How big is your clock?

[FlipNascar]

That's right, time to get your clocks out. Clocks are getting a lot of attention lately.

I challenge you to build a clock. And show it off to the world. It can tell whatever time you wish. If you want to invent a time, then so be it. Personally some of my favourite times are: beer o' clock, wheelie time, and 06:13.

Rules

Stock Parts only. Informational and visual mods are fine. Do what you want, so long as it's stock parts. However, if you must use part mods, then so be it. However, I reserve the right to poke fun at you for it. I will however acquiesce and add you to the board of Cheaters.

Alt+f12 is encouraged.

Post pics, videos, and craft files. But if you do use any of these hacks, make sure to let us know so that if we try your clock... We know that we need to cheat the world out of gravity. Although I can't see how hacking gravity will help make a clock, but this is Kerbal so I look forward to retracting that statement.

/Rules

Tools that might help with your construction: No Offset Limits, Editor Extensions, Part Angle Display.

Categories

A timeless object of beauty

It ticks, and it tocks, and it ticks but does it tock for long? Who cares, "It works!"

Overcomplicated.

CPU Friendly - Sub 100 parts!

Clocks? Pfft, I made a Rube Goldberg machine instead of a clock.

If you can't find a category, feel free to create your own category and I will gladly add it.

Scoring

Did you build a clock? If yes +1

Does it look like a clock? If yes +1 if no +2

Did you use part mods? If yes you are only entitled to: n*42/1,000,000,000. Where n = part count.

Again, feel free to add your own scoring system with your clock. However, you must be able to validate it with pictures or an epic explanation. The only scoring rule is that it cannot award more than +2 points, and everybody can retroactively tally up their scores if they so wish. Scores will not be kept track off by me. I don't have time for that because I don't have a clock!

The idea is not so much to score points. Build a clock, and have fun doing it. Because there's one thing KSP needs. More clocks.

The only limit is your imagination.

Possible goals:

An actually working device that can do "time" - a stopwatch will suffice.

Stretch goal - working digital clock

Wrist watch attached to a giant hand

A water clock

An egg timer

A sandtimer (does not have to use sand)

Kerboldial?

A jet powered piston engine that ignites a rocket engine that kicks a SRB over to tell you that it's SRB's Fallen over time.

Participants

Stock

StanK - With a self-transporting sundial

Leibniz - With four unique sundial designs adjusted for different latitudes

FlipNascar - With a Grandfather Clock that ticks and tocks, or does it?

ExaltedToast - Decided that Eve would be the clockface with his sneaky use of orbital mechanics and the map view.

Cheaty McCheaters

Edited October 4, 2015 by FlipNascar
Leaderboard

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Interesting! I will try this.

[smjjames]

Is KJR okay? Might be neccesary for really big stuff.

Also, does anybody know of a way to make things rotate using stock parts, and I don't mean SAS? SQUAD apparently borked the one method that works, which was using the landing gears.

Edited September 17, 2015 by smjjames

[Azimech]

No they didn't.

[smjjames]

Didn't they do something with the landing gears?

Anyways, I have an idea for one which doesn't require rotation.

[FlipNascar]

Is KJR okay? Might be neccesary for really big stuff.

Also, does anybody know of a way to make things rotate using stock parts, and I don't mean SAS? SQUAD apparently borked the one method that works, which was using the landing gears.

If you use KJR, then it'll count as a Cheaty McCheater entry.

Stock bearings are possible - you can make them out of almost anything, but the small landing gear (the ones without suspension) are good for that sort of thing. Have a poke around KerbalX or The Spacecraft Exchange you can see plenty of craft that use them, and also a lot of different ways in which they are built.

Edited September 18, 2015 by FlipNascar

[smjjames]

If you use KJR, then it'll count as a Cheaty McCheater entry.

Stock bearings are possible - you can make them out of almost anything, but the small landing gear (the ones without suspension) are good for that sort of thing. Have a poke around KerbalX or The Spacecraft Exchange you can see plenty of craft that use them, and also a lot of different ways in which they are built.

Okay fine. I decided not to use it anyway.

How about Hangar Extender? All it does is give you more room, unless you consider that cheating. I do have exception detector and GCmonitor on (which don't actually do anything ingame), and I put KER (I thought maybe some part of it would be useful for timekeeping), MechJeb (for the timewarp function, but probably not actually neccesary), StockBugfixes (the symmetry fix mainly), and hyperedit (in case I wanted to move the clock for whatever reason).

Also, I had started making a sundial, but then realized I completely forgot that Kerbin has 6 hour days.

[FlipNascar]

Okay fine. I decided not to use it anyway.

How about Hangar Extender? All it does is give you more room, unless you consider that cheating. I do have exception detector and GCmonitor on (which don't actually do anything ingame), and I put KER (I thought maybe some part of it would be useful for timekeeping), MechJeb (for the timewarp function, but probably not actually neccesary), StockBugfixes (the symmetry fix mainly), and hyperedit (in case I wanted to move the clock for whatever reason).

Also, I had started making a sundial, but then realized I completely forgot that Kerbin has 6 hour days.

To clarify you can do and use whatever you like to help build your clock. The only caveat, physical parts used to construct the clock must be stock parts, so that anybody can load and use your clock, or interpretation of a time keeping, or time telling device. You can use as many of the stability enhancers as you like in place of struts etc. If you use KJR, you just need to validate that it works on an install that doesn't have KJR.

Hangar Extender - no probs. Hyperedit. No probs. Any other tool, no probs. Heck, if you want to use FAR so you can see how your clock would behave at Mach 5 - go for it. If you want to hack gravity or power your clock by whack-a-kerbal, go for it.

As for the 6 hour days, don't forget the rules are very liberal. You can invent your own units of time. It's supposed to be very open and just to see what comes about. If you want to make a clock that only tells you when it's Booster o' Clock. So be it. If it works and really does tell me when it's Booster o' Clock ie the big hand points to "Booster" and the little hand points to "o' Clock" (or vice-versa) then you have done well.

No rules define where your clock must be.

Heck a valid entry would be a rock (ie a Class A asteroid) attached to something with the explanation: "This device tells you whether it is Night Time or Day Time. If there is shadow visible it is day time. If you cannot see the 'rock' or its shadow it is night time or there is zero visibility". Basic, but it does tell me the time, day time or night time.... You can make and enter as many clocks as you like. You can also mix n match to combine elements of time devices you like together. I'd love to see a cuckoo sun dial...

Sorry for the wall of text, but hopefully that'll set you off in some ludicrous direction. In the meantime, I shall continue to bang my head against the wall while I try and build a grandfather clock...

[Starwhip]

Yes, this I will do.

Loading up KSP now.

EDIT:

Nice, first thing I tried to do when I loaded my stock save is use WASDEditorCamera controls. XD

[FlipNascar]

As is customary, I am of course busy trying to create my own entry. As proof that it is very much a WIP.

[Azimech]

I've spent a few minutes on designing such a thing ... couldn't work it out right now.

But I can promote the work of KHTRE from last year, he used the welding mod, and the result is pretty impressive:

[erasmusguy]

How far Ive got so far. Its pretty stable and doesnt skip. Each revolution takes 3 seconds. Now to make a version that uses jets and doesnt need clamps.....and is a clock.

Edited September 19, 2015 by erasmusguy

[StanK]

To keep it basic, I thought to go for a sundial. To keep it complex, I thought that a pole would be the best place so it could last for the full day. Bill Brought three rovers, a '3', a '6', and one to put parts at 1, 2, 4, and 5.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Lessons learnt:

- Horizontal solar panels are not a good idea on the poles.

- Ditched decouplers tend to explode on the polar surface. They do not make good clock markers.

- Kerbol seems to shine from a single point, so it would need to be exactly on the pole, if this plan is at all possible.

EDIT: Tests verify it should be possible on the exact north pole. Weird things happen there though, gravity is not what it used to.

Edited September 20, 2015 by StanK

[FlipNascar]

To keep it basic, I thought to go for a sundial. To keep it complex, I thought that a pole would be the best place so it could last for the full day. Bill Brought three rovers, a '3', a '6', and one to put parts at 1, 2, 4, and 5.

http://imgur.com/a/yJvt5

Lessons learnt:

- Horizontal solar panels are not a good idea on the poles.

- Ditched decouplers tend to explode on the polar surface. They do not make good clock markers.

- Kerbol seems to shine from a single point, so it would need to be exactly on the pole, if this plan is at all possible.

EDIT: Tests verify it should be possible on the exact north pole. Weird things happen there though, gravity is not what it used to.

Excellent stuff! Congratulations on showing off your clock. I also love the fact that you actually flew it there, I presume you'll be landing one of these on every planet in the Kerbol System??

[StanK]

...I presume you'll be landing one of these on every planet in the Kerbol System??

I would, but who has the time?

Also, I updated the imgur album in the previous post. Within a kilometer from the exact pole the shadow does go a full circle, success!

[FlipNascar]

That's sweet! Good to know that they work then. I have been ignoring mine for the last few days, added some more wheels and stuff, and now I'm all jammed all the time. So back to the drawing board...

[FlipNascar]

Made some progress. It seems that we are one step closer to a KSP Grandfather clock that works. If we ignore a few, mildly catastrophic design flaws. Namely the "hand" goes backwards and gets blocked by clock structure... If I were to build another one, I probably wouldn't build it this way... Oh well, in way too deep now.

Had to break it into two parts because the online .mov -> gif converter I use can't handle more (open to suggestions on sites to use for that too!) These two gifs represent c. 10 seconds of video footage.

[wx7]

I... misread that title.

I can feel the shame already.

Edited September 25, 2015 by wx7
misread the title, had to remove stuff

[FungusForge]

I... misread that title.

I can feel the shame already.

Its ok. Its just like misreading Hardcore Pawn. (And probably just as intentional)

[Leibniz]

@FlipNascar That grandfather clock is already amazing.

Having no such skills myself I have made 4 attempts to build a sundial that is both attractive and easy to read, and have learnt some things about real sundials from Wikipedia along the way.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Craft files

I had another idea to mark the hours with a constellation of satellites that fly over KSC within 100km draw distance. Unfortunately all my designs will drift through the year as the sun moves against the fixed stars. Any suggestions?

[FlipNascar]

Dude, those are epic! I love that even something "as simple" as a sundial can be so amazing. I love the way your Mk I looks and how it delineates actual time. Overall, I am awed by your aesthetics. So simple, so industrial yet so pleasantly beautiful that I almost want to weep.

Congratulations Leibniz, you have kludged four pretty sweet epic looking clocks. I love the way the gifs also give a timelapse feeling. How did you film them - warp speed or screenshots at set intervals?

As to your orbital clock, not a clue. If it was mechanical kludgery, yes. Space, I'm total noob at space.

[GoSlash27]

liebniz,

You could orbit 2 sats over Kerbin to run as backwards clock hands. One would have an orbital period of 3 hours (1,577,000m), while the other would have an orbital period of 51m 25.7s (347,900m)

You could then set them in a constellation of 6 geosynchronous sats (2,869,000m) and voila! A giant celestial clock!

The geosynchronous sats would be the clock face. The slow hand would make 1 sweep per day (hour hand) and the fast hand would make 6 sweeps per day (minute hand).

Of course, I'm way too lazy to actually do this

Best,

-Slashy

Edited September 26, 2015 by GoSlash27

[Sharkman Briton]

I read that as 'how big is your ****?'

[FlipNascar]

Finally finished the horrid aberration of a clock that I thought was a good idea... Still at least I completed my own challenge.

Because it might not be the first KSP clock. But it's certainly a waste of time. And now you can have it. And do nothing but curse it.

The jets' exhaust spin the cogs. The two cogs that are driven by the jets are intertwined so that they stay in sync. On their shafts is a single extra tooth that will grab and drag the pendulum to simulate it. Off of one of the main drive cogs it drives a smaller shaft to transfer the motion to the front of the clock, where we then drive yet another cog that is our clock's hand. Through a little No Offset Limits magic we have a clock hand that's low in part count and complexity. Because there's already enough that can go wrong and jam. Something like 8 possible points of contention for the cogs to get stuck and no longer mesh... Peak cogs?

To operate: Stage once.

Full power.

Watch and wait for it to get stuck.

To unstick try "a" and "d" keys to wiggle the wheels and hopefully dislodge the stuck mesh collider.

If that fails, cycle the gear. There are landing gear legs that can help unfreeze the pendulum.

If that fails. Time is up, and thus you should restart. Or try cutting the throttle and letting the engines spool down. Then do some wiggles. And try again.

I'd like to have fixed those sticking niggles, but it's impossible (for me at least) to find the root cause of them... It's just going to stick, and there's no set time between sticking. There are no fewer than I think 8 separate cogs in the mechanism ranging from one tooth to I think 20 that are reliant on eachother to work correctly.

Pull it apart and cry at my poor engineering. Or, improve it and make a better one! I dare you. And if you do build you own... Why not enter it into the clock building challenge?

Download from KerbalX

In the spirit of the challenge:

Does it look like a clock: Yes!

Does it tick and tock? Yes!

Does it tell the time? Eh, not really. It tells you when it's "time" to unstick it... Ah well.

It also only has one working hand. I just cannot see how to add even more complexity to the mechanism and hope to have it work. Laziness or realistic. I don't know.

[Yakky]

My entry for simplest clock: Go outside and use the VAB as a sundial. Define 1:00 to be when the shadow extends all the way to the western mountains (sunrise). When the shadow extends to the Mk 1 Pod Memorial on the west side, it's approximately 2:00. When it extends to the closest VAB tank on the east side of the VAB, it's approximately 3:00. And when it extends all the way to the water (sunset), it's approximately 4:00.

(You can add a constant offset to get the time zone of your choice. I leave it as an exercise to calculate the proper offset to match official KSC time.)

This clock has zero parts and is guaranteed to never speed up or slow down. Because it has no parts, I have no assembly photos or craft files to submit.

A similar but slightly flawed zero-part clock can also be built using the flagpole. Use the horizons and the outer edges of the paving circle around it as the hour markers, although at times near sunrise the VAB shadow will consume the flagpole shadow.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Yakky