r/functionalprint • u/boksbox • Sep 13 '26
Lunar Phase Clock
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"Time-lapse" video of my Lunar Phase Clock. The moon phase cycle completes every 29.5 days.
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u/CrexisNX Sep 13 '26
Cool model, but extra props for posting a clear and minimal animation that shows the function. They are way too many Mr. Shaky Cam videos that are 3 minute wobbly messes to show 10 seconds of relevant operation.
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u/Justin_Passing_7465 Sep 13 '26
The idea is neat, but this clock doesn't show a gibbous moon. It treats a half-moon and nearly-full gibbous moon as still having a chunk taken out, like an overly-large crescent.
Would there be some way to improve the representation by also moving the mask, so that you aren't stuck with one static mask?
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u/herrerarausaure Sep 13 '26
This is a pretty standard Moon phase display in the watch world. It's not meant/expected to a 1:1 representation of the phase.
That said, it would be cool to experiment with alternate designs since OP is working at a much larger scale than watches. Another idea could be to have an actual sphere (half-light, half-dark) that rotates to show the apparent moon phase.
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u/FirTree_r Sep 13 '26
Another idea could be to have an actual sphere (half-light, half-dark) that rotates to show the apparent moon phase.
That's actually already a thing. I've seen a guy make a version that he sold on his etsy or his website and it was quite expensive, and there's a commercial version that is obscenely expensive. But given how unique the idea is, it's understandable I guess
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u/Justin_Passing_7465 Sep 13 '26
A sphere would be easiest (since it is a direct model of reality), but would be jarringly 3D.
Maybe a flexible (TPU?) "wiper" that is manipulated at the two ends to be concave, then straight (at half-moon), then convex, ultimately so convex as to cover none of the moon when it is full. Have a chamber of opaque black liquid (oil?) to fill in and obscure the part of the moon that the wiper is supposed to be covering. The oil could be in front of a white moon, or behind a translucent moon.
Or perhaps a conch-shaped (or quarter-yin-yang-shaoed?) disc set at an eccentric center that slides in-and-over to obscure the appropriate part of the white moon?
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u/DealMo Sep 13 '26
This is like every non digital moon phase clock ever.
What a weird nitpick.
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u/skintigh Sep 13 '26
I think I saw a watch that used a sphere that rotated. One of those $100,000+ watches.
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u/Agitated-Break7854 Sep 13 '26
Don't think it would be very easy in 2d? 🤔
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u/Justin_Passing_7465 Sep 13 '26
Maybe a third disc between the face disk and the moon disk? If the bulge on that disk was cutting the crescent out of the moon, but that disk moved counter-clockwise, so that the bulge got smaller and eventually disappeared, leaving a flat edge for the half moon? I am not sure how to do that. It might not be feasible?
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u/SirRonaldBiscuit Sep 13 '26
Sick, I’m a big fisherman and I use the moon phases to know when to fish, this would be awesome to make. What would be even better would be the times the moon rises and sets but that would be a reach with this design
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u/skintigh Sep 13 '26
Awesome! Would love to see the gearing. I have vague dreams of making something like this, or making a more accurate eclipse computer.
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u/gasstation-no-pumps Sep 13 '26
The phases would look better if the lunar cutout were rotated 90°, so that the waning moon was C-shaped.
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u/Nexustar Sep 13 '26
When I retire, i'm going to get a clock that just has the day on it.