Making A Billion-Year Lego Clock
6,695,858
Published 2023-05-28
The first component resembles a grandfather clock with a weight-driven pendulum anchor escapement. The escapement wheel rotates 1 tooth per second. Different gear trains transmit motion from the escapement to all complications from days to years to decades.
As soon as the weight touches the ground, a rewinding motor is triggered to raise the weight and “recharge the clock”. This happens every 2 minutes. A solar powered battery fuels the energy storage for the electric rewind motor. Under a cloudless sky the solar panel generates more energy than consumed by the Lego pendulum clock. A bigger energy storage could be added to run the clock at night time. To increase solar panel efficiency the solar panel is mounted on a tilting mechanism that is connected to the 24h complication, following the sun during daytime.
Similar to an astronomical clock, this Lego timepiece features complications beyond minutes and hours. It displays units of times based on orders of magnitude of the second. Days, mean months and years are counted. The biggest unit is the “billion year display” that is basically a mechanical counter displaying years in decimals.
Chapters:
00:00 Escapement
01:38 Winding
02:36 Automatic Winding
03:46 Gearing
05:15 Day
06:26 Year
07:50 Solar Panel
08:52 Lifetime
09:18 Year Counter
10:00 Cosmic Year
Camera used for this video: amzn.to/3J50QZq
Microphones used for this video: amzn.to/405sX0X
Please note: I get a commission if you buy via Amazon link above. Thanks for your support.
Where I get my Lego parts from: www.bricklink.com/v2/main.page
Sources:
Crate complex gear ratios: • How to use a Lego Technic differentia...
Subtractor to change 365.25 to 1: static1.squarespace.com/static/551f1df3e4b0562b851…
1 to 10 ratio chain mechanism:
shorturl.at/lnovH
Music: Hovering Thoughts by Spence
Cold Blue by Astron
#bricktechnology
#legotechnic
#lego
#asmr
#engineering
#horology
#clock
#time
All Comments (21)
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Find the hidden Lego minifigure
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Props to the camera man for spending hundreds of galactic years filming this clock for us.
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I love the concept that this is all accurate based on 25cm being the distance needed for exactly 1 second
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The school, work, retire clock is just depressing
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My Grandfather was a Horologist(watch/clock maker) and would appreciate this far more than I ever would, but I still find this fascinating. Awesome work man.
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I really wish Lego made official kits like these, that actually have a function. I'm sure i'm not the only one.
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The amount of engineering you put in a 13 min video to make this masterpiece is much more than my 4yrs college engineering degree.
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This video single handedly make me understand how Grandfather Clock works. I've been wondering for quite awhile but I never see a video that break down this simple.
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I don't care about the cons of being immortal, I wanna live long enough to see this clock in its full power
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This needs to be an official lego set. That’s how awesome it is.
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I can no longer comprehend how a differential works so to me your creations are truly magical.
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NGL, the final reveal was amazing, and it made me cry a little, because it also displays something VERY precious in us, we humans have a limited life span to 80-100 years of existance and we need to cherish every second of it. Stay healthy, stay safe, and most definitely take very good care, live your life, live it well! Beautiful piece of artwork my guy!
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We need more smart people like this to build Lego. Lego is like a portal to creativity and so many people are missing out on it.
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This went from interesting to impressive to amazing to existential dread to cosmic horror so quickly. 😲
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This man lived 230 million years to record this video. Thanks for his work.
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I bet that one day he is gonna make a functioning 50 kiloton thermonuclear warhead one day
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I’m ASTOUNDED. It’s unbelievable that people can even come up with something as complex as this and then build it out of the same things my Technic McLaren F1 car is made out of. That’s amazing. I was glued to the screen for all 13 minutes. This is one of the greatest videos I’ve ever seen on YouTube.
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Amazing that this was made billions of years ago and it was only uploaded today! I didn't know Lego has been around that long, but it's clearly a force of nature at this point!
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It’s absolutely astonishing it took this 1.46 billion years to make this video, props to the generations that took the time and effort to record and watch over this magnificent creation
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Subscribed. I've been looking all over for how mechanical pendelum clocks worked, but this guy not only explained it, but also built one from scratch, out of something as relatable as Lego, and while taking his time to educate us on each step in detail! I would honestly even recommend that schools use this for teaching material for physics class
