Design Specifications

I now have to think of Design Specifications.
In Appendix 6 they give examples of design specifications.
These will be my design specifications:

• Size of a shoe box (excluding Pendulum)
• Made mainly of wood 
• Looks just like the design
• Shows how the mechanics of a clock works.
• The weight has to be easy rewindable.

Target Audiance

I have to find a target audiance for my product. Every single person in this world would use some sort of some sort, evern if it would be looking at the sun. But when I said to Ms. Lira 'everyone' she counted it as a wrong answer and told me to think of a more specific target audiance. Then I started thinking about who would rather want a mechanical clock then a electronic clock.

People who see the clock as a piece of art
People who are old school
People who are against using electricity
People who like the sound of a mechanical clock

So then logically my target audiance would become
"People who see clocks as a piece of art, who are old school, who are against using electricity or who like the sound of a mechanical clock"
But that's not really a good target audiance.
So I try to think of charasteristics of people who have a mechanical clock:

• What would the age most likely be: 50+
• What gender would the TA most likely be: Both
• What nationality would the TA most likely be: Dutch, because I live in The Netherlands, and can't sell it in foreirn counties.
• In what financial status would the TA most likely be: Mechanical clocks do normally cost a lot, so they do need to have the money to be able to afford it
• What would their house most likely look like: A mechanical clock is way bigger that a normal electronic one, so they need to have space to hang it up.

So now my target audiance looks more like
"Dutch elderly, who are old school, see the clock as art, don't like to use electrcity, like the sound of mechanical clocks, can afford to buy a mechanical clock and have enough space to hang it up"

But my target audiance doesn't have to be old school, doesn't have to hate electricity, doesn't have to like the sound of mechanical clocks. So because this TA would be too specific, I made it a bit more broughter:

"Dutch elderly, who can afford to buy a mechanical clock and have space enough to hang it up"

making this my Target Audiance!


People older than 5, who can read clock and enjoy owning clocks

• Age: What is the age range of the population who needs your service?
• Gender: Which gender would be most interested in this service?
• Income: What is the income level of my potential clients?
• Education: What level of education do they have?
• Martial Status: What is their martial or family status?

Clock making lessons in The Hague

I have to find a shop near The Hague where they make Mechanical Clocks. I don't really need to go to one, because I have most of the knowledge to make a clock, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't find one. But I need to have a lot of trustable resources for my bibliography. Also in my Appendix 14, Ms. Lira told me that it would be a good idea to get a clock maker to show you how it's done.
I asked my dad if he knew a clock maker near The Hague, and he did point out this school which teaches how to make jewerly with diamonds, gold and silver. But also has curcusses on how to make clocks. I checked it out and thought that it would be one of those one day curcusses. Turns out that the curcuss on making mechanical clocks is 20 weeks long, begins in November and cost 1200 euro... maybe not.
I still don't have a shop where I can go to, and the hope that I will find one is decreasing.

Designing the clock

I am now trying to tick of all the things I have to do which is listed in my Appendix 14. "Make a really nice design" is one of them. So before I could start making the final designs I made a rough sketch of how I want it will work. This was my first try:

Then I started to do some mathematics and tried to figger out how many teeth each wheel needed. I started with the once labeled A, B, C and D below. The once which make sure the hands turn exsactly 12 times quicker/slower.



After doing some doodling on a page I figgered out that the ratio should be 48:12:36:12, so

A = 12 teeth

B = 36 teeth

C = 12 teeth

D = 48 teeth.

Then I looked at the diagram in the book a bit closer, and saw that they just gave the answers in the book. Just a bit different.

A = 10 teeth

B = 30 teeth

C = 6 teeth

D = 24 teeth.

I checked and found out that both are possible. They will both work, I will just more likely use the one shown in the book because the bigger wheels will be smaller, and therefore hopefully easier to make. Then I compared the ratios to the wheels, and found that the wheels were in the incorrect position. So I made my second sketch design.

The reason why I didn't make the A, B, C and D set in a square formation like the diagram is because you then had to get the minute hand through the hour wheel which would be extremily difficult to do, so this way it will be easier, more visual, more accurate and more artistic. Then I looked at the full page where I got the diagram from, and saw an easier way of making the pendulum and weight.

So I made a third sketch based on this discovery.

Then I thought that the pendulum goes left to right approximately once every 2 seconds. So if the pendulum has 30 teeth. The minute hand becomes the second hand and the hour hand becomes the minute hand. You can solve this problem by giving the escape wheel 1800 teeth, or just by adding more wheels. From the minute hand to the hour hand we solved it down exsactly 60 times. So why don't we just repeat this. This gave me my fourth sketch.

I also thought that if the escape wheel turnes once every minute, you can just as easily attach a second hand on it, for the clock to not only show which hour and minute it is, but also the seconds. On this sketch I also wrote down how many teeth each wheel has to make it less confusing.

The next problem I found was that I am now assuming that the pendulum will go back and forth every two seconds, but I can't assure that. My dad helped me with that, and said that the pendulum is just like a metronome. I have a metronome at home and it can go from 40bpm to 208bpm. So if it's on 40bpm it will go give 40 click every minute. When you move the weight on the pendulum up or down it changes the speed of the pendulum. The further up it goes, the quicker. The further down you move it, the slower.

For the clock I choose 30 teeth on the escape wheel, because it doesn't matter how many teeth the wheel has as long as the wheel it is attached to has the same number. Like in the sketch, the wheel the escape wheel is attached to, is also 30. So I could have choosen 60, when the pendulum has to go back and forth every second, or I could have choosen 15 when the pendulum has to go back and forth every 4 seconds. But I choose 30 to not make it go too quick, but not too slow for the results to become inaccurate.

Every time the pendulum goes back and forth once, one teeth will have escaped. So because there are 30 teeth, and it takes two seconds for the pendulum to go back and forth, the whole wheel will turn one whole round every 60 seconds.

To make sure the pundulun goes back and forth exsactly once every two seconds you just have to play around with the height of the weight on the pendulum.

A few days later a friend of mine wrote a comment suggesting that I could use the verge escapement instead of the anchor escapement I am using now. I did some research on different escapement and found that there are lost of different escapements you can use. But the verge escapement this person mentioned I made a design which would use this, and I concluded that I will stay will my achor escapement, so my fourth design.

But unlike my friend said, this only makes it more complicated to make. Altought the principal is easier, ik I would try to do this, my clock would become more 3D and harder to make and design. So I'll stick with my original design (the fourth one).

First Meeting with Supervisor

I finally had my first meeting with my supervisor. It took me a while because we planned a few meetings before and it ended up not happening for various of reasons. First I made an appointment for the (date here), and in the email it said that I had to be at 10.00 in A105. But I didn't read the email properly, so I though I had to come to A105 sometime that morning. I ended up going at 10.20, but she wasn't there, I reread the email to see if I had forgotten something, and (de rest spreekt voor zich). I emailed her and we made another appointment for the day before yesterday (date). But I went home sick, and my friend offered to go to Ms. Trumic and tell her that I was sick, but the lesson before (mentor) everybody had to clear and clean their lockers and take everything home, she forgot to go to Ms. Trumic.

So I thought that I was scared that I was not able to meet her before the holidays. We also had a substitute for Economics and Bussines that day, and we had Ms. Lira as out cover teacher. Ms. Lira is also the head of HI. I explained to her what my problem was, and she kindly offered to 'act' like my supervisor and tell me what my next steps would be. I made a list of things I have to do, and was suppost to record this list in my supervisor log, but it is too long so I just made it an Appendix. My list of steps that I have to do now is called Appendix 14. Then later that day I saw Ms. Trumic walking out of a classroom, I went up to her and explained to about how I was sick and asked a friend to tell her, but she forgot and etc., and she understood and she suggested that we could have a meeting now. I was fine with it because it was all the way at the end of the day and we had to wait for a little bit anyway. It only lasted around 5 minutes. She told me that I was on track, and was way ahead of her other students she is guiding. I explained what my idea for my PP was (making a Mechanical Clock), she told me that if there are any questions during the holidays I can always email her. She asked what my plans are roufly going to be, I said that I hoped to finish the product during the holidays and start the essay when I get back. We didn't make a new appointment because the next meeting will be after the holidays and we'll get a new time-table, so we don't know yet when we'll be available. I recorded both my meetings in my Supervisor log which is now Appendix 16

That evening I was home I checked my email. She send me an email about how I missed my appointment the day before, and suggested another time that day, but I didn't see the email before because it was send 9.00 that morning. So I missed that meeting as well. I have also put all the emails send back and forth between us here.