Leonardo Clock (Lasercut) (UPDATED)

This is the design (made with OpenSCAD and fully customisable) of a functioning mechanical clock following the original ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci, that can be made on a laser cutter (with the addiction of standard bearings and a few other simple parts).

The oscillating mechanism uses the "ruota Caterina" (in Italian "ruota"means "wheel" and "Caterina" is a lady's name) system, attributed to Leonardo himself (or possibly to his "school").

The design has been modelled with OpenSCAD (sources included, the BOSL library is needed and is also included here), it can be animated to show the movements of all parts, and it is fully customisable. Generation of the DXF vector files is easily achieved by uncommenting the "projection" lines and then select "2D export as dxf" within OpenSCAD.

This model is part of an effort, promoted by the "Associazione Amici dell'Orologeria Pesarina Giovanni Battista e Remigio Solari", to teach the basics of the ancient clockmaking traditions of Val Pesarina (Pesariis, Friuli Venezia Giulia region, Italy) to the students of high schools and technical schools in Italy. Thanks to Alceo Solari for his guidance during the project. The model mechanics are based on the original paper drawings by Giacomo Rupil.

The design and the laser-cut prototype (all pieces from 10mm plywood, plus bearings and wooden axes of 8mm diameter) has been done at the Scientific Fablab of the ICTP (The Abdus Salam International centre for Theoretical Physics) based in Trieste, Italy.

List of 2D vector files and number of pieces needed (from 10 mm plywood):

list of DXF files for lasercutting (all to be scaled up at 200%):
leonardo_clock_V1.5_BASE.dxf (cut 2 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_CARICA_1.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_CARICA_2.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_CARICA_3.dxf (cut 5 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_GEAR_Z10.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_GEAR_Z20.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_GEAR_Z40.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_ORIZZ_1.dxf (cut 2 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_ORIZZ_2.dxf (cut 2 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PALETTA_1.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PALETTA_2.dxf (cut 2 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_1A.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_1B.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_2A.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_2B.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_3AB.dxf (cut 2 pieces)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_PLINTO_4.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_RUOTA_LEONARDO_1.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_RUOTA_LEONARDO_2.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_SECONDI.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_SOSTEGNO_QUADRO.dxf (cut 1 piece)
leonardo_clock_V1.5_SPESSORE_1.dxf (cut 3 pieces)

UPDATE (2021-2024):
=================

Two new and better versions have been added to the files section: a normal size (v2.1) and a BIG size (v1.2). More info are in the SCAD source file (readable as text).
Those versions provide an easier assembling (no glue required for final assembling, some parts can be pre-glued together, some gears are now coupled with axes using squared block). Scaling to 220% isn't needed anymore, now all dimensions of DXF 2D vectors generated by the scad file are correct.

Plywood thickness: 10mm
Axes are made of wooden (or metal) round bars with 8mm diameter.
608 bearings.

List of axes' lenghts (diameter = 8mm):
165mm lower axe
160mm middle axe
60mm higher axe