D. I. Y. Watch Timing Machine.

[LittleWatchShop]

6 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

did you notice how this is 3-D printed? 

I did!

[Gramham]

LM386 Data Sheet.  Seems there's no problem feeding it 5VDC



Source:  www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm386.pdf

[xyzzy]

I've tried powering it direct from USB.  Worked ok.  

[Kalvin]

Hi matabog, Great work on the mic holder.

You still around?

Your files appear to be newer version then my 2017 and I can not open them.    Could you save them as a "Parasolid" (*.x_t)  format?  From what I read, I should be able to open them in that format.

 

best regards, Kalvin

[Kalvin]

I had to re CAD most of this in SW 2017, but here is my version of matabog's mic holder.

 

I'm using a single transistor on the mic input and with all the info I gathered off this thread it is working very nice.  Working with Watch-O-Scope, TG (timegrapher) and PCTM.  

The EqualizerAPO64-1.3  with Peace makes a big difference.   The Virtual audio cable as stated earlier ads a voice to announce it is a demo.  The work around to this is to use the Virtual Audio Cable Lite. 

 

All the best and thank you to the software authors and those that contributed to this thread. 

 

 

 

 

 

[dannyf]

On 8/6/2021 at 2:09 PM, JohnR725 said:

The reason why comment is you can get 32-bit controller boards that are really small small displays it should then be possible to build a smaller timing machine running on software and have all the nice features without having to have an entire PC or laptop.

I'm actually doing that now. I have written the digital back-end (on a PIC24f as a test bed, uart output) and am awaiting my analog front end - planning on a TDA2822m with modified gain setting. 

I think in the end, this should be able to run on a ATtiny85 (8pdip), using a pwm's duty cycle as a way to output the timing error.

[LittleWatchShop]

3 hours ago, dannyf said:

planning on a TDA2822m

How are you connecting the Piezo to the input?

[dannyf]

51 minutes ago, LittleWatchShop said:

How are you connecting the Piezo to the input?

thinking about using a follower. maybe a jfet/npn/2n7002... nothing fancy.

[MyBench]

I saw Kalvin's version, and now I want to build one...  I'll reread the entire thread before asking any silly questions (!!).

[FLima]

Hello All,

Let introduce my self. My name is Frank Lima, born in Brazil but living in the US for the last 33 years. I did technical High school in electronics, graduated BS in Electrical engineering and later MBA. Although I currently work as director of sales for LATAM for broadcast products, my real passion, and hobby, is electronics. I love building stuff and repairing electronics. Although I work with the latest digital technologies, I really like analog circuits. My project during the pandemic was to build a vacuum tube amp for my vintage 1970’s Technics turntable. 

I also have a passion for mechanical watches. I remember when I was a kid I took apart my dad’s Westclox alarm clock and put it back together. And although I had some parts leftover, the clock did work. Don’t ask me how My watchmaking hobby was dormant for many decades until I started doing it again in 2017 when I restored my late father’s Seiko 5 watch. My father bough this watch in 1969 and he wore it most of this life so it had a sentimental value to me. I have a video of this restoration on YouTube but I’m embarrassed to show it because I was so crude in watchmaking back then. I didn’t even know that you needed timegraphers to check watches. I am restoring this watch again but now I have the knowledge and tools to do it right this time.

I joined this Watch Repair Talk site in 2018 but have not being active in it. In 2020 I discover this amazing software Watch-O-Scope and started using it but, like everybody else, I needed a mic stand so I built my own based on ideas I found on the internet. I wish I had found this forum back then so I wouldn’t have to "re-invent the wheel". Here’s a link to it: https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/simple-and-effective-homemade-microphone-stand-for-watch-timing-apps-timegrapher.5135031/

I found this forum a few days ago when I searched Google for timegrapher mic stand files for 3D printer, and I quickly realized it was a forum for how Watch-O-Scope started so I immediately jumped to the first page and read all 53 pages (10 years worth of information) in 2 days. It was rewarding to me to learn how this wonderful project came together. I was amazed with the level of collaboration of everybody pitching in ideas to improve it, building different types of pre-amps, filters, etc. Doing their own tests. I’ve learned a great deal on the history of timegraphers, piezos, bimorf, etc. I even felt honored that my mic stand built was mentioned on page 30. 

For my version of the mic stand I tested many piezos with deferent diameters and I found the best combination was a 9mm piezo with a single 1 transistor pre-amp. Also I mounted the piezo mic on a rubber band which helps dumping vibrations (I had not seen anybody using this approach yet back then). This combination plus the excellent filters built-in into the WOS, gave me very good and reliable mic stand which gives a strong watch signal with almost no background interference. Please see this test I did having background music and talking while checking a wrist watch with WOS. BTW, since I don’t have a windows PC, I’ve been using WOS on a MAC with WINE, VM or Boot Camp and it works fine,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avw0my2htmU

I want to improve my mic stand and I would like you opinion, suggestions, criticism, etc on my version of the mic stand.

Also, I’m looking 3D printer files to make a 6 position articulated stand. Does anybody has one?

Regards,

Frank

(PS: Sorry for the lengthy post)

[matabog]

@FLima

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3002-d-i-y-watch-timing-machine/?do=findComment&comment=171062

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3002-d-i-y-watch-timing-machine/?do=findComment&comment=171068

 

[praezis]

2 hours ago, FLima said:

For my version of the mic stand I tested many piezos with deferent diameters and I found the best combination was a 9mm piezo with a single 1 transistor pre-amp. Also I mounted the piezo mic on a rubber band which helps dumping vibrations (I had not seen anybody using this approach yet back then).

Congratulation to your discovery  
I went exactly the same route more than 10 years ago.

My microphone Z1 is very insensitive to ambient noise, too. However using a different approach than rubber bands - so you are probably right.

Frank

[FLima]

20 hours ago, matabog said:

@FLima

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3002-d-i-y-watch-timing-machine/?do=findComment&comment=171062

https://www.watchrepairtalk.com/topic/3002-d-i-y-watch-timing-machine/?do=findComment&comment=171068

 

Thank you Matabog,

I've seen this 3D prints and I'm already in process to build them. Great work by the way. 

Perhaps I was not clear in my question. What I asked was if there is 3D print for a 6 position articulated base to where the mic stand would be mounted too.

Thanks

18 hours ago, praezis said:

My microphone Z1 is very insensitive to ambient noise, too. However using a different approach than rubber bands - so you are probably right.

Thank you Frank.

I'm glad I found this great forum 

@svorkoetter

Hi Stefan,

We exchanged e-mails back in 2020 and I had the opportunity to congratulated you for your excelente work in developing this software, but I wanted to publicly congratulate you again for this amazing software which has helped a lot of hobbyst watchmakers like me. It's simple, easy to use and has everything we need for our work and at a very affordable price. A big applause to you.