Introduction to the Lego Astronomical Clock

For the past several years, I have been designing and building a mechanical Astronomical Clock made out of Lego parts. In 2014, the clock won First Place and the People's Choice Award at the craft competition at the National Convention of the NAWCC (National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I'm now embarking on a series of posts that will describe the Lego clock features and design principles, as well as specialized mechanisms and design choices, all in great detail.

In 2014, the Lego clock (called JS2, my second clock) was accurate to 1 minute per day and had concentric minute and hour hands, a seconds pendulum, and displays for mean day, day of week, lunar phase, earth orbit, and tropical month. Since then it has been rebuilt and, today, JS3 is also an Equation Clock with more astronomical complications: simple tide clock (lunar day), sidereal day, equation of time (EoT), and improved indicators for solstice and equinox, perihelion, and aphelion.  It is still completely mechanical, using no electricity or motors.

What set this Lego clock apart in the NAWCC craft competition is that all the other clocks were one-of-a-kind masterpieces made out of glass, wood, and brass. This Lego clock is intentionally not one-of-a-kind. It was designed using available Lego parts as a medium to be affordable, easily copied, and improved. I hope this Lego clock will be used as a hands-on project to teach and inspire the next generation of innovators and makers and to teach STEAM topics (STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, Math + Arts/Humanities).

For details on the NAWCC 2014 Craft Competition, click here.