Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #01771



To: sathe*_dilip*@bah.com
From: Bruce Robinson Bruce_Robinson@bc.sympatico.ca
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 18:37:46 -0800
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: small parts....


Sathe Dilip wrote (in part):

> ... However this ratio may need correction ...

I bow to superior knowledge. My background is mechanical.

By actual count:
Highest ratio = 1,080,000:1 (ten hour timer).
Lowest ratio = 1000:1 (drum humidifier).

Estimated by pitch diameter (I'm not going to count them all!)
For the majority, ratios from 8000:1 up to 40,000:1

So your value is bang in the middle. The moral is, you never know until
you pop them apart -- it depends on the motors and what they're driving.
Perhaps more useful than the total ratio is the fact that gear pairs
seem to fall in the 4:1 up to 6:1 ratio.

By the way, I've also taken apart several defunct "travel alarms" --
analog, not digital. They all have very light duty plastic gears, which
are typically arranged in strange and complicated configurations.
Haven't found any of these that I could do anything useful with.

Regards,

Bruce

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