Mechanical Counter

cults3d

I had always been curious about how mechanical counters functioned, and what I discovered turned out to be surprisingly straightforward. The design that worked best for me was a simplified version of the original concept, one that could easily be 3D printed. After conducting research online, I found several designs that incorporated internal gearing within the number reels, but the one shown on the left proved most informative in understanding how it works. This particular design features three number reels capable of counting up to 999, with a lost motion gear pair situated between each reel, transferring motion to the next reel after completing a full revolution of the lower digit reel. This design is based on Matthias Wandel's original model, which can be viewed at http://woodgears.ca/counter/index.html. I modified some features to make it more suitable for 3D printing and simplified the actuator mechanism to a straightforward push operation. For complete instructions, please visit http://www.3dprinterclocks.com/page23.html. To see how this design works in action, check out the video at https://youtu.be/-fbalqKgz74.