[STATUS] - December 2017 (Update Dec 30th, 6:30pm AEST)

(Update Dec 30th, 6:30pm AEST)

Narration & editing complete, now uploading BSC Part 7 - It should be available from approx 6am Dec 31st AEST

 (Update Dec 31st, 5:30am AEST) 

... still uploading, expect closer to 9am :)

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(Update Dec 26th, 9:30pm AEST)

Using a simple pin with a turned center point to locate the sleeve bearings directly on the marked positions, and then temporarily bonding them in place with CA glue - Using CA glue to conduct a temporary test assembly will confirm assembly clearances, and that all is as it should be before proceeding. It will also permit low consequence changes should they be required.

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(Update Dec 24th, 9:00pm AEST)

(Short Video) The pivoting on the Moon Phase Assembly on the BSC is very interesting - One end is a standard pivot, but the other is just a small boss, sitting in a shallow divot drilled into the main body - A brilliant idea that is approx 1,500 years old, and works exceptionally well - Have a Safe and Merry Christmas folks, I'll catch you on Boxing Day :)

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(Update Dec 23rd, 8:00pm AEST)

Boring out the openings in the main bowl that will accept the Lunar and Solar Zodiac Assemblies

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(Update Dec 20th, 7:30pm AEST)

Depthing all of the wheel assemblies for the Byzantine Sundial calendar.

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(Update Dec 18th, 9:00pm AEST) 

(Short Video) The casing of the Byzantine Sundial calendar.

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(Update Dec 15th, 10:50am AEST)

This next episode of the BSC should be sponsored by a CA Glue producer, I'm using so much of it - to both hold awkward little parts, and for temporary assemblies - just clean off with acetone, and its gone. In this pic I've glued one of the little dial plate supports to a scrap of aluminium so I can hold it for contouring on the belt sander.

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(Update Dec 14th, 6:30am AEST)

The sleeve bearings for the Byzantine Sundial Calendar - very different to the modern 2 pivot hole arrangement. 

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(Update Dec 2nd, 8:30am AEST)

Its a Toolapalooza folks! - now working on the next TGT 

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(Update Nov 22nd, 12:00pm AEST)

More editing/post production/CAD sequences today - this will be the way I present gear train calculations for the rest of the AM series.

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(Update Nov 21st, 8:40am AEST)

There are so many layers to this beautiful machine - editing & CAD all day today.

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(Update Nov 19th, 9:00pm AEST)

I have no idea how long this video is going to end up, but I'm running out of disc space for the footage... this is going to be a mega edit! I started shooting the assembly of the Metonic train this evening, and started to wonder: what did the ancient Greeks use for a parts box? lotsa small parts, just itching to jump off the bench and disappear forever...

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(Update Nov 17th, 6:30pm AEST)

The six assemblies of the Metonic/Kallippic/Olympiad train - ready for fitting to the main plate

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(Update Nov 15th, 7:30pm AEST)

A couple of tiny pointers in progress - one for the Olympiad dial, and the other for the Kallippic dial. 

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(Update Nov 12th, 8:40pm AEST)

Among its many "firsts" the Antikythera Mechanism includes the first known use of a finger cock support. Today, its a staple of modern clock and watch architecture, but 2100 years ago it was an innovation - In this case, it provides lateral support to the M arbor which is under considerable load due to 2 simultaneous wheel interactions. 

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(Update Nov 9th, 7:30pm AEST) 

More filing today, getting the Metonic pointer frame into shape - The pointer is a nice sliding fit in a 2mm x 4mm rectangle, and it needs another one on the other side to allow a through fit. A square in the base will enable a fit on the N arbor (tomorrow's filing!).

By the way be sure to check out this article. The Antikythera Mechanism challenged prior assumptions re the technological state of the ancient world, and this beautiful agate sealstone is doing the same thing. It's dated to approx 1500BC, which puts it more than a millennia before the assumed construction period of the AM.

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(Update Nov 6th, 7:15pm AEST) 

Using a scrap of brass same thickness as the main plate to check the end shake of the M assembly. 

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(Update Nov 3rd, 7:15pm AEST) 

This is one of the more constrained fits of the mechanism - the 15 tooth N3 pinion fitting onto the N arbor. There is barely a handful of file strokes between too tight to pass, and a good fit for subsequent staking on the taper. Incidentally, the distance of the closest corner apex to the nearest tooth root is approx 0.6mm - that's around half the height of a tooth!

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(Update Oct 31st, 8:40pm AEST) 

(Short Video) After much experimentation over the last few days I've concluded that a light taper on the arbor stems is the most likely fastening method in many cases to hold the wheels in place on the arbors. (A block of wood wedges open the small parts vise, and it then becomes a soft staking platform allowing the arbors to be hammered home). Some wheels were likely fully riveted to their arbors, and some have retaining pins visible in the wreckage, but this may explain the absence of retaining pins in many of the assemblies in the original device that otherwise appear to require them.

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(Update Oct 27th, 7:45pm AEST) 

On a scale somewhere between clock and watchmaking, these little arbors are turning out to be the most challenging part of the build so far - this one is still attached to the parent stock for convenient holding in the vise. 

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(Update Oct 22nd, 8:15pm AEST) 

I've spent the last few days filing up the teeth for the Metonic Calendar train of the AM. I'm about half way, the smaller tooth count wheels (pinions) are next. Lots of really cool pivoting ideas are implemented in just this single portion of the mechanism - all creatively solving the immediate mechanical problems confronting The Maker.

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(Update Oct 16th, 4:30pm AEST) 

I should finish the edit of BSC Ep6 tonight, with narration to follow tomorrow - I'm very happy with the final machined result for the bowl, much better than the prototype.

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(Update Oct 13th, 8:00pm AEST) 

A lucky coincidence - the inside diameter of the fabricated version of the BSC bowl is right at the limit of my little 3 jaw chuck with the jaws reversed - I gave the brass hoop a light clean up pass to prepare the surface for silver soldering to the base plate.

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(Update Oct 10th, 6:30pm AEST) 

I don't often use inserts, but I always keep a few on hand for when I really need them - like when taking off the outer layer of a casting. The first few passes with inserts take off the hard casting surface, then I follow up with HSS for the finish.

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(Update Oct 9th, 2:00pm AEST)

My apologies for the lack of updates over the last week folks, I've been offline with a nasty flu - now back on deck. I've decided to show two approaches for making the enclosing bowl of the Byzantine Sundial Calendar - one fabricated, and the other machined from a raw casting - this is the raw bowl casting straight from the sand.

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(Update Sept 28th, 7:00am AEST) 

(Short Video) Currently testing out Petrobond and some different pouring basin ideas for the next few castings - Its all fire and brimstone during the pour with brass going into Petrobond!

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(Update Sept 27th, 8:30am AEST)

I spent the last week writing a technical paper on the Antikythera Mechanism. Its my first time doing anything like this, so I took a fair bit of care to get it right - It will form the basis of a very interesting fragments video if it survives the peer review process... I will keep you posted.

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(Update Sept 21st, 7:00pm AEST)

(Short Video) This evenings light entertainment is brought to you by a nice slab of HDPE...

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(Update Sept 17th, 7:00am AEST)

I finished narrating and editing AM Ep 5 last night, currently uploading...

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(Update Sept 12th, 9:00pm AEST)

Time to put these bits together and give it a test...

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(Update Sept 11th, 8:30am AEST)

(Short Video) Jeff Swayze asked a question recently about resurfacing abrasive stones, and as it happens I needed to tidy up a few last night so I recorded the process. These are "Hard" Arkansas stones, but as you can see they're really quite chalky and brittle. The abrasive paper is 120 grit silicon carbide, and it can be placed on any firm flat surface. The paper itself is quite stiff and rigid and I find that I get a good result even straight off the flat bench. A few strokes takes the surface back to fresh stone, and reveals a new flat cutting surface all ready for dressing a pivot, honing a lathe cutting tool etc. Interestingly the powder formed is the same as the excellent "Oilstone Powder" used as an intermediate grinding paste when polishing hardened steel - However this stuff is almost certainly contaminated with silicon carbide particles so I don't keep it for use.

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(Update Sept 9th, 9:00pm AEST)

Spent this evening filing the rectangular drive opening for the crown wheel, as per the original artifact.

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(Update Sept 6th, 9:00pm AEST)

The next AM episode is travelling well, I just completed installing some steady pins this evening, for the input crown wheel assembly bracket. Its shaping up to be a feature length episode yet again - currently pushing 20 mins!

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(Update Sept 4th, 7:30pm AEST)

(Short Video) This will shoot by rather quickly in the upcoming Antikythera episode video, so I won't get much of a chance to talk about it. But here is a bit more detail on what's going on:  Soldering flux is generally based on Zinc Chloride. It has the unique property that it will react with most metal oxides, so it is the perfect (and quite ancient) soldering flux. However if left on the metal after soldering, it will continue to react, severely corroding the join - you can always pick it when a join has not been completely de-fluxed, because there is a telltale dark brown corrosion mark spreading out from the solder line - To avoid this, the Zinc Chloride flux should be thoroughly neutralized by dipping the part in a weak aqueous solution of Sodium carbonate (Soda Ash) - the reaction is quite dramatic, and produces an immediate and clear indication of success - a white precipitate, Zinc Carbonate, that can be seen floating away from the solder join.

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(Short Video) I don't often show the preparation for a cement chuck in the mill - Its exactly the same concepts as a SG arbor on the lathe, just transferred to the mill:  Grooves for air (moisture) to enable curing of the glue, and then a facing cut with a fly-cutter to leave it dead true with the table. Simply apply the CA glue, bond the part, and start cutting on any of all 5 accessible sides. In this case I'm going to use it to hold a part of the Antikythera Mechanism.