear spindle should be glued
into the 38 toothed gear and be a loose fit on the Brass drive shaft. The Pawls are assembled onto
the pins in the 38 toothed gear and gear and its parts slid onto the Brass Drive Shaft. Important
Make sure that the ratchet and the Pawls are assembled exactly as shown above.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 4 Fit the Escapement parts to the frame

Fit the Finger pin into the Upper finger as shown and apply glue to the top face and then fit the two
halves together. Fit a length of Ø2 rod temporally into the finger pivot hole to align the parts.

Fit the Finger Spacer to the Fingers

Pivot and then assemble the Latch and
the Fingers parts to their respective
pivots. Now fit the End stop parts to the
pivots to stop the Latch and Fingers
from falling off their Pivot pins.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 5 Assemble the Gear train into the Back frame.

Progressively fit the Gear train sub

assemblies into the Back frame

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Finally fit the Drive Shaft assembly

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 6 Assemble parts to the Front Frame

Fit the Dial Pins and spacers along with the Hour Gear Pivot pin to the front face of the Front
frame. Spacers may be glued to the front frame if required.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Fit the Front frame and secure with M6 Nuts and Bolts and Threaded rod

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Fit the Hour gear to the protruding Shafts.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Finally fit the Dial and the Hands

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

Step 7 Assemble Weight

Mount the clock to the wall with the Back frame
vertical and the Centre of the dial 1500 mm from
the floor. Use the two woodscrews, one at the the
bottom and one two thirds of the way up.
Wrap the cord around the Drum making sure the
end is secured to the drum with tape,

Thread the cord through the plastic tube in

the centre of the weight and secure to the
Button or Weight tie-off parts.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40
Step 8 Fit Pendulum

Make sure that the Finger support is horizontal and the securing screw tightened. Now Glue the
Pendulum Rod into the hole in the Bottom of the Fingers part.
Push the Pendulum Bob Lock into the Pendulum Bob as shown and then slide the Bob onto the
Pendulum rod, Pressing hard on the Lock is required to align the hole in the Lock. To adjust the
running of the clock move the Bob upwards to Speed it up and downwards to slow it down.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40
Step 9 Adjust the Escapement

With the pendulum Hanging in the vertical position as shown on the previous page both the latch
and the lower finger should be slightly engaged with the Pin and the Tooth. When the pendulum is
swung it should produce an even Tic-Tock. If it doesn’t then loosen the Fingers Support bar screw
and move it slightly until the Tic-Tock is even, then tighten again.
If the pendulum is swinging too far and the rod is hitting against the frame then file a small amount
off the bottom Finger to reduce the stroke.

Note! the short finger shown on the

left hand side has been removed
from the final design as it was never
really doing anything as it never
actually reached the stop position. It
was therefore removed along with
the pin it was supposed to rest on.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

HINTS AND TIPS

· When fitting the gear sub-assemblies into the frame make sure the mating gears engage
and run smoothly. The faces of mating gears should be aligned so they fully engage with each
other, i.e. the front faces of the gears are lined up. There is some clearance built into the design
so that when the gears are enclosed between Front and Back frames they are free to move
without rubbing on the frames.

· For the dial on this clock you could use a V bit cutter to cut out the numerals and minutes
ring. I use Artcam Express which gives a good clean-cut edge and very fine detail without having
to use extremely small diameter cutter. A free alternative to Artcam is a program called F-Engrave,

· If you have problems getting the clock running initially it could be that the problem is in the
gear train itself, one or more of the gears may not be meshing correctly,
You need to test each pair of gears in turn, by mounting each meshing pair in the frames on their
own and turning them by hand very slowly with little pressure. if any pair sticks or interferes with
the other you should mark the teeth that are affected and carry on until you have turned the large
gear around completely, then strip down and dress the teeth you have marked until they work
together smoothly. Repeat this process for all the meshing pairs of gears are running freely.
It is not sufficient to test them when the gears are mounted in the clock and then left to run
continuously unrestricted, as the free running gears will easily override any slight interference,
whereas when the gears are running in the clock with the escapement in place they never run fast
and so easily feel the effects of interference.
Alternatively the Pendulum / Escapement may not be running freely on the Ø3 shaft they are fitted
to. The parts should be a running fit in the Ø3 mm shaft, and the Escapement-Pendulum pin in the
centre lower down, should be a slightly loose fit in the slot in the Pendulum Head, if any of these
fits are too loose then the parts can twist relative to each other and some impulse will be lost from
the Pendulum.

· The DXF files supplied include all the parts that can be cut using the CNC router, they do
not include those round items such as the turned parts cut from Doweling nor any pins or nuts and
bolts, information on these parts are included in the Detail drawings supplied in PDF format.
The parts shown laid out in a single DXF files ready for you to extract and use in your CAM
software. The profiles are shown on 4 separate layers , these being ‘Outside Cuts’ ‘Inside Cuts’
‘Pockets’ and ‘Non Cutting Profiles’ The layers are colour coordinated as shown below.

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Clock 40-Compact Clock with Galileo Escapement
Construction instructions for Clock 40

I need to use headed pins for some of the shafts in this clock design but small diameter Clevis
pins are hard to find and so I have looked for alternatives. Round nails might work although the
finish on those can be quite rough, An alternative I have used on this clock is a plain steel dowel
for the shaft and a small plastic split washer that is slightly undersized, I couldn’t find a source for
these either but they are fairly easy to make. Another alternative is to use carbon steel ground
pins for the shafts, and then fit a larger diameter Rod type magnet to cap the end and prevent any
parts falling off. Best not to use these close to any ball bearings as it
can apply a drag to the rotating balls

• The Pendulum Bob needs to be fitted so that the centre of the Bob is about 1040 mm from the
pivot point. This should allow the pendulum to swing a complete cycle every two seconds. The
pendulum swing can be adjusted to make the clock run faster or slower by moving the Bob up to
speed it up and down to make it run slower. I have found over the years that a slightly heavier
Pendulum Bob is an advantage as it seems to overcome any momentary fluctuations caused by a
sticking gear train, to achieve this on this clock I have fitted four 18 mm long Ø 8 mm Brass rods
into four holes drilled through the Bob.

Ÿ I do not drill the three holes in the back of the Dial on the CNC, instead I temporally fix the Dial
to the Front Frame with clamps or double sided tape. After measuring and adjusting its position
relative to the Shaft one centre hole, and then drill with a hand drill from the
back through the pivot holes, being careful not to drill right through the Dial.

Ÿ For winding the clock I would suggest you use an off the shelf Winder, the
Grandfather clock Key number 13 is ideal.

Ÿ Establishing the actual weight to use for the main clock weight, is done initially
by trial and error. Each clock build is different and that has an effect on the size of weight to use.
I normally use a two litre Coke bottle partly filled with water to start and add or remove water to
get the clock running continuously.
You would do this finally after setting assembling the clock and making sure everything is
running freely and the escapement is set up correctly. Usually, a bit of back and forth here to
adjust the escapement then adjust the weight.

The settings I have used for this clock are:-

Ÿ Main Weight 900 gram
Ÿ Distance from pivot to centre of Pendulum Bob 1040 mm
Ÿ Run time 14 hrs when dial is set at 1500 mm above the floor.

Ÿ To set up the clock first mount it to the wall and ensure the the Frame is Vertical. Then rotate the
Finger Support arm downwards slightly from the horizontal so that it stops the Pendulum
swinging, then slowly rotate the arm back upwards so the the lower finger just clears the pin it
has just released. Thats it the clock should now run. You finally will need to adjust the pendulum
Bob upwards to speed up the clock or downwards to slow it down. Start of with the Pendulum
Bob set to 1040 mm below the pivot point and make small adjustments from there. It should be
capable of running at around 1 minute per 12 hours accuracy.

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