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Man Builds 7-foot Grandfather Clock from Lego
Ravalox writes "Eric Harshbarger has built a 7-foot-tall grandfather clock exclusively from Lego. It keeps accurate time and needs no electricity; it needs to be weight reset every 13 hours. Other pictures include the gears, numbers, the face, and the pendulum mechanics."
its just got smashed!
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
but there aren't even any posts! dang... the power of /. lurkers is impressive.
Seems to be /.'ed before the first post even (which I'm sure I'm about to be pipped to).
I remember those awesome lego days of my childhood with huge displays in the big dept stores.... no longer. Seems to be pre-moulded crap these days. Good on him.
http://melbournephilosophy.com/
...when his (grand)kid shows up and takes the thing apart to play with it.
only one comment and already his site has experienced the slashdot effect.
what's next for him? A seven foot tall girlfriend made entirely of lego?
Well, since the server is suffering already, let's finish it.
Direct to the photo
Bet'cha the other images are nearby too
i guess it's true what they say about the silent majority, eh?
Pictochat Art!!!
I'd love to know when the kit for this goes on sale. Of all the large-scale Lego designs I've seen, just once I'd like someone to start selling a kit or at least instructions to built it yourself.
Isn't the goal of slashdot to post relavant RECENT topics? I would swear on the fact that I have seen this link over 2 years ago. Just a thought.
This is the same Eric who built some guy's desk out of LEGO a few years back. He's been talked about on /. before, just check out his portfolio:
l
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/portfolio.htm
He's built clocks before, but I think this is his first working model. Of course, be sure to check out his Tux and BSD Daemon sculptures as well. This guy is a master at LEGO construction, and be sure to look for him in the future.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Cs8oaitTLG0J: www.ericharshbarger.org/cgi-bin/photo.cgi%3Fclock_ 5.jpg%2Blego/images/clock+&hl=en
Slashdotted so quickly. I never realized how fast posts accumulate on Slashdot or how many people read it.
.. or so it seems. that poor little server!
before it started to fail though, I noticed the escapement violates the retentive geek's rules on colour matching in lego construction. Just because it's hidden doesn't mean you can just bodge it together out of mismatched pieces, you know.
Screw you all! I'm off to the pub
Wow, the mods will have a field day with this one...
Doesn't guy wrote this know that at the time when a these 6 foot wonders were invented, there WAS NO ELECTRICITY !!. It runs on pure potential energy stored in weights.
The interesting part is that it would be much harder to make a real grandfather clock (like the one at my ancestral home) - because Lego in comparison is easier to build.
But Kudos to the guy - it's not really pointless , it would have helped if this was part of at least a few mechanical engineer's curriculum - not just carnot cycle engines.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
You know the mods are mentally retarded when they need to be told to mod a post like that down.
Either that or your extremely bored and have nothing better to do than find trolls before mods do.
and all gears and such are 100% LEGO elements
Wow. This guy is an engineering genius!
Jonahweb.com has stuff.
Main
Gears
Numbers
Face
Mechanics
I can almost hear the gears grinding to a halt as a million clients topple his server.
I wonder what the melting point of legos is...
...I'm not usually impressed by Lego stories but that is pretty fuckin' cool.
The meme police, They live inside of my head
Solemn Laws Of The Eric Conspiracy
1. When asked if you are really a initiate of a sinister conspiracy to dominate the net and/or world, silently leave the room, say ``No comment'', smile without speaking or otherwise contrive to leave the questioner nervous, confused, and just a little more paranoid than he/she was before.
source: http://www.catb.org/~esr/ecsl/
This Is Not a Sig
Click here for the good stuff
"It keeps accurate time and needs no electricity; it needs to be weight reset every 13 hours."
Accurate, you say? Every 13 hours? If only every clock were that accurate...
You need a FREE iPod Nano
who had a House of Yes movie poster over my fireplace. Phew. (only on Slashdot..)
click here to incinerate homeless people
is it's about time someone did this.
We should give this guy a big hand. And then a second hand. But then, he's probably got his hands all in place already.
Can this run Linux? It would be a great NTP server.
sigs, as if you care.
Breaking Lego creations is not funny. It's just not. Don't even joke about it.
(asshat)
hey, you do know you're supposed to write that as LEGO(TM), right?
(/asshat)
Props to all the fuckwads who ever said that to me.
This is truly a victory for the geek-child within all of us
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
People have way too much freetime in this day and age. He could of done something a whole lot more benefitial but then again I guess it occupies your mind.
Does anyone know if this guy was one of the people who tried to get the Lego Master Builder job awhile back? If not, then he probably missed out on a good chance. I looked at a bunch of the stuff they made during the "interview" for the master builder job, and they were quite amazing. So perhaps Eric wouldn't have blown away the competition, but he at least stands a shot.
I, however, will stick to building little houses and cars just like the directions indicate.
how about we give the guy a break and link to his homepage instead of deep-linking to high-res pics?
Sounds like someone speaks from experience...
stuff
You too can build a huge lego erection... Without leaving your machine! http://www.ldraw.org/
...talk about having too much time on your hands.
breaking them was my fav.
I remember how cool it was to build the jetliner and then throw it down the hall.
of course, you had to loosen the parts first otherwise the whole thing would remain intact and usually leave a dent in the drywall.
but when you loosened it just right and made sure your lego dudes weren't pushed down too hard you had a fantastic crash site!
Anyways, I remember seeing stories about this guy before... and his grandfather clock was finished way back then. Has he built another one? Or is this just a dupe of a story from waaaaaaay back?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
You know, most people who put up a webserver for a personal project hosted themselves or on a lowly hosting plan don't expect hundreds of thousands of people trying to connect at one time, a few hundred a week perhaps.
Why can't everyone just use a cached link? (Make it mandatory for it to be prefixed). Then we all benefit, the server doesn't get as toasted and we get to read the interesting articles.
And I thought I had no life
Laugh, it's funny
DarkMantle I been bored, so I started a blog.
I think a stargate made from Lego is much more impressive.
I wonder how accurate this thing is. I mean, with gears and such made entirely of legos, how much play does the gear system have? (i.e. how well do the gears fit together?) Does this guy have any expertise in, well, whatever area of expertise it is that would make you good at making gears with the right ratios to properly keep time? I wouldn't expect much, but if it's accurate within, say, 5 minutes in a 24 hour period, I'd be pretty impressed.
You had the jetliner as a kid? lucky you. Damn my entire youth spent in dire poverty. It's no problem now, though. [Mr Burns voice] Smithers order me a life-sized jetliner lego set!![/Burns]
It's not even funny anymore. Ladies, the guy needs your help, but doesn't know how to tell you about it. This of course assumes that there are any ladies reading slashdot. Fat chance of that, for sure.
So, in the poster in the picture of the clock, she's holding a gun. On IMDB, she's holding a gun. But on IMDB's poster link, her hands are open. What's up with that?
Man Builds 7-foot Grandfather Clock from Lego. Slashdotting ensues.
From my hall of mirrors:
Corel Cache
Internet Archive
Google cache Note - images may not be cached.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
According to the bloody dictionary, news is "1 a : a report of recent events"
Eric's desk has been featured on Slashdot, 4 +YEARS ago. He built it in Aug of 2000. The Slashdot story was posted Aug 27, of the same year. He's made the front page of Slashdot 3 more times since.
He built the clock in January. 8 months before the desk, and the story.
This emphatically does NOT qualify as news anymore. No way, no how.
What is it the editors do here again? Anything useful?
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
As a kid that spent the few remaining hours that I WASN'T in front of the Commodore 64 digging through his boxes of Legos for juuuuust the right part... I gotta give this guy some serious credit.
:) )
Now I have a feeling that this guy's wife/girlfriend is probably quite worried about him..... or angry at him... (and no, I will NOT be one of those that insists the guy must have no life simply because he has some rather intense hobbies.)
Any chance he can post a howto, schematics, etc? The next generation of Lego enthusiasts is waiting to be inspired! (oh yeah, and I'd like to know how he did it myself
On that note, anyone know of any good websites featuring fun Lego projects such as this?
I hope the land around you yields, a crop like all the other fields, and then your waiting might make sense...
...why don't we build a real man out of snow.
Man Builds 7 foot Grandfather Cock from Lego. I was just about to rush out and by myself a huge Lego set.
Free Firefox news reader.
OB: Rimshot.
This is news now?
Eric built his clock almost FIVE YEARS AGO!
I hear that in the digitally remastered version, she's holding a walkie-talkie.
Incidentally, was I the only person who expected a poster for something called The House of Yes to be painted by Roger Dean?
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
This sure kicks the crap out of my 5" Lego Enterprise.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
The Lego Grandfather Clock was too tall for the shelf
So it stood for five years on the floor
More complicated by half than my lego castles
And weighed a whole lot more
It was built on the verge of a major Lego urge
And was a major source of his pride
Till its server stopped, short
Never to go again
When 'twas Slashdotted till it died
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
My grandfather once built a gradfather clock out of meccano that only lost about 15 seconds a day and it was entirely mechanical, I was so impressed.
Its one damn thing before another. (Dick Bird 1999)
When "computer architecture" consisted of asking the question "how big a room do we need to hold it?"
Someone had to do it.
...yes, he's made a girl out of Legos. Only a mosaic, unfortunately.
The proper terminology is LEGO(R) Bricks, not Lego, not Legos.
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun.
For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs". [also from that link at lego.com]
Video Production Support
PSA: Falling off your lofted bed and landing on your head is not fun.
You had best be a cute college girl if you are still sleeping on one of those.
Shouldn't the parent have been modded funny?
Cheers,
Adolfo
...it takes for a server to get slashdotted...
Karma: Good. I'm hoping in the same way as pizza is 'good'...
What's the white part pictured?
g earworks_top.jpg
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/images/clock/
I'm no Lego head, but I haven't seen that part one before. Is it Lego? Look's like a pully?
Rob
Area51 - We are watching...
What I want to know is how he made two hands spin different speeds around the same axis?
Failing to learn from history dooms you to repeat it.
I just sucked all the relevant pages through the coral cache, so it should be fine that way. Here's a link.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
This guy sure has an impressive portfolio.
$8.95/mo web hosting
'cause it only mirrors the first page. If that's a text story, it hardly ever needs mirroring. If that's a photo gallery, only thumbnails are mirrored, the real photos remain slashdotted even faster than normally.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
Yes, everyone emulate Gabe. Brilliant.
He recently "discovered" a new type of lego brick which allowed a vast improvement in the mechanism. The update is dated 12 March 2003, the original dating from 20 January 2000.
The best part in the first picture is the "House of Yes" poster over the mantel - badass.
Either I live in a time warp, or this same exact story was one /. like 6+ months ago?
Can't you all at least approve stories that have NEW news in them?
Is there software available to help design something like this? Like a lego plugin for a 3D design app? I'm inspired to get out my lego (or is it legos?) again.
Man Builds 7-Foot Tall Grandfather From Lego ?
Now *that* would be impressive!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
If I was going to do such, I would probably just build the time engine and face along with a quicky structure to hold it up. The "case" covers up the interesting parts anyhow, takes too long, and makes it harder to carry. I see no reason for it. Legos themselves are not going impress any real girls, so putting a Lego cover over it all is pointless.
It is almost like assuming that your wife will let you put a server in the kitchen just because you painted flowers on it. Not.
Besides, somebody's kids are eventually gonna smash it all anyhow. No human kid could resist bumping and plucking such a thing.
Table-ized A.I.
I have this inescapable vision: A little bird pops out on the hour and screeches "Nerd! Nerd! Nerd!"
Table-ized A.I.
let's see him make Lego's out of clock parts
Table-ized A.I.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This was on slashdot more than 3 years ago.
What about an analytical engine made of Lego?
-- Qu'est-ce que la propriété intellectuelle? It is thought control.
They're not called "Grandfather Clocks", but "Longcase Clocks". And Clocks\Watches don't have faces, they have dials.
"And hillbillies want to be called sons of the soil but it ain't gonna happen."
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
For the Lego geek :)
http://www.bricklink.com
Look up lego sets, buy and sell lego parts
~www.devnull.co.uk
the japanese better be all over this..... a leggo computer would totally own a fridge computer....
"if only i had known i would have been a locksmith." -albert einstein
This concept reminds one of the MIT robotic competition http://web.mit.edu/6.270/www/contestants/ et al. Design teams work with identical parts kits http://web.mit.edu/6.270/www/contestants/handouts/ kit2004.html which, in the 2004 competition, included Legos components.
The teams must create a robot that performs a given task(s), and the 'bots battle it out at the end.
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
the site is slshdotted?
-- V not F.
Well, there's already Meccano (Erector) Difference Engines out there... http://www.meccano.us/difference_engines/rde_1/ and http://www.steamengine.com.au/misc/models/babbage/
:-(
I'm sure I've heard about analytical engines in the planning stages but don't think there's anything out there yet.
To be honest, clocks are relatively common in Meccano - you can buy a plan to build a grandfather clock from a no. 10 set, I believe. The one I thought of in particular, though, was made about 20 years ago by Noel Ta'Bois, entirely out of plastic meccano (kiddy junior stuff), which I believe kept accurate time for 25 hours. Sadly due to its age I don't have references
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Now if only he could build a lego server powerful enough to fight off the horde that is slashdot...
Lego these!
Wow, this is cool!
-- Qu'est-ce que la propriété intellectuelle? It is thought control.
I was expecting a Roger Dean painting too. I always show Roger Dean books to everyone on visits me. They think I am crazy, but all I want to do is live in a small pod with lots of curves.
It's a college dorm room, man. I wouldn't normally, but it's only done so that my roommate and I have space to move around. Though it's not as though I have space anyway, since my half of the room is completely covered in dirty clothes, computer equipment, and other junk.
But, due to your inquiry, I will be editing it to read "a lofted" instead of "your lofted."
C'mon people. Go look at
http://www.mirrordot.org/.
Unfortunately, you only get the 1st page, but its better than nothing.
Religion is for people afraid of going to hell.
Anyone want to build a lego sundial? Bonus points for making it digital, like the one that was featured on /. a while back!
In case the site goes down:
http://www.atomicfire.net/mirror/
when I built my Lego(TM) server. The solution: Use a pendulum to generate a clock pulse, modulate the length of the pendulum by the Lego Technics slide thingies.
.5 Hz.
Works like a charm at about
I never said in any way, or even implied in any way that Lego wasn't news, or interesting.
/. repeatedly for far more recent items. And if anyone cared to look at the more recent stuff, they would have seen this item, which predates Eric appearing on /. for the first time.
My comment was ENTIRELY to the fact that it wasn't news ANYMORE. And hadn't been for almost 5 years.
It's the next best thing to a re-post. It's a posting about someone that has been on
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
A) I have made the front page before.
B) My comment was basically to point out that this was a glorified re-post essentially. And that it certainly wasn't anything new, at all.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
If you look at his portfolio, he has it sorted by date. Where do you think I got the dates in my post from?
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
that he built 5 years ago. It's always been a working model.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
In Korea, old people are clocks.
Oh, oh, and in Soviet Russia, grandfather clocks you.
Drink strawberry daiquiris and whore around town for the ad revenue?
I fondly remember the Meccano clock kit I built when I was a kid. I even remember the way I stuck the numbers on crookedly on the clock face. The weight was a cylinder filled with old nuts, IIRC.
I have no doubt this guy is an impressive lego builder. His portfolio speaks for itself. However from Eric's website:
I had been pondering on how to make a LEGO clock for some time, but my first obstacle was not actually knowing how pendulum clocks worked. Of course, in this day and age, that's what the Web is for, so I went out on the Internet and learned.
Furthermore, a fellow in the Netherlands already had some web documentation on a LEGO clock he had built. While I ended up using different pieces for my escapement gear and such, his pages were invaluable, and credit should be given.
Personally, I found the above link a lot more interesting since it goes into far more depth as how to build a working lego clock.
... Now that's a story I'd read!
What's in a Sig?
Maybe it's just me, but did anyone else get 403 errors when trying to hit the actual sculpture pages? I hit the main page, but then nothing else worked from there. Now, I'm getting 403 errors for the whole site.
Did somebody tell him the Slashdotters were coming?
I don't moderate anymore. Karma penalty for 90% fair mods? Can I mod that unfair?
"Man injured by 7-foot Lego grandfather clock that he built"
http://tinyurl.com/3t236
Yes, this is very cool. It has been very cool for almost FOUR YEARS now.
About 15 years ago, a bunch of folks (including Danny Hillis [sic] of Connection Machines, I believe) made a "computer" that could play tic-tac-toe using only Tinker Toys; namely, given a tic-tac-toe grid, it could make a good next move. There's was a good writeup in Scientific American, among other places. Inspired by this, my office mate (Brian Totty) and I tried to see what we could do computationally with just standard Legos (no Expert set, since that would have been fairly easy since it contains gears and such). We came up with nothing. We came up with a way of building an AND gate, but without a NOT or a NOR, we couldn't do any useful computation. Perhaps someone more clever than us might come up with a better Lego architecture...