Implausible Gears

[nancylebov]

Square, triangular, and pentagonal gears. Fish and squid gears. Notched gears, and I mean the frame, not the teeth. Oval gears.

The gearmaster's website.

From the FAQ:

You may determine your own personal Frustration Quotient by taking the quiz below. This scientific test will determine if you are ready to build your own wooden clockworks.

If a person's ability to endure Frustration is in the Very Low to Low Normal range, they are not good candidates and should not even contemplate making wooden clockworks.

If one’s ability to endure Frustration falls within the Normal to High Normal range a person should just talk about making a wooden clockworks.

If they can sustain the High to Very High Frustration range, a person may actually attempt to make a wooden clockworks, but should not anticipate actually hearing it tick at any point.

Being able to tolerate Frustration beyond the Very High range is a wonderful place to begin making wooden clockworks, but out of Baltic Birch Ply only.

Beyond the Very High range one begins to enter into the Masochistic realm and needs to seek professional help - especially if one is anticipating making their own solid wood wheels.

I am a professional - and I am here to help.

How to make organically shaped gears

Initial link thanks to Geek Press. the rest are the result of looking for related links.

Comments

[dcseain]

Way cool!

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

Watching the square gears turn made me go "Ouch!" and brought to mind some sketches in my journal for gravity-mills (perpetual motion machines to you mundanes). Maybe I could get one built after all.

This was wonderful!

[atomicat.livejournal.com]

Very neat! Definitely going to turn my hand and imagination to something that uses this technique.

[demonspawnmom.livejournal.com]

These were profiled in Boing-Boing about a month ago. I still get a kick out of seeing how the gears work.

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! Thank you for linking.