Current Projects

2020-?

Projects that I am currently working on! This project has been on hold since I started grad school. Hopefully I will be able to resume soon!

Kinetic Bike Wheel Clock

In this project, I am turning an old bike wheel into a kinetic clock sculpture. I am making extensive use of my 3D printer. This sculpture takes advantage of the freewheel of the bike wheel to create an independent minute hand and hour hand. The hour hand will be attached to the rear sprocket, while the minute hand will be created with markings on the tire itself. The clock will be driven by 2 stepper motors, controlled by an Arduino.

In progress CAD model of my design:

Wheel model by David Vrbos on Grabcad

An in-progress picture. I initially was going to use an adjustable height bracket as an integrated chain tensioner with the stepper motor chain sprocket, but I realized there wasn’t enough room underneath the wheel to provide enough travel to sufficiently tension the chain. I’m using a piece of MDF as the base– the final base ideally would be machine cut (lasercutter or waterjet) but I think I can also get away with 3D printing it. Just not the most efficient use of a 3D printer!