The plan was to get the perpetual calendar mechanism working before I started carving and finishing the various pieces. However as I started to test things I realized that I can’t get the mechanism working unless I balance the wheels.
The reason is that there are two clicks that hold those wheels in place while the rest of the mechanism moves around throughout the day. If the wheels aren’t balanced the clicks need to be stronger (heavier) to keep the wheels from moving on their own. And if the clicks are heavier entirely too much force is required to move the wheels forward at the end of the day.
Before I could balance the wheels I needed to sculpt them to their final shape. Then was just a matter of spinning them to see what side was heavy, and carving away metal on the back (unseen) side until they were balanced. I included a photo of the back of the calendar wheel showing the area that I carved away.
Now that these three parts are balanced there barely needs to be any weight behind the clicks to keep everything in place. At the end of each day the mechanism can be bumped forward one tooth with very little effort. Nice and smooth:)
