Sky Watcher Table Clock

Background: This is the second UGears model that I have assembled and just like the first one (Steam Locomotive U-460), the plywood quality felt very good and hefty and the engineering put into the model was very impressive. I purchased this clock thinking that all the lessons I learned from building the Steam Train would make getting this clock smoothly functioning in a jiffy. I was extremely wrong in this assumption. Assembly: My kit was missing the cardstock for the clock dials, but I contacted UGears's customer service and they mailed me the parts to me with no charge. Very nice! It took me 3 days to assemble since I spent the time to wax and sand for a soft finish on every surface (it is imperative that a 90 dollar kit should look and feel good). The build was very complex but satisfying to engage with. I however do recommend buying your own set of quality round toothpicks as I found the ones provided to be of quite low quality. Also, consider buying own your supply of paste wax as you will need a lot more wax than what the kit provides. The instructions for installing parts were clear, though I had to look online to understand some of what was happening when it came to the moving/calibration steps - the descriptions there were a bit lacking. Fortunately a QR code in the manual pointed me to videos that I found helpful. Tuning: It was daily process of fiddling with the tourbillon to figure out what needed sanding or further lubrication. After assembly without tuning, the clock would run for a minute at a time before seizing - which wasn't up to my standards. Learning how the mechanism works before fiddling with it and sanding down actual geometries is vital for not bricking this expensive puzzle. I did craft some parts myself, such as a cleaner pallet lever with lower friction gems and a longer guard pin essentially get near perfect performance. It runs as advertised now, keeping up power for 2ish hours before stopping. I am now extremely familiar with the Swiss lever escapement mechanism. If I had some final tips - it would be that friction is the enemy, and always know how things work before deciding to make permanent modifications. Conclusion: This is a very nice kit and the plywood is of good quality. Costumer Service was helpful in proving me with missing parts and had a fast response time. The toothpicks and wax provided are insufficient in quality and amount so it would be best to purchase your own. The Clock is unlikely to work well right after assembly and will require to be taken apart for further tuning. Perfecting the clock is time consuming process and requires a passing level of knowledge or mechanical intuition but doing so will result in a clock that runs as advertised. I recommend this to anyone with a passing interest in these sorts of things and the patience to back it up.

This is a really intricate cool project for my husband. He has loved working on it! They have backed up their products when he accidentally broke a piece. He ordered a replacement and it came fairly swiftly from the Ukraine! Very cool! I would definitely buy something else from this company!

This is an amazing, well engineered wooden clock kit. It is NOT for people who don't have patience and a sense of meticulous order. I assembled the kit meticulously, sanding all gears lightly, and waxing with melted wax. Even so, upon assembly, I had to do a fair amount of lubrication (I used sewing machine oil, which I recommend). I spent maybe 15-20 hours assembling the kit and about 5 hours debugging running issues. I had to add an extra roller bearing to the orbital ring, there are two roller bearings, and the are both on one side, due to the force from the lower spring creating side loads on the upper ring to power the clock. I used spare parts (labeled +) which come with the kit. Note : there were only exactly enough tooth picks, no extras, and my kitchen tooth picks were not the same size, so don't mess up a tooth pick cut. Even with all this careful assembly and de-bugging, it does not run consistently. There is a very slight binding at the same point in the orbital cycle of the escapement mechanism, which I have spent hours trying to debug and I cannot solve it. So, take pleasure in the assembly, and marvel at the engineering, and accurate laser cut of the excellent quality plywood, but don't expect it to be a 24 hour clock. Youtube videos say others have gotten it to run 2-3 hours.

5 Start because the kit is well made, easy and fun to assemble. BUT... The instructions are sparse. if this is your first kit it will be hard. Prior experience is useful. The main problem is with the Tourbillon (spelling?). The instructions are not very specific about how to make the clock movement work. The instructions indicate 10m to 'reseat the tourbillon'. The images are not too clear. After multiple days and a total of few hours or trying, I was only able to run the clock works outside of the main assembly, and only in the upright position. Which is a problem for such a mechanism (the tourbillon is designed to rotate on three axis, to counter the effect of gravity on the timing). When it was running it was very successful, nice movement, nice sound... Only added to the frustration of not being able to run the clockworks inside the assembly. My guess, after many hours, is that the friction of some of the key parts is just too great. it does not take much. the friction of wood on wood is high, and it adds up. My recommendation is to make sure you use the sand paper very extensively, use the wax liberally, and put two of the spacers provided where one is called for. All in the effort to reduce the friction. I also think the 'reseating the tourbillon' mean running it with manual assistance for some time. The movement should reduce the rough spots with use, making the whole smoother. And last, maybe enjoy how it looks and lower your expectations as to the function.

Don't get this. Go check out the models from Robotime instead. By far the worst model I've put together. Once assembled, if you get that far bc the pieces are so difficult to put together, it won't keep time, even if it worked. The tourbillion gets started but never keeps going and so it doesnt actually do anything. And, be careful. If you even don't get the lock engaged, the spring will unwind and someone could lose a finger. Wish I hadn't spent the money on this one

Beautiful! Took a bit longer than expected to build but so worth it. Winding the strings I did have some issues so please be carful when assembling it. No issues with leaves breaking but take note they are thin so a light handed approach to building will help.

This is about the fourth UGEARS model I've built, and by far the most expensive and complicated. If you've built their models before, you know the routine: go slow, look at the diagrams _very_ carefully, and if something doesn't make sense or seem to work, take a deep breath and look at the diagram(s) again. They do a good job of illustrating the process. But, as I assembled this model I began getting increasingly concerned about the practicality of trying to make a complicated piece of machinery like this work smoothly when everything is made of wood. Wood isn't the most frictionless material around, and not the most accurate when it comes to critical dimensions. And, even though the kit does consist of very well-cut snap-out plywood parts boards, there are some pretty sketchy concepts involved in assembly, like using toothpicks for axles, and very unreliable methods for trapping the ends of the coiled springs that power the model - very easy to have them snap free under tension and render the model useless. If you need detailed written instructions, this isn't the kit for you; almost every step is presented in diagram form and you need to be able to interpret the visual data into usable assembly information. I did have to contact UGEARS' customer support to replace a missing part (I lost it) and to ask a question about assembly. They responded promptly in both cases. Long story short, got the model built, fiddled with it for a while to make sure parts were moving smoothly, cranked the mainspring as directed, something deep in the interior snapped and fell out, and this model will now serve as fireplace kindling when winter arrives.

This is GREAT. The manufacturer really used high accuracy laser cutting to create the parts. The instructions consists or a few words and 'exploded' diagrams of the parts. You need to be able to see items in 3D to appreciate this but it is VERY EASY to follow!! I do recommend a few things to make assemble easier; (1) an emery board instead of the provided sandpaper - it makes sanding the 'flashing' easier, (2) a single edge razor to cut the small pieces of wood that hold the pieces to the sheets of wood. These small pieces of wood are no thicker than a piece of paper (this is good) but leave a bit of themselves on each piece (flashing). Just sand off lightly with the emery board and done. So far, a really fun project. And even better, it is made in Kyiv Ukraine. Anything to support them. [UPDATE] I did say the images in the instructions were easy to follow, true until I got to the winding of the waxed string that I assume drives the movement. This key part is almost impossible to follow. The images are not really explanatory. A few words would have helped but they are lacking. I gave up at this stage and will keep this as a decoration and not expect it to work

This is the first time I’ve built one of these wooden models, and I gotta say it was super fun. Instructions were pretty clear for the most part and the end result feels like a solid mechanism. Didn’t break anything and got all the strings set up without too much trouble. It looks great, especially when it’s in operation. All that said, don’t expect it to work smoothly without putting in some extra effort to fine tune it. It’s super important to sand all the places that are indicated in the instructions, as well as any gear faces that may pass against the static supports. Especially important to sand the pendulum and escapement gear. The wax included in the kit is tricky to apply properly to the gears, so I got some candles from the dollar store and applied melted wax with a paint brush. That took a bit of time but overall it was enjoyable. I’ve spent a bit of time trying to break the clock in, and so far I’ve been able to get it to go for about 15 minutes before I need to give it a slight nudge. It’s improving quickly with more use though, so I’m feeling optimistic about it breaking the hour mark by the end of the week. Edit: 1 day later and it’s going for more than an hour now at a time now. Didn’t do anything except keep nudging it along to break in the mechanisms. I’d gladly build more of these models if I had the space for it!

Todo bien. No es difícil de hacer y pasas un rato entretenido. La pena es que el reloj no funcione las 24 horas, si fuese así se acabarían desgastando las piezas

初めは長く動かなかったけど、しっかりメンテナンスしてら動くようになりました。 付属の蜜蝋が塗りにくくて塗りやすい部分しか塗らなかったら15秒ぐらいで止まっでしまうので、別で蜜蝋クリームを購入して塗り始めましたがなかなか塗るのに手こずりました。 その時、歯車という名前で閃きました。 歯車というぐらいなのだから歯ブラシを使用してガシガシ塗り込んだ所、止まらなくなりました。横回転させる部分の軸受け回転部と下部構造の溝の深い歯車にしっかりと塗り込んだ所、現時点で5分以上止まらなくなりました。（稼働時間確認中） 潤滑は大切です。

Heel mooi. Wel voorzichtig ermee zijn. Ben er druk mee. Fijne tijdsbesteding. Hoge kwaliteit en duidelijke omschrijving. Prima product.

Great kit. Went together well. The balloon was fiddly, but all in all, great fun. And it all worked! The balloon rises, then falls on the hour. It kept stopping and eventually traced it to one of the mounting screws that wasn't fully screwed in, so it twisted the whole clock slightly. Found that 2kg of sand totally filled the weight bag. (dried it well before weighing). The minute indicator has to be turned about 7 minutes cw before the ratchet kicks it when adjusting. The pendulum "weights" could do with finer adjustments to achieve more accurate time keeping, but I'm just happy it all works 😁