UGEARS Aero Clock

I don't do reviews, but in the case of the Ugears aero clock I just had to make an exception. The design and construction of this kit is definitely on another level. You get what you pay for in life. The build quality is of this kit is at the highest level. All I would say to would be buyers is take your time. Yes you could probably have it all together in a far less time than the 11 hours indicated by Ugears, but the result would certainly not be a working clock. Care and attention to detail are required. Sand all rough edges and pay particular attention to those parts with mating surfaces. Anything that rubs against or contacts with another part benefits from more attention when sanding and waxing. The smoother the better. The instructions are excellent, but in my case I had some difficulty in understanding the cord winding. Youtube did however quickly solve my problem. The end result is fantastic. Visually a work of art. A work of art that actually keeps good time and a pleasure to watch as the hour sees the balloon quickly descend from its slow rise over the hour. Personally I would not consider this kit as complex. Not for a child that wants quick results, more suited to teenagers and budding teenage adults who want to spend time creating something to be proud of. If you take your time and follow the instructions carefully you will love what Ugears have helped you create. Looking foward to my next Ugears kit. Have made many hints to Santa

Great kit. Went together well. The balloon was fiddly, but all in all, great fun. And it all worked! The balloon rises, then falls on the hour. It kept stopping and eventually traced it to one of the mounting screws that wasn't fully screwed in, so it twisted the whole clock slightly. Found that 2kg of sand totally filled the weight bag. (dried it well before weighing). The minute indicator has to be turned about 7 minutes cw before the ratchet kicks it when adjusting. The pendulum "weights" could do with finer adjustments to achieve more accurate time keeping, but I'm just happy it all works 😁

On the whole this kit is fantastic, I did not find it an easy build and I have done via few things like this before. The instructions are good but some sections are a bit difficult to understand. The laser cutting of the parts is incredible. I do have a working clock after quite a lot of fettling and adjustment, however despite many attempts I could not get the balloon to rise and fall. Whenever the wheel and cog for the balloon was added the clock stopped. At the moment I am happy enough with the clock and might try to get the balloon working later

A great kit, yes it’s tricky, yes it may not fully work if you do it wrong, clocks are a feat of math and engineering, anyone expecting more than a semi functional model is not understanding what goes into a real timepeice. For what it is I loved it, in fact I will make another but decorate this time. It’s not for the feint of heart or beginner yes, however! Anyone can build it if you can follow a picture instruction book and have good glasses. Not all will get it working. Time to build of 11 hours they say, yes I agree. You need to sand, wax and smooth parts for nice low friction movement. If you just pop out the parts, put them together it could take 3 hours too. It will not work and then you will give it less stars. So this where the advanced builder comes in. Advanced builder will take their time and make a nice model that functions at a basic level. For the impatient builder you will still achieve a nice model that will not function for long. Think what type of builder you are and expect the result that you put in. The kit: Read the instructions Read the instructions again Follow the instructions (mainly for us men who believe manuals are for putting your cups on) Very well laser cut, did not need a knife in my case Get more wax and check out YouTube on how to wax cogs Wax the cord Buy good sandpaper and smooth all parts for low friction movement Sand all cut edges where you can, the laser leaves joins to keep it framed in transit, these need removing Have patience The correct weight will be important in the bag, try lead shot rather than sand Weight on the balloon counterweight is also important to slow down the balloon drop when running. Test each cog as the kit comes together for friction and movement Make sure you hang on the wall to complete, if you try to build first, hang later you will tangle your cords and lines It’s a model clock, please do expect to get the correct time after 5 minutes of use It’s also quite sturdy once built Have fun building it, that is the overall aim, it’s a great achievement no matter how far you get. Sorry! It’s a long review but I found it a great model to work on and looks good on my wall

I bought this purely on the look of it, but after reading up a bit, was unsure if it would actually work. The instructions a very good but you do need to pay a lot of attention to them and understand exactly what they are trying to tell you. The instructions are very pictorial with very little text. The most complex part is the final assembly and threading of the cord. The best tips to ensure your clock runs are: 1: spend a lot of time with the sandpaper making 100% sure the edges of the cut wood are smooth and free of ridges left by the laser cutting. 2: The small round washer things are actually bearings that run on their outer edge, so make sure these are really nice and smooth and test them in the holes they go in to make sure they don't bind or have any tight spots. Slide them onto the stick tool so you can rotate them against the sandpaper to get them are true and smooth as possible. 3: The wax is applied as a lubricant. I used a lighter to melt the wax after I'd applied it, so it soaked into the wood. 4: When you assemble the gears, make 100% sure they run true. There's no obvious way to ensure the gear is sitting dead square on its shaft unless you make up a jig. You just have to tap the gears home and make sure they are seated flush. Then check that they run true and don't wobble once put into the clock. This is the main reason the clock will stop itself. Mine still are not perfectly true and you can see them wobble a little as the spin during the 'spin test' (see no. 5) 5: Once assembled, disengague the pendulum and let the weight run the mechanism at high speed. Do this a few times. It helps bed in the gears and bearings and it also allows you to see if you have any wobbly gears. You'll also hear if anything is rubbing. It should all spin smooth and at a consistent speed. Then put the pendulum back in and it should run perfectly. Its a fantastic kit. It's ticking away as I write this and the balloon is just about to do its hourly drop!

A masterpiece of design. I differ in the opinion of many reviewers (make what you will of this!) I do NOT think the instructions are good. They are a bit of a curates egg - good in parts. There is no description I can find as to how the clock works so that you can follow a logical path. The result is that you can go all the way to completion having made an invisible (to you) error and be left with a mystery as to what has gone wrong. It does go together moderately easily, but it does not allow easy disassembly to correct any errors even if you can identify them. It would (and also any other device made by UGEARS) benefit by numbering the parts strictly in order of construction. The part number should also contain a sheet number corresponding to where it could be found.

I bought this for my husband for Xmas. It took about a week to build and a little bit of patience. Now it is on the wall as part of a collection of other types of ready made clocks ( his passion). As a wooden clock and to be able to build it yourself is quite amazing. He has a lot of patience and determination and that is definitely a requirement. Sanding off pieces is something you have to be aware of for the clock to function. Adding an extra weight at first to get the clock running smoothly and after a day or 2 just the bag attached with sand. My husband placed an empty pringles tube and filled it with sand. Place this in the bag as it fits perfectly. I have bought other kits although smaller like this over the last couple of years and my husband hasn't been disappointed. This is the biggest so far.

Absolutely beautiful, hubby said it was a joy to watch it all come together

This is the first time I’ve built one of these wooden models, and I gotta say it was super fun. Instructions were pretty clear for the most part and the end result feels like a solid mechanism. Didn’t break anything and got all the strings set up without too much trouble. It looks great, especially when it’s in operation. All that said, don’t expect it to work smoothly without putting in some extra effort to fine tune it. It’s super important to sand all the places that are indicated in the instructions, as well as any gear faces that may pass against the static supports. Especially important to sand the pendulum and escapement gear. The wax included in the kit is tricky to apply properly to the gears, so I got some candles from the dollar store and applied melted wax with a paint brush. That took a bit of time but overall it was enjoyable. I’ve spent a bit of time trying to break the clock in, and so far I’ve been able to get it to go for about 15 minutes before I need to give it a slight nudge. It’s improving quickly with more use though, so I’m feeling optimistic about it breaking the hour mark by the end of the week. Edit: 1 day later and it’s going for more than an hour now at a time now. Didn’t do anything except keep nudging it along to break in the mechanisms. I’d gladly build more of these models if I had the space for it!

Heel mooi. Wel voorzichtig ermee zijn. Ben er druk mee. Fijne tijdsbesteding. Hoge kwaliteit en duidelijke omschrijving. Prima product.

I've built quite a few laser cut wood kits (marble races, clock, toys, etc), and this is the best so far. It was a real pleasure to build. The instructions are excellent. After a bit of fine tuning the clock keeps pretty accurate time, with run times of about 19 hours before I need to reset the weight. The wax stick that comes with the kit is not great (and is very small). Instead of hard wax, I used soft furniture wax, which was great for waxing the teeth of all the gears. The one small drawback with the clock is the setup of the faces. They're not easily read from a distance. I've set up 15 minute markers behind the balloon, which makes a fun (but not very accurate) way to read the time from further away. Further note: I have modified the string for the weight, and am now getting run times of 21 hours.

Es el modelo de madera más divertido y entretenido hasta ahora. De momento no puedo añadir nada sobre su funcionamiento a largo plazo. Acabamos de terminarlo y sí que puedo describir unos detalles del montaje por si pueden ayudar. Le dedicamos tiempo, sin prisas. Lo construimos en varias tardes, aunque costo no quedarse hasta acabarlo, es adictivo. Algunos detalles: 1 reducir el rozamiento entre las partes móviles tanto como sea posible. En mi opinión, un lijado fino y la cera como lubricante. 2. Cuando el reloj dejó de funcionar, encontré el problema en la pieza #133 se detenía en una mala posición o se atascaba con la #63. Tome nota de otro comentario (de PATRICK, subido el 15 de abril 2024) “Me imaginé que tenía que mover un poco hacia la izquierda el hilo de pescar que conectaba con el globo aerostático, para que el equipo #133 se detuviera en una posición mejor después de que el globo aerostático descendiera. Me imaginé que tenía que mover un poco hacia la izquierda el hilo de pescar que conectaba con el globo aerostático, para que el equipo #133 se detuviera en una posición mejor después de que el globo aerostático descendiera. Añadí un sujetapapeles a dos orificios existentes y eso solucionó el problema por completo. Vea la imagen adjunta.". Esto me dio pistas y ahí tenía yo también una resistencia que solucione con el alambre, como comenta Patrick, y ajustando las piezas que forman ese conjunto. 3. Llené el saco con piedrecitas blancas (las venden para fondo de acuarios) y fui ajustando hasta que di con el peso que a mi reloj le gusta: 1,8kg. 4. Además de nivelar horizontalmente como indican las instrucciones, tuvimos que corregir verticalmente la posición del reloj porque se paraba. Me fije en la verticalidad, tomando como referencia la varilla del péndulo. La pared no es del todo perfecta y lo solucione calzando con un par restos de piezas como muestran las imágenes. De momento va perfecto, paciencia para ajustarlo, esto lleva su tiempo y habilidades para encontrar soluciones. Ayuda mucho leer a los que lo construyeron antes que nosotras.