Escapement Testing Continues
I am performing a risk mitigation test to validate the escapement design. Test configuration is mean time module, pendulum, structure present, and temporary weights. All parts are cleaned and oiled and cleanliness is being maintained more closely. I’m seeing noticeable variation in the time it takes the escape wheel to advance. While not affecting the timing of the pendulum, the sound being inconsistent is undesirable and I would like to minimize it. Additionally, if the escape wheel lags sufficiently it will not arrive in time to lock and the clock will miss two beats. While not catastrophic this is difficult to detect as the clock has always restarted after this occurs.
For testing, I’m taking a video of the clock ticking and uploading it to my computer via google photos. I have written a MATLAB script that will take the audio stream and identify the loud ticks, trend them, and establish the overall trend and each ticks variation from it.
I’ve also been posting on the NAWCC Forum on this subject:
