And... I'm back! So today, I bring you the longest video in the world showing the mechanism I've created to lift and then release the all-important second counterweight. It's this weight that will positively drop the height sensing lever down onto the program wheel character tile, and so setting the height of the cam follower cradle to enable the machine to read and then write the programmed letter. Or something... This has been the biggest headache of the entire project so far, and it feels lik
1:59
And... I'm back! So today, I bring you the longest video in the world showing the mechanism I've created to lift and then release the all-important second counterweight. It's this weight that will positively drop the height sensing lever down onto the program wheel character tile, and so setting the height of the cam follower cradle to enable the machine to read and then write the programmed letter. Or something... This has been the biggest headache of the entire project so far, and it feels lik
298.8K viewsMay 28, 2024
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Hi there people of the world - we finally have a floating and rotating cam stack for my writing automata! So, having hit a brick wall with the mechanism, and consequently making the incredibly difficult and risky decision to do what amounted to a total mechanical reversal of the way the machine works, suddenly, with this major element working, I'm feeling far more confident that I'm now, finally, heading in the right direction at long last! There was quite a lot of effort and thought involved in
1:32
Hi there people of the world - we finally have a floating and rotating cam stack for my writing automata! So, having hit a brick wall with the mechanism, and consequently making the incredibly difficult and risky decision to do what amounted to a total mechanical reversal of the way the machine works, suddenly, with this major element working, I'm feeling far more confident that I'm now, finally, heading in the right direction at long last! There was quite a lot of effort and thought involved in
234K views6 months ago
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Assembly time - with the secret ingredient! Onwards. 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
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Assembly time - with the secret ingredient! Onwards. 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
74.4K views7 months ago
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Todays professionally produced video is brought to you with added gym equipment!! The spring balance I've been building is now fitted in place, and, after a few days of doubt, it's now working (more or less) exactly at it should. I did need to alter it a bit since the last video once I started testing it properly. After a panic that it was horribly rough under load, the spring barrel is now fitted with proper bearings on which to run around the central spring barrel arbor. It now runs much, much
0:58
Todays professionally produced video is brought to you with added gym equipment!! The spring balance I've been building is now fitted in place, and, after a few days of doubt, it's now working (more or less) exactly at it should. I did need to alter it a bit since the last video once I started testing it properly. After a panic that it was horribly rough under load, the spring barrel is now fitted with proper bearings on which to run around the central spring barrel arbor. It now runs much, much
19.1K views7 months ago
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I've spent the past few days assembling, disassembling, and adjusting the machine - over and over again - to finally get it working. I'm almost there after solving a problem that has been plaguing me for months. Friction in the pully on top of the cam stack that winches up one of the counterweights is, as it turns out, a bad thing! Anyway, I thought that I'd record and share one of the reassembly processes, all be it sped up at twice the actual speed. It also gives me an excuse to use a Sparks t
1:33
I've spent the past few days assembling, disassembling, and adjusting the machine - over and over again - to finally get it working. I'm almost there after solving a problem that has been plaguing me for months. Friction in the pully on top of the cam stack that winches up one of the counterweights is, as it turns out, a bad thing! Anyway, I thought that I'd record and share one of the reassembly processes, all be it sped up at twice the actual speed. It also gives me an excuse to use a Sparks t
1.4K viewsMar 23, 2025
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Last minute adjustments/ construction/ panicky problem solving before @Automatafest 2025 kicks off tomorrow evening! I'm really looking forward to finally meeting lots of you good people face to face, rather than through phone messages and videos - it's going to be fun!! Right, where's my spanner... and maybe the really big hammer? See you all there. Onwards... to Hastings!! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
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Last minute adjustments/ construction/ panicky problem solving before @Automatafest 2025 kicks off tomorrow evening! I'm really looking forward to finally meeting lots of you good people face to face, rather than through phone messages and videos - it's going to be fun!! Right, where's my spanner... and maybe the really big hammer? See you all there. Onwards... to Hastings!! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
3.7K viewsMay 7, 2025
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Today, I am fitting a cam. And maybe a follower, with its pivot bracket. We shall see... Onwards! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
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Today, I am fitting a cam. And maybe a follower, with its pivot bracket. We shall see... Onwards! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
939 viewsMar 14, 2025
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0:20
Yep, it's been a while, but an update on my writing automata is coming, I promise, and I think that it should be a good one!! Onwards! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
11.2K views5 months ago
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0:13
Spring tension and anchor point modifications - that's what we need! The three little springs work fine'ish, but they need a little more mechanical advantage (technical term!) over the levers that they're acting on to make them work really postively, so that's now my next job. It's currently a shade over 35° in my little workshop today, but I'm coping ok so far. However, I might have to go ice cream hunting very soon... 🥵☀️🍦 Right, let's take the machine apart... again... Onwards!! | Dave Good
90.2K views10 months ago
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0:08
New bits are being fabricated, and progress is being made. I do love using a file... Exciting times, people, exciting times!! Onwards. 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
17.9K views7 months ago
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0:38
The new spacer assembly is now finished and soldered together, and all ready for fitting. As I mentioned in the video, I somehow managed to make it 5mm taller than it needed to be, so I simply filed the offending material away from the four bottom plate attachment points to reduce the overall height, and now it's exactly where it needs to be - 40mm rather than 45mm! Time now to fit all the gubbins that I've suddenly got room for! Oh, and I still need to lengthen the chains - did I mention that I
116.6K views3 months ago
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0:46
With the latest batch of machines finally getting finished and shipped off to their new homes, I thought that it was high time I posted some bits and bobs, so here is a video for you of the planetarium side of the machine, which nicely shows the backwards and forwards motion of the planet pointers as they show the planets retrograde motion through the heavens, and also a bit of closer up action of the gearing that makes it all happen. So many cogs!! | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Bu
891 viewsApr 14, 2019
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1:42
The devil is in the detail... There's just so, so much detail... Hmm, split hinge pin creation, not something I was planning for today, but it's another job (almost) done. Onwards!! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
18.6K views3 months ago
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0:34
So, the system to tension and untension the springs for my cam followers is going to plan, and will hopefully solve the little issue I was having with the constantly loaded springs preventing my cam follower cradle from sliding up and down as it should. The next job is to link up the three new actuator linkages together and then get them all working at exactly the right time to do what they're supposed to do - whatever that might be!! Onwards... 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Bui
10.3K viewsApr 24, 2025
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0:35
A quick update on the side project - a nice, simple, nine planet orrery! All the gearing is now fitted to the main drive gearbox, and it all works exactly as advertised, which is always nice! All the planet hangers are also cut and finished for the six planets outside Earth's orbit. The next job to do is to make the Earth/Moon mechanism which lazily circles the top of the machine above the outer planet hangers. More on that soon. Onwards! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
17.6K views3 months ago
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2:15
It's a bit rambling and not filmed very well, but, as promised, here's the insides of the spring balance for you. Please ask questions if it makes no sense. I don't generally make much sense, and I can't see the point of changing now, simply to keep you people happy. 😊 Onwards. 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
49.2K views7 months ago
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2:49
There's no fanfare, and maybe there should be, but if you stick with this video until the end, you might just see my automaton write its first actual character! It's not very good yet because, at the moment, only the Y axis movement is fixed, and the X axis is still a bit floppy, but, after 20 months, it's finally writing - a bit drunkenly, perhaps - but it's writing!! On top of that, I also know exactly what needs to be done next, which is a very rare thing indeed! The new spring system now nee
64.2K views9 months ago
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1:12
Today, I shall mostly be eliminating excess play, or slack, or slop, or whatever the correct term is for wasted movement due to lots of linkages and too little experience. It just needs to be better than it is at the moment! I have a plan, and preloading is the answer. Oh yes. Onwards!! 🤓 | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
563.8K views9 months ago
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0:14
Final photos of a one of my machines shortly before packing it off to its new home in Houston, Texas. Just hoping that it's new owner will be pleased! | Dave Goodchild - Antikythera and Automata Builds
1.2K viewsMar 19, 2019
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0:48
I just thought that I'd share something a bit different today! This was a quick 3-day build that I put together for my daughters birthday (she's 23... and her birthday was in May... but better late than never!). She's a bit of a 'Cat in the Hat' fan, so this takes a bit of inspiration from the original Dr. Suess books, but also from the 2004 live action movie starring Mike Myers. It's quite simple, a little ragged around the edges, and very daft, but I hope you like him. She was very pleased! Mo
3.7K viewsOct 28, 2024
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0:47
Thank you for sticking with me everybody... I think that I've finally done it!! 😃 It is a tiny thing, and it doesn't look much. A single, slightly shaky, capital letter S, and reproduced by a set of three cams I created nearly two years ago. However, after several thousand hours of blood, sweat, tears, dead ends and countless redesigns, that one little capital S is, for me, a massive achievement. The machine will now also, finally, do this for any other letter I choose - upper or lower case. My
116K views5 months ago
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2:40
Hi everyone. Recently, a few folk who only started following me since the current project started, have contacted me to ask if I've ever built anything other than the ongoing writing automata - a very reasonable question given the time that this has so far taken - and the answer is yes, quite a few things! So, with that in mind, I thought that I'd share this older video of me assembling and testing a coin operated clockwork magician automata which I built back at the end of 2022, although the vi
24.8K views4 months ago
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