Build an Earth Sun & Moon Orbiter

[Stubbzie]

Yippy, the Base plate has arrived and I spent the day putting it together

All went well until I tried to screw in the drive train mounts for the year counter into the base plate. the holes in the base plate were not drilled quite deep enough
.......Bunnings here I come and the smallest washer they had was a brass 1/8 inch and it just fits to do the job fine and dandy if placed under the head of the screw. I think all else went well but I guess we will have to see how all the other parts line up with these parts. there are a few tight spots that will require some patient adjustment, I am an optimist (although is my beer half full or half empty depends on how far away the skimpy is)(oh, and how much money I have left as well)

Thanks for the heads up Malcolm, if we do another model we will do the subscription thing, a client number and tech support does sound good
Just feel a little sorry for my newsagent there nice people and his wife is building the tellurion as well, so I guess its not just us, the end user, that is being let down with dogie service.

[erick (Eric)]

Yes, a few hours work, but what a leap forward.

There is plenty more inside the drum base that you cannot see in the photos (Apologies - mobile phone resolution!). We're up to the end of issue #42 - power in, power switch and speed adjustment added.

Couple of things:- the two halves of the drum are quite warped. they won't drop into place, but they can be forced into place and the two plates will hold them in position. I presume there are finally some bolts that hold top plate to bottom plate? At the moment, three pieces of adhesive tape are doing the job!

Stubbzie, I found the same thing with the eight bearing support screws and it puzzled me - everything else so far is OK. So I added the brass washers but then discovered that the drive through the two universal joints and the two helical drives was very tight. Enough to pop off one of the universal joints! I removed the washers, left the bearing supports flopping about and the drive operated much better. There is still a tight spot during the rotation of the year counter, and I could not see why. A little bit of grease on the helical cogs improved it. Maybe the bearing supports are meant to be loose, but that seems strange to me. Also I have no idea how it will perform in operation. So there is a tight spot, but it makes one revolution per year!!! I reckon the motor should be able to drive through that tight spot at that speed (or lack of speed!)

Of course, all that complicated drive mechanism just to turn the year counter once per year - and completely invisible - bit stupid! Surely that could have been better designed.

Can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

The system I think is designed to provide a speeded up version of a year although would be interesting if it can. I have already received the bolts for mine but my work commitments have increased dramatically and have not installed them as yet.

It mentions in the book to turn it upside down, recommended by using a cushion

[erick (Eric)]

Calibration time - Yikes!

[erick (Eric)]

OK, have all the bits now, put it all together, turned on and..................

..............well, it's not precision engineering!

Quite a lot of problems (no I didn't leave bits out or build it wrongly).

Motor has huge "wow" at speed, even with no load. I also have no idea where to set the speed control to get realtime speed?

Earth arm continued to sag, even though I had worked on that earlier. The chains help a bit but the large sun wheel would lose engagement with its drive cog. I've pulled out the black plastic washer under the large wheel and that has dropped it a mm or so so it engages now.

They supplied (in the 52A parts that came when the base plate was missing) a locking collar to make rigid one of the shaft supports that goes through the base plate. I need another locking collar. Shaft support 76 is very loose and twists in its hole, allowing the gears above the base plate to jump - Groundhog day - cannot advance to the next day!

The diameters of the shaft supports seem to be the same. I'll try to get another pack of 52A - but will have to email them - it's not clearly in the back order list.

So some fix-it work to be completed. I'm going to just align Earth, Moon and Sun. Not going to bother getting the Moon's inclined axis correct, nor worry about the eclipse indicators. I doubt it is worth the effort.

[peterl]

"Earth arm continued to sag, even though I had worked on that earlier. The chains help a bit but the large sun wheel would lose engagement with its drive cog. I've pulled out the black plastic washer under the large wheel and that has dropped it a mm or so so it engages now.

They supplied (in the 52A parts that came when the base plate was missing) a locking collar to make rigid one of the shaft supports that goes through the base plate. I need another locking collar. Shaft support 76 is very loose and twists in its hole, allowing the gears above the base plate to jump."
Hi Eric.
Just put mine together too.
Same problems.
I too pulled out the black plastic washer under the sun...Gear now aligned ok.
The main shaft which holds the sun was loose as well and sagging ..I tightened the grub screw on the sun shaft just above the top plate and pulled everything down and tightened the grub screw on the same sun shaft under the top plate.now all tight and spinning around with no sag..
Shaft support no. 76 also needs a locking collar as you said.(not supplied).
Eric ,
If you have a look at shaft 76 underneath the top plate,there is not enough room to put another locking collar like the other one supplied elseware because of the close proximity to the gear mount screwed to the bottom of the top plate.
If we get onother locking collar sent to us we will have to turn it down in diameter to fit on to shaft 76..
I plugged mine in an stood back a little, and all works, if you hold that shaft no 76 down in position by hand
The speed control underneath works ok just up from nearly stop.
Nearly there!!! PPHHEEWW!!!

[Jen]

oh man i am still waiting for the second issue

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I have finished mine almost, only need to resolve a gear not aligning or not fixed down properly, otherwise it seems to work quite well. Had the motor running and all.

The main arm is tricky to fix the sag but a little bit is unavoidable.

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by peterl

.....
If you have a look at shaft 76 underneath the top plate,there is not enough room to put another locking collar like the other one supplied elsewhere because of the close proximity to the gear mount screwed to the bottom of the top plate.
If we get another locking collar sent to us we will have to turn it down in diameter to fit on to shaft 76..
....

All closed underneath, not on show - I'll just take to the collar with a file and create a suitable notch!

I still think they are crazy - that snazzy universal drive to the year counter and - it's all hidden from view

Forgot to mention that I have had to pull the earth off - I thought I had it right, but in not too many revolutions, the angled gear was jamming up I'll have to resolve that as well.

[peterl]

This is the Earth, Moon and Sun orbiter nearly complete except for a collar to hold 1 shaft inline.
I might do what Eric suggested.Good idea ..
I am happy with this build.Some tricky bits to align but it all came together.

For Jen..
There were 52 issues and a total cost of about $803.00.

My son will probably inherit this one day.
In the mean time I will enjoy mine..

By the way how did others go with this??

Peterl

[Jen]

Originally Posted by peterl

This is the Earth, Moon and Sun orbiter nearly complete except for a collar to hold 1 shaft inline.
I might do what Eric suggested.Good idea ..
I am happy with this build.Some tricky bits to align but it all came together.

For Jen..
There were 52 issues and a total cost of about $803.00.

My son will probably inherit this one day.
In the mean time I will enjoy mine..

By the way how did others go with this??

Peterl

hey Gday Peter i know ive got a long way to go before i get this one rolling i have the solar system one and i looovvveee it and so does my 9 year old son hehe

[peterl]

Jen..
When your son grows up a bit,your solar system will come in handy when he does science at school..
My grandson is 3 years old now and I am teaching him thing about the moon.Every time he comes to visit he wants to see the moon through the scope.so these things are a good teaching aid..

Just waiting for a bigg YYEEHHAAAAA!! when Eric gets his going too.

peter.

[erick (Eric)]

Originally Posted by peterl

This is the Earth, Moon and Sun orbiter nearly complete except for a collar to hold 1 shaft inline.
I might do what Eric suggested.Good idea ..

I found a small hose clamp this morning and tightened that onto the shaft as a "collar". Seems to be working well!

[KenGee (Kenith Gee)]

Mines all together but it is a little jerky, and the top chain is not well aligned but it looks great. Once I get these little things sorted it will but great.

[erick (Eric)]

OK, all done and off to its new home. We didn't bother getting the lunar orbit inclination right, nor the eclipse indicator - but the rest is pretty close:-
1. correct orientation of Earth's axis relative to the date indicator
2. correct location of the Moon relative to the date indicator
3. synchronisation with the year counter with the date indicator

A couple of bits of "blu-tac" - one to hold the "decorative" knob on top of the Earth to stop the whole thing unwinding. One to hold the Moon on its support shaft. (The Moon is the easiest bit to lose I reckon.)

The owner is happy!

[peterl]

Hi Kengee..
with a bit of fiddling there and realigning and tightening grub screws etc . it should come good.

Well done Eric. Yours is done..

Mine is all working now. Runs ok..

PPHHEEWWW!!!

OK. Next Project......