The #Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets, by Clickspring. In this first episode of the Antikythera Mechanism project, I lay out the plan for how I intend to proceed with the reproduction. If you would like to help support the creation of these videos, then head on over to the Clickspring Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/clickspring ________________________________________________________ A very special thank you to Patrons: Mitchell Collins Sinking Valley Woodworks (http://www.sinkingvalleywoodworks.com) Florian Ragwitz Matthew Middleton Daniel Cohen Larry Pardi Sean Kuyper Samuel Irons Dan Keen ________________________________________________________ You can also help me make these videos by purchasing via the following Amazon Affiliate links: Cameras: Panasonic GH5 - https://amzn.to/2rEzhh2 Panasonic X920 - https://amzn.to/2wzxxdT Tools & Shop Products: "Solidworks 2013 Bible": http://amzn.to/2FObS1D "Gears From The Greeks", Derek de Solla Price: http://amzn.to/2pii4ZD "A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World" https://amzn.to/2NoLgIR Dykem 80300 Steel Blue Layout Fluid, Brush-in-Cap (4oz): http://amzn.to/2HGPaJJ Dormer A190202 Jobber Drill Set, 1.0 mm - 6.0 mm x 0.1 mm Size: https://amzn.to/2DR5fdb Dormer A190203 Jobber Drill Set, 6.0 mm - 10.0 mm x 0.1 mm Size: https://amzn.to/2ITfeTa YG1 NC Spotting Drill 8% Cobalt HSS 1/8 to 1/2" 120 Degree 5 Pc Set CNC Machine: https://amzn.to/2G7ylv6 Heavy Duty Arbor Press: http://amzn.to/2G4gog7 Other Videos to Watch: How To Make A Clock In The Home Machine Shop - Part 1 - Making The Frames: https://youtu.be/B8Y146v8HxE Abbreviated Transcript: 0:00:20 In his famous research paper "Gears From The Greeks" historian Derek De Solla Price put forward a stunning theory regarding the device known as the Antikythera Mechanism. That the origins of our modern day engineering achievements, what he called our "recent age of High Technology", could be found in this ancient device. He theorised that the profession of clock and instrument making had acted as a silent "carrier" of a larger, and much older technology tradition. 01:08 Clockmakers, he said, had played a crucial role in the emergence of our modern world, and that the clockmaking tradition itself, was part of a distinguished main line of technology that could be directly traced all of the way back to the Antikythera Mechanism. 01:25 The Ancient Greeks had written the original language of the mechanical engineer, and had left behind a record of it in this incredible device. A calculating machine, that used complex mathematics and precise engineering to model the Ancient Greek understanding of the Cosmos. 02:01 The phase of the moon, retrograde motion of the planets, and even barely observable details like the precession of the lunar orbit, were all modelled according to Ancient Greek astronomical theory. 02:23 Now I should point out that this is not the first time that someone has made a version of the Antikythera Mechanism, in fact far from it. There have been more than a dozen reproductions that I'm aware of, the most notable of which are the two constructed by Michael Wright. 02:58 But there will also be plenty of opportunity to investigate some of the construction, as it would have been undertaken but the original maker more than 2000 years ago. The data for the reproduction will be sourced from the latest research, mostly from the published work of Tony Freeth and his colleagues of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. 03:18 I've used his published gear schematics, and dimensions, together with the raw scan data to generate what I think is a faithful CAD model of the mechanism. 04:04 So while I will cast the raw stock for some of the parts from a homemade bronze, for convenience I'll make the majority of the device from commercially available brass stock. 04:32 These elements will be reflected in the reproduction, but the wood case presents a small problem with regard to this video series. It would obstruct a lot of the mechanism, and prevent you from seeing everything as its being built, and we can't have that. 05:00 At the end of the project, I can either remove the pillars entirely, and replace them with the original wooden structure. References: Gears From The Greeks - Derek de Solla Price: http://amzn.to/2pii4ZD The CT and PTM data that the AMRP have made publicly available can be found here: http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/data Gear schematic can be found in Tony Freeth's 2012 research paper: http://dlib.nyu.edu/awdl/isaw/isaw-pa... Credits: Clips from "The 2000 Year Old Computer" courtesy Images First Ltd. Digital image of the Back Dial of The Antikythera mechanism courtesy Tony Freeth, Images First Ltd Clips of Apollo 11, Shuttle, ISS and SpaceX Dragon courtesy NASA The Antikythera Mechanism Episode 1 - Greeks, Clocks and Rockets, by Clickspring.
The reason for the separate series is that there's a lot that I'd like to discuss about this machine, that requires a large amount of speculation and guesswork. I'd like the main series to be as fact based as I can get it, so when I know I'm clearly deviating into speculation territory, I'm going to hive the topic off into one of these "Fragment" videos. It doesn't mean that I think the speculated idea is necessarily wrong, just that its more open for discussion. I'll share my thinking with you, and hopefully you'll have your own thoughts and share them too.
An ongoing shop tour of the workshop and the various tools I use from day to day. Be sure to let me know if there is anything in particular that you want to see.