Quarterjack

[Penri]

I'm making progress in improving the Quarterjack's bell ringing mechanism. I've fixed lengths of brass bar at right angles to each of his arms to act as bell cranks, these then pass through the slots in the louvres and be coupled to the solenoids in some fashion. The mechanism (arms and brass bar) pivot on the screws in the body of the Quarterjack as before.

I've turned the solenoids around to make coupling to the brass bars easier.

When I've finished the couplings, the action of the solenoid firing with cause the hammers to move towards the bells, is this the way the software timing expects them, if not can you deal with it Terry?


Hwyl

Penri

[TerryJC]

Penri,

I can't remember exactly which way round the software currently works, but looking in the User Manual, it looks as if activating the solenoid causes to crank to move downwards, which I think makes the arm move away from the bell. The chime is then played as the hammer drops (but doesn't touch the bell). If you make sure that the hardware is available on Monday afternoon we can see if any changes are needed.

When we originally designed the system, we got the crank upside down and I had to change the software to accommodate the change.

The short answer to your question is therefore yes.

[Penri]

The Quarterjack is now complete, repainted and ready for reinstallation.
If the weather is suitable will we be able to check him out with your software on Tuesday 4th Terry?

[TerryJC]

Certainly. The current forecast is for clouds, but no rain.

[Penri]

Excellent, see you there.

[TerryJC]

The upgraded Quarterjack was refitted this morning and the system observed to be operating normally. I replaced the battery for the Real Time Clock because the old one was reading a bit low.

The system has now been powered down. When it is restarted for the season, the electro-mechanical timer will need to be set to the current time.