actual size 14 cm
Watchmaking, Omega series
- Parts
- 195
- Build
- 9 hrs
- Level
- Expert
actual width 10 cm
Watchmaking, Alpha series
Precision Ratchet Wheel
€34.20
A pawl-and-ratchet anti-reverse system: the wheel only turns one way. Steel return spring, locking pawl and a wheel with 24 asymmetric teeth; turned the other way, the wheel never slips back more than 15°. The same mechanism winds watches and works in ratchet spanners and winches. 52 parts, 2 hours to build.
- Parts
- 52
- Build
- 2 hrs
- Level
- Intermediate
- Footprint
- 10 × 10 × 6 cm
- Weight
- 175 g
- Glue and battery
- None
Intermediate: several articulated parts
Batch sold out: the next one is being made in the workshop
- Missing part replaced free
- Ships within 2 business days
- 14-day returns
- Illustrated manual included
Ages 14 and up. Contains small parts.
Precision Ratchet Wheel in detail
The story
The ratchet and its pawl are as old as winches and crossbows. You find them in the winding of every mechanical watch, in ratchet spanners, jacks and reels. In the early 1960s the physicist Richard Feynman even turned one, in his lectures, into a famous thought experiment on the limits of perpetual motion.
What you'll see move
Turn the wheel one way: the pawl jumps from tooth to tooth with a crisp click. Try the other way: everything locks at once. You can feel the return spring pressing the pawl against each tooth.
Specifications
- Number of pieces
- 52 pieces
- Assembly time
- 2 hrs
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Dimensions
- 10 × 10 × 6 cm
- Weight
- 175 g
- Material
- PLA with 30% wood fibre
- Hardware
- Micro-screws and ball bearings included
- Glue required
- None
- Battery required
- None
In the box
- 52 wood-fibre composite parts, ready to assemble
- Micro-screws and ball bearings
- Illustrated step-by-step assembly manual
- No glue and no batteries: everything fits together and turns by hand
14+
Ages 14 and up. Contains small parts: not suitable for children under 3, choking hazard.
From the same family
actual size 16 cm
Desk Chronograph
€63.00
Watchmaking, Omega series
- Parts
- 175
- Build
- 7 hrs
- Level
- Expert
actual size 12 cm
Simple Anchor Escapement
€34.20
Watchmaking, Alpha series
- Parts
- 48
- Build
- 1 hr 30 min
- Level
- Beginner