clock
Learning and science
interactive educational visualisation
SHOW HN2015
How HN took it
8 positive, 8 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 7 critical, out of 24 comments about the project. Thread score +0.01.
Execution: 0 for, 6 againstIdea: 3 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstDocs: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Visualisation helps understanding of how clocks work
From 3 comments
That was a useful animation: it made me realise that I didn't really know how a clock worked; I only had a fuzzy -and wrong- understanding of how the the parts worked together.…
Renaud on HNMe too, I went from thinking I sort of new something about how clocks work to actually understanding it properly for the first time ever, reading a small amount if text, again to…
Theodores on HNBalance wheel(oscillating wheel in demo. Its the brain. it keeps the time accurate)--->Lever escapement fork(looks like pin pallet. Your watch's fork looks more like a dinner…
marincounty on HN
Beautiful and informative
From 2 comments
Very cool and informative at the same time. Well done!
mherrmann on HNBeautiful.
irascible on HN
Objections
Mainspring appears mounted backwards, winding instead of unwinding
From 2 comments
I think you mounted the main spring the wrong way? The way it is currently, the clock's operation would wind it tighter.
christiangenco on HNIt looks like the main spring is flipped 180 degrees. I speeded up the clock movement and it looks like it would be tightened, not loosened.
codewritinfool on HN
Gear teeth intersect and do not align properly
From 2 comments
I'm not entirely sure, but zooming closer to gear teeth interaction, it looks like cogs aren't aligning perfectly like they do in real life? I'm viewing this in firefox, so that…
aps-sids on HNIt's an animation, not a simulation. And not a very good one, gear teeth intersect all over the place: http://i.imgur.com/xDWigpp.jpg
imaginenore on HN
Minute hand runs too fast relative to real time
From 1 comment
In Chrome, the minute hand didn't move anywhere near 10 minutes worth over 10 minutes of watching the mechanism. Are the gear mechanisms designed to accurately reproduce a real…
wbhart on HN
Escape wheel animation does not clearly show the push
From 1 comment
Nice, but I don't think the escape wheel animation is correct. The explanation says it pushes something but I don't see it.
kyberias on HN
Requests
Show gear speeds and cog counts
From 1 comment
Nice animation. I'd add the option to show the speed of each gear (a curved arrow around the axis, with a label "1 turn per 15 seconds", and perhaps the number of cogs in each…
gus_massa on HN
Add a single-gear simplified version
From 1 comment
Nice animation. I'd add the option to show the speed of each gear (a curved arrow around the axis, with a label "1 turn per 15 seconds", and perhaps the number of cogs in each…
gus_massa on HN
Linearized gear view
From 1 comment
Nice animation. I'd add the option to show the speed of each gear (a curved arrow around the axis, with a label "1 turn per 15 seconds", and perhaps the number of cogs in each…
gus_massa on HN
Prevent page scroll when zooming
From 1 comment
Zooming-in is a bit tricky as a page scroll is triggered. Might help to add ``` event.preventDefault(); ``` to the wheel event listener function.
dhritzkiv on HN
Questions
How the balance spring keeps accurate time as it unwinds
From 1 comment
Nice. It seems that small spring is driving the "ticking" of the clock, so does the winding of the springs wind both the large and small spring? Also, it's surprising to me how…
jonahx on HN
How the simulation was made
From 1 comment
Nice! Can you give more details on how you made the simulation?
kqr2 on HN
Alternatives named
Gearotic CAD software
From 1 comment
In real life the do align perfectly, otherwise they will get stuck. Here there are off a bit because 1. I didn't get the sizes absolutely right as I modeled it in Blender and not…
nikital on HN
Electrical engineering video on mechanical watches
From 1 comment
An Electrical Engineering View of a Mechanical Watch: http://video.mit.edu/watch/an-electrical-engineering-view-of-a-mechanical-watch-9035/
jonsen on HN