Progress on the next prototype: reading and writing the Store

I'm finally back to building prototypes. The target is eventually to build a simplified version of Babbage's Plan 27, which has three pairs of "register" digit wheels in the Mill that have a linear rack interface to the Store, three long pinion shifters, and two reversible anticipating carriages.

A lot of the design parameters since the previous Fibonacci-computing prototype have changed, including new gear parameters and reducing the cage height from 2.3" to 2". In order to check those changes out, I've built a smaller prototype that has a Store with one pair of numbers plus the rack restorer, and a Mill with one pair of register numbers, one set of long pinion shifters, and one anticipating carriage. It also has prototypes of the sign wheel, and the counters that will be needed for multiplication and division.

front view

Store view

Mill view

 I continue to be plagued by sloppy 3D printed parts, and even sloppier supporting structures fabricated poorly by me on my mini-Lathe out of aluminum rods and tubes.  But I can mask a lot of the sloppiness by tweaking the timing and motions controlled by the 21st-century stepper motors that I'm using for testing.

I've so far gotten reading and writing to the Store working with reasonable reliability.

Next up: debugging the process of adding and subtracting from the Mill registers to the anticipating carriage.