Product Idea
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Working Cuckoo Clock
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Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
From a remote village in Germany's Black Forest comes this LEGO take on a classic cuckoo clock, complete with realistic ticking, self-winding, and a bird that pops out to scream every 60 seconds.
Is it accurate? Umm...kind of! But it is a real, functioning clock, with a weight-driven Galileo escapement and three working hands (seconds, minutes, hours). Other features include:
Self-winding: Includes a motor that can wind up the clock automatically when the weight reaches its limit (about 4-5 minutes of runtime).
Adjustable hands: A knob on the left side allows you to set the time.
Bird: He's in there, and he's very small.
Roman numerals: Clock face includes all 12!
Feet made out of frogs and gold Hagrid hair: Self-explanatory.
So...how does it work?
The clock has two main mechanisms:
- A fully analog clock mechanism, driven by a Galileo escapement and genuine LEGO weights from 42146 Liebherr Crawler Crane;
- A cuckoo mechanism that uses a LEGO motor and proximity sensor (currently EV3, but this is completely doable with more recent Powered Up components). When the sensor detects that a piece attached to the second hand is in the "12" position, the motor fires off the cuckoo! Right now, the cuckoo comes out once every 60 seconds, but it can be programmed to come out on the hour, every 15 minutes, etc.
There is also a second motor for windup.
Why do I think this would be a good set? Several reasons:
- Timeless design. Who doesn't love a cuckoo clock?
- A LEGO-fied take on an iconic object. Like 21327 Typewriter, 10334 Retro Radio, and 21323 Grand Piano -- the last of which would be most similar to this, since it included a Powered Up Hub, Motor, and Proximity Sensor.
- A little bit of Castle, a whole lot of Technic. Any version of this would give a challenging, rewarding, and variety-filled experience to 18+ builders looking for something very different.
Why did I want to build this?
Some LEGO sets let you approximate building the real thing. I wanted to build this because I knew it would involve, on some level, actually building the real thing. And it was a blast -- easily the most complex, challenging, and interesting LEGO project I've ever undertaken. I hope you get to build it, too!
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