Ball Clock II ~ Excess Balls

Photo 144 CroppedThe last post was for the hour ball.

The second lift delivers a ball to the top about 10 seconds after the minute ball exits.  Running on different paths the second lift provides balls for the striking section.  Also one ball every minute.  The first ball after the hour is diverted to a counter to keep track of the number of balls to release to the hour strike mechanism (Not built yet).

The next balls to come off of the second lift are then routed to replenish the quarter strike magazine (Not built yet) and when full to the hour strike magazine (Not Built Yet) and then when that is full the extra balls will end up in the queue for the second lift.  Sounds simple right?

Photo 146 croppedSo having completed the hour ball diverter, it was time to work on the selector for the quarter strike magazine that would also divert the extra balls.  The area to work in was limited so I had to come up with a vertical solution.

The idea was to let balls pass through the diverter until the quarter strike magazine was filled.  Then the weight of the next ball would cause the diverter to drop down and route that ball to a lower track.  To do this, I had to know when the queue for the quarter strike magazine was full.  A ball coming into the diverter tries to drop, but is stopped by a tab that is in the way until a ball is in the full position of the queue.

Photo 147As long as a ball is in that position of the queue, every following ball will drop through.  It is kind of hard to see, but once again some gearing was applied to make things compact.

The last photo gives a good view of the hour ball diverter in the background.  You can see the tab that causes it to reset when a ball goes through.

Again bearings were used to reduce friction on the parts.

Now for the quarter strike magazine.

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