ROKR3D Wooden Puzzle Building Clock Construction Kit Mechanical Model Building Gift Pendulum Clock

Great way to spend 4-6 hours. Instructions are clear for the most part, and parts disengage from the marker well. After some tinkering, I can get it to run for about 20 minutes. More tweaking to come. Also, the adjustable legs help too.Here's a tip...glue the pendulum assembly together so that it's rigid. A pendulum can't have give, it must be sweep back and forth on the same plane.Only issue I had was with some of the flimsy pieces that snapped when trying to put the housing together. Luckily there are some extras.

Very nice way to pass some lazy afternoons. We bought several Rokr kits . But this is by far the best. The satisfaction of having a working clock at the end of several hours of build time is epic!Some tips: take the time to same and burrs out of the gears. There are not many but it’s worth the extra time.Also, spin each gear on its spindle to be sure it’s not too warped. I had one that seemed warped but it was actually the smaller gear attached to it. There were extra gears which I used to even out the wobble.Wax only the gears the tell you too. I used a lighted Glade candle for the wax , then after waxing I used a hair dryer to remove/ melt the excess wax, repeat the process , and then Hit the timing gear and pendulum again with the hair dryer.One error I did note: on the main spring gear, the tabs stick out behind the gear and the spring can get hung up on the tabs protruding out the back. I sanded then down so the back of the gear is smooth and the spring will not get caught up on the tabs.It was easy to see this was a problem when you let the gears fly without the pendulum , you could see the spring bump when it hit the tabs.....Level the clocckI currently have it running on about 3-4 hours of accurate time. Some more fine tuning should help it work for the full wind.

Ok, so this was REALLY fun to build. It took me about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Each cog wheel in the clock has a very similar build so take your time on the first two and you'll breeze through the rest. After those are built, the rest is magic.. It's SO fun to see everything come to life. My use for this product was very specific.. I actually ended up removing the pendulum and spray painting everything gold and stuck the whole thing in the casing of an old grandfather clock as a prop for a set. (in place of the pendulum I added a small motor because I needed an illusion of time for my project).The wood quality is FANTASTIC. It's easy to pop out each laser etched wooden puzzle piece from the wood sheets they arrive in. The instructions are very, very straight forward. Nothing to read, just clear illustrations (clearer than IKEA's) . Take your time, give in to any perfectionism you have, have fun, and you'll have a stunning and satisfying piece of art to display!

My grandson and I punched out the pieces which was pretty easy. Assembling the gears were fairly straight forward. But it would have been nice to have each gear labeled a-b or 1 2 or 3. The frame is a quick assembly just be careful with the supports they are pretty fragile. You will have to sand the small braces or risk breaking them when you install them( not that it happened to me). I don't know how many times I watch videos to make sure which gear to place in what position. When we assembled the marble run. All of the ramps were labeled so there was chance of getting it wrong. I discovered when we put in the gears we had to make space adjustments so that the gears would mesh. Once done I could get it to run more than 20 secs so I tried the wax worked somewhat. Then I tried 10w40. I tested it on some discarded pieces for discoloration. There was none so I spayed the small gears and it runs for a while 10-15 minutes. I just wish the spring was stronger. Looks great and a good conversation piece

As to a clock, will keep decent time, spring has an absolute limit of about four hours. Has enough energy to run the pendulum at most two and a half hours. I found the rear axle support on the spring gear set too far back and a bit out of alignment causing the gear to fall off and shorten the run time. I fashioned a replacement out of scrap from the A panel, cut off the top of the original support, and used super glue to attach the replacement to the original. Make sure there is a slight gap to allow the spring to move freely. I considered a second spacer on the front except it would not engage the next gear. On the top three gears and pendulum, adjust the spacers to allow a slight gap on one end not to touch the frame. Otherwise there will be too much friction for the clock to run. You can do the same for all but it is most important for the top ones as the friction will be magnified a hundred fold or more. Some white lithium grease may help on these gears, not needed on th rest.As to demonstrating how mechanical clocks and geared systems work, a most excellent demonstration model, so so on the properties of pendulums.As to building the model, think IKEA instructions. As to gap measurement, numbers accurate, diagrams suggest using a tool that will often give a different measurement. Recommend long nosed pliers, practice first on one of their easier models to get a sense of how to assemble these and work with the material.Update: After running it around fifteen cycles, it seems to be wearing in and running out most of the spring. Last cycle ran four hours and ten minutes. Pretty much reached the theoretical limit.