Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Digitizers, Renishaw (for bill phillips)

Hi Alan,

I'll have a look at that program.

I don't think there would be too much trouble locating phonograph pickups
yet - I saw about half a dozen old 'radiograms' thrown away at our local
dumpster site yesterday and plenty are still used in children's toy record
players.

Timing clocks and watches is not an exact science. Many very expensive
machines are sold to adjust their timekeeping commercially but these usually
only time them over a very short period - seconds or minutes at the most.
This is fine for getting an approximate idea as to whether the watch is set
up 'in the right area' but, due to the fact that some gears go round less
than once a day, any faults or inaccuracies in these wheels will not show up
on a short test. Consequently it is still necessary to check the timepieces
the long way to be at all sure they will keep accurate time. This is, of
course, the main failing with the 'one hour repair' franchises in the
department stores (also their staff training and workplace cleanliness etc.
are big issues).

When I eventually finish my little milling machine project its primary use
will be in making parts for watches and small clocks (for me smaller is
better!!). At the moment I'm getting quite frustrated as I have one axis
working under computer control but need to get out in the workshop to make
the bits and pieces for the other two and the remaining toothed belt pulleys
but, with an unheated workshop, its just too d****d cold at present! Any
ideas how to heat up the lathe handwheels so I don't freeze to 'em!!! ;o{

Ian
--
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
www.iw63.freeserve.co.uk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Marconett KM6VV" <KM6VV@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com>
Sent: 10 January 2001 01:19
Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Digitizers, Renishaw (for bill phillips)


> Hi Ian,
>
> I finally remembered the program I was going to suggest:
>
> Spectrogram version 5.1.7 is now available for download. Version
> 5.1.7 combines the features of all previous versions and adds the
> following improvements.
>
> http://www.monumental.com/rshorne/gramdl.html
>
> I don't know if it directly applies to your clock projects, as it is a
> general purpose program. I remember playing with phonograph pickups
> when I was in school, great fun! I'll bet they are hard to find now.
>
> I always wondered how they adjusted clocks, without taking DAYS to get
> it right! There was a movie on the first "sea going" navigation clock,
> and it's development. Quite interesting.
>
> Clock work would be an interesting machining project, but I'd like to
> start with BIGGER GEARS! I have heard of wooden and paper clock kits.
>
> Alan KM6VV
>
>
> Ian Wright wrote:
> >
> > Hi Alan,
> >
> > I was just trying a couple of shareware and commercial watch timing
programs
> > but they turned out to be pretty useless as they were designed to run in
> > Windows - not in real time and the timing periods involved were not long
> > enough to get useful results. I have considered trying to write
something
> > similar for RT linux but, so far, other things have got in the way. All
the
> > programs do really is listen to the 'ticks' that the timepieces make and
> > compare them with a timebase to derive the rate at which the watch is
> > gaining or losing. The real trick is to switch the listening bit on and
off
> > though as the timepiece makes all sorts of spurious noises which also
get
> > picked up so a 'proper' system firstly cleans up the audio signal to
just
> > keep the loudest 'ticks' and then only listens to these within a certain
> > percentage of the time when they are expected to occur. One of the
biggest
> > difficulties I found was that, understandably, the programs available
are
> > 'standardised' to the most usually found frequencies whereas the antique
> > watches which I work on often have frequencies which are considered
> > 'unusual'.
> >
> > Now, however, the pick-ups which I am using are simply hooked up through

> > 'telephone amplifiers' to enable my tired ears to pick up the nuances of
the
> > watch's ticks which give clues as to the problems lurking within. The
> > pickups do just as good a job as commercial units costing hundreds of
times
> > more!
> >
> > Ian
> > --
> > Ian W. Wright
> > Sheffield UK
> > www.iw63.freeserve.co.uk
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Alan Marconett KM6VV" <KM6VV@...>
> > To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@egroups.com>
> > Sent: 09 January 2001 18:15
> > Subject: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Digitizers, Renishaw (for bill phillips)
> >
> > > Ian,
> > >
> > > What kind of computer program, and what do you look for? Using a
sound
> > > blaster card? I've used an analyzer program to align HF transceivers.
> > > Just curious.
> > >
> > > Alan KM6VV
>
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