Daniel C. Harris  

For my final project in the Integrated Product Design class at the University of Pennsylvania, five of my peers and I created a mechanical clock. This however incorporated cycloidal gears instead of the linear gear transmissions used in most other clocks.

 

Cycloidal drives are great for achieving large gear ratios in compact sizes with little to no backlash, which is good for keeping more accurate time. Unfortunately, we were unable to get the full assembly working but the subcomponents (ex: cycloidal drives, ratchet and transmission system) all worked better than expected! Given the significant number of parts needed for this project, I learned a few very helpful techniques for machining more efficiently without sacrificing part quality.