I have written a free book about Lego clocks!

[Davidz90]

Link to the book: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tKEfn04DPgdjs7aB_9l1JUw8vH_4c711/view?usp=sharing

After 10+ years of building Lego clocks, I decided to collect all my knowledge on the subject into a book (ok, maybe not all but most of the simpler stuff :P). 

 

The book contains many illustrations, renders and building instructions. Starting from very simple ones:

2

8

through more advanced mechanisms with detailed step by step explanations how they work:

6

There is also a large chapter about physics of clocks:

5

3

 

Book ends with extensive literature section, there are also numerous links to Youtube videos throughout so that all discussed mechanisms can be seen in motion.

 

I hope that some people will find this interesting and useful :)

 

 

[Toastie]

I find this extremely useful

Congratulations David!

What a nice book and read - chapter 2 is my absolute favorite!!! And of course the reference section in chapter 7 - and of course everything else.

But 2.15 is a blast. Do you mind, if I take some of your text and illustrations for my Introduction to Thermodynamics class(es)? And for discussion sections? With full reference to your name, book address (will that be sort of permanent or are you planning on taking it further?), and affiliation as found in the Afterword section?

(I'm at the University of Wuppertal, where I am playing the head of the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry group)

Wow, this is a true masterpiece: Very (!) nicely organized, helpful examples and illustrations ...

And then the wonderful theoretical discussion culminates in an LEGO instruction ... so nice.

Thank you very much for this truly marvelous publication!

With very best regards,
Thorsten

Edited July 30, 2024 by Toastie

[lcvisser]

Amazing! Absolutely interesting and appreciated! 

[Davidz90]

9 minutes ago, Toastie said:

But 2.15 is a blast. Do you mind, if I take some of your text and illustrations for my Introduction to Thermodynamics class(es)? And for discussion sections? With full reference to your name, book address (will that be sort of permanent or are you planning on taking it further?), and affiliation as found in the Afterword section?

Wow, thank You very much! Of course you can use it! I plan to expand the section 2.15 in future revisions.

(Greetings from Bydgoszcz University of Science and Technology, Poland; Institute of Mathematics and Physics)

7 minutes ago, lcvisser said:

Amazing! Absolutely interesting and appreciated! 

Thanks!

[Lipko]

I will definitely look into this. I want tó build a clocks for some time but it's over my head, so I will probably steal many ideas.

Thank you!

Edit: at first glance I thought it's a master's thesis, but at a second glance I thought it's much bigger work, at third glance it looks like a hobby book after all, not far from being print ready. Maybe you should contact No Starch Press. So I am totally amazed.

Edited July 30, 2024 by Lipko

[Toastie]

17 minutes ago, Lipko said:

Maybe you should contact No Starch Press. So I am totally amazed.

This! ...

... is exactly what I meant with "planning on taking it further". I believe David was interpreting my phrase as "more additions to this section", but I was just thinking about publishing in print, as a real book, at some time.

I know this is totally old school, but when I look at my library of such "real LEGO related books", and the way I "work" with these - yeah, it does "work" (for me, at least) as a true, never-fading reference library. Because these books exist in my real universe. Reverting to online or copied PDFs, I stored ... somewhere ... on my computer ... they are ... mostly fading away, are sort of gone. Oh, digging them out again, when attempting to clean up my computer, is always, well, nice - and not so nice, as I feel bad about forgetting them ...

Simply looking at my physical book library, they are >there<. And I may just grab one for fun. And learn ...

Well, I am old. And I bet others have a totally different take on this. Which is totally fine with me!

All the best,
Thorsten

[Davidz90]

2 minutes ago, Toastie said:

... is exactly what I meant with "planning on taking it further". I believe David was interpreting my phrase as "more additions to this section", but I was just thinking about publishing in print, as a real book, at some time.

I have considered that, but all the extra work with cooperating with editors etc. didn't seem worth it. I think that as a free online book, it will have more readers (might be wrong about this).

That being said, having a physical, printed book sure feels better. However, can I publish something that is already posted online for free? If so, I may give it a try after some more revisions. Any ideas what to add are appreciated.

40 minutes ago, Lipko said:

I will definitely look into this. I want tó build a clocks for some time but it's over my head, so I will probably steal many ideas.

Thank you!

I'm really happy to get all the positive feedback. Thanks!

[Toastie]

7 minutes ago, Davidz90 said:

However, can I publish something that is already posted online for free?

Of course, you can! This is your work. This is not a publication to be turned into a patent, that would be tough, of course. But as a book? Hey, this is >your< very own work!

Just get in touch with the publisher, @Lipko was suggesting. Figure out what the odds are and then do it. It really is worth it, as far as I am concerned.

Best,
Thorsten

[Davidz90]

11 minutes ago, Toastie said:

Of course, you can! This is your work. This is not a publication to be turned into a patent, that would be tough, of course. But as a book? Hey, this is >your< very own work!

Okay, thanks for the information! I'll look into it.

[Jurss]

Thank You for Your effort!

This is not only about clocks, this is much more.

[Lipko]

One small thing I am missing (sorry if it's there, only run through the document): spring as power source. So a simple question: are Lego windup motors any good for a power source? I'm only looking fur stuff that can run for about half an hour.

[glowytheglowbug]

Awesomee! Will be reading it thanks! :D

[Davidz90]

55 minutes ago, Jurss said:

Thank You for Your effort!

This is not only about clocks, this is much more.

 

29 minutes ago, glowytheglowbug said:

Awesomee! Will be reading it thanks! :D

Thanks!

34 minutes ago, Lipko said:

One small thing I am missing (sorry if it's there, only run through the document): spring as power source. So a simple question: are Lego windup motors any good for a power source? I'm only looking fur stuff that can run for about half an hour.

For stuff that runs less than an hour - sure, windup motor is perfectly fine (although for half an hour, 2 or 3 may be needed). Some of the small examples are powered by it but you are right, discussion of spring power in general is missing.

So-called anniversary clocks can run for over a year on one rewind of a sprign, which is mind-boggling.

 

[idlemarvel]

If you want to have your work printed I can recommend Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing). All you need is a PDF but you may need to tinker with it to fit in the printed area of the page size you choose. It's free to you and you can price it just to cover their printing and marketing costs or you can add a margin for yourself. They print on demand so no wasted print copies. You can make it available worldwide except for Australia and Japan for some reason. I  have published a couple of books this way including one about Lego. You just need to invest a few hours in learning printers terminology (gutters, bleeds, etc!) and that's it.

Edited July 31, 2024 by idlemarvel
spelling

[Axadder]

Extremely interesting!

Congratulations for the good work.

[Davidz90]

9 minutes ago, idlemarvel said:

If you want to have your work printed I can recommend Amazon (Kindle Digital Publishing).

Huh, that's really interesting. Thank you very much for the info! Could you post some links to your books?

6 minutes ago, Axadder said:

Extremely interesting!

Congratulations for the good work.

Thanks!

[JopieK]

Very nice! I'll send it to my wife who is more into math and technic :)

B.t.w. a better filename would be "Guide to Lego clocks.pdf". 

[idlemarvel]

53 minutes ago, Davidz90 said:

Huh, that's really interesting. Thank you very much for the info! Could you post some links to your books?

Thanks!

https://www.amazon.pl/dp/B0CYQ6DKM1 (My Lego book on Amazon Poland)

Link to Kindle Direct Publishing

https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/bookshelf

Edited July 31, 2024 by idlemarvel

[Milan]

If you could make some "eye candy" front cover, send it via PM or post it here, so we can do some promotion on our end.

[2GodBDGlory]

Looks like some impressive work! I'll have to download it to my phone for some quality reading in those spare moments in life!

[Davidz90]

16 minutes ago, Milan said:

If you could make some "eye candy" front cover, send it via PM or post it here, so we can do some promotion on our end.

Wow, thank you very much! Will do!

2 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Looks like some impressive work! I'll have to download it to my phone for some quality reading in those spare moments in life!

Thanks!

[Davidz90]

1 hour ago, Milan said:

send it via PM or post it here, so we can do some promotion on our end.

Here's a new cover:

Cover_1

 

and link to the pdf with new cover (I kept last one to not break any links):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13KHG4cGL_pBnUNBb77ap_iJrk3VJtqkI/view?usp=sharing

 

Also, a few more example pages:

13

11

9

Thanks a ton!

1 hour ago, idlemarvel said:

(My Lego book on Amazon Poland)

Link to Kindle Direct Publishing

Thank you very much!

1 hour ago, JopieK said:

Very nice! I'll send it to my wife who is more into math and technic :)

B.t.w. a better filename would be "Guide to Lego clocks.pdf". 

True, fixed that in new upload with nicer cover.

[Slegengr]

This is quite interesting! Great work, @Davidz90!  Clocks have been a long-time fascination for me, and I have wanted a grandfather clock for my living room as long as I can remember.  Until now, I never considered making one from LEGO pieces.  This is an excellent merger between 2 of my interests along with a love for engineered mechanics!

I would be very interested in a printed copy of the book if you find a good way to publish!

After I have some time to read through the book, I might have more feedback or questions on the contents.

[Davidz90]

4 minutes ago, Slegengr said:

I would be very interested in a printed copy of the book if you find a good way to publish!

After I have some time to read through the book, I might have more feedback or questions on the contents.

Thanks! I'll definitely look into publishing option. Feedback is very welcome!

[nerdsforprez]

This is awesome.  Truly.  If this were offered in book form, I can 100% guarantee I would be picking up a copy.