Mechanical Tellurion

3D puzzle Ugears Mechanical Tellurion depicts the cosmic dance between Sun, Earth, and Moon. Moves without batteries. Assemble without glue. Perfect gift!

Regular price $66.99
Regular price Sale price $66.99

Ships from US Warehouse

  • 249

    Parts

  • 14+

    Age

  • Medium

    Level

  • Mechanical

    Model

  • Not Applicable

    Drive type

  • 15.9 x 1.2 x 12.8 in

    Dimensions

Mechanical Tellurion

Assemble me. Spin the Earth! 

Ugears is proud to present the Mechanical Tellurion, an accurate wooden model representation of our corner of the universe. A tellurion is an ingenious mechanism that depicts the cosmic dance between the Sun, Earth, and Moon. The causes of day and night, the phases of the Moon, and the changing seasons are seen and understood according to the movements of this 3D puzzle. Turn the handle to set the closely calibrated system of gears in motion. Point to a spot on Earth's surface, observe the spinning Earth's position relative to the Sun, and visualize sunrise and sunset, the passage of day into night. The Tellurion charts the passage of the seasons, while also giving a beautiful graphic representation of the zodiac, showing the sign and constellation under which you were born.

The Ugears Mechanical Tellurion can be manually adjusted or "tuned". When "tuning" the mechanism, set the pointer to the middle of winter or summer on the seasons dial. The earth, on its tilted axis, can be rotated to have either hemisphere be farthest from the sun in the bleak midwinter, or closest to the sun in summer. Turn the handle the correct number of days forward or back, from whichever solstice is closest in time, to set the present day. After consulting a lunar calendar, use the upper gear disk to adjust the position of the moon to its correct phase. Your Tellurion is now "set." With each passing day, give the model one turn of the crank to chart the earth's progress around the sun, and the moon's lunar cycle as it orbits the earth.

Mechanical Tellurion features:

  • Functional mechanical tellurion
  • Depicts the cosmic dance between the Sun, Earth, and Moon 
  • Manually driven by turning the handle 
  • One turn of the handle = one rotation of the Earth on its axis = one day 
  • Depicts the Earth's 23.5-degree axial tilt
  • Includes graphic representations of the zodiac signs 

DIY wooden model features:

  • Pre-laser-cut wooden parts 
  • Assembles without glue or tools
  • Step-by-step instructions in 11 languages
  • Free spare parts upon request
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    Warning! Small parts.

  • Regular price $66.99
    Regular price Sale price $66.99
    • 5 stars: 22 (79%)
    • 4 stars: 3 (11%)
    • 3 stars: 0 (0%)
    • 2 stars: 2 (7%)
    • 1 star: 1 (4%)
    C
    Christophe

    J'ai aimé le montage, qui se fait relativement facilement. Mais grosse déception, après avoir tourné une bonne quarantaine de tours, le mécanisme s'est bloqué et un axe double a cassé. Quelle déception ! Je ne recommande pas... Vraiment très déçu...

    Dear Christophe
    Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry you faced some issues with our product.
    Here you can order spare parts for free:
    https://ugearsmodels.com/pages/spare-and-additional-parts

    G
    Grady Teeter

    Fantastic amount of fun to build. The engineering in the gear train and movement is phenomenal.

    j
    john hands

    one of the easier ones to build.

    R
    Robert

    Excellent kit, a bit tricky to build but satisfying in the end.

    c
    cecile queinnec

    My daughter liked it, but she didn’ t manage to put it in the right way, so at finish it didn’ t turn.
    She had got plasure that d’hydrogéné week-end are enjoy!

    G
    Gerben W.

    Beautiful model. Works perfectly. I saw a review that the earth's axis doesn't tilt correctly, but mine does showing more or less sun on the northern hemisphere each summer (they should probably create several versions of part 126 for people elsewhere).

    This was the first model I ever assembled. I broke a pieces 104 during step 3 on page 31, which taught me not to put pressure on a part from too far a distance. I received replacements (thanks!). For the rest, the connections click very well in place if you exert enough pressure (but be careful how because you can break things, see above) and the connections are surprisingly sturdy given the material.

    I encountered a few gotchas during construction. It is easy to forget part 120 during step 2 on page 33 (e8 is not a single fixed thing). If you do, the moon will not move around. I was able to fix that by lifting part 123 and putting 120 in. The images om pages 27-28 are not entirely correct but that doesn't present a problem. One could also put part 126 in wrong and page 26 doesn't tell you correctly how. Also easily fixed.

    B
    Bernhard S.

    Bestens zu montieren. Funktioniert einwandfrei. Monatlich wird gedreht!!!

    R
    Ross W.

    After installing so many gears, I was quite surprised that it worked

    J
    Jose Becerra

    Great product. Well illustrated, single-sentence polyglot instruction manual.

    Not recommended for older, arthritic hands. I broke several pieces in setting up the pieces. Earth globe assembly is particularly fragile. Contacted customer service (user-friendly website) and they shipped replacement parts without cost, including free shipping (international mail).

    Once finished, after many hours of focused attention in several sessions and some frustration, it's quite a rewarding experience to gaze on and teach others a model (it's just a model) for the mechanics of the phases of the moon and the seasons of the year based on ratios of wheel gears correctly engaged. A misplaced single piece can derail the whole motion, an important lesson in group work. Every manager and team leader should have one on their desk to show that a team is as strong as its weakest link.

    H
    Heather

    I was pretty careful to make sure the gears moved smoothly before moving on the next part. Seem to work except for the moon doesnt move with the crank. Is it supposed to be connect? Or just to its own side gear to turn it? Instructions are not clear on that part.

    w
    wuk

    My favorite model from UGears. Brilliant, complex design with surprising details: even the plane of orbit of the Moon is inclined with respect to the plane of orbit of the Earth. Amazing educational model, all in plywood.

    L
    Lynette

    This is only my second assembly, I took it slowly, being very careful to sand and wax as I went along and it works beautifully. I’ve already ordered 2 more clocks…

    P
    Peter Maggs

    The design of this model is brilliant on so many levels. The Earth rotates on its axis keeping its orientation in space as it orbits the Sun; the moon orbits the earth, and the plane of its orbit is tilted with respect to the Sun and Earth! Without the tilt, eclipses would happen twice per month. The adjustment for the phases of the Moon with the seasons is masterful. In the assembly of the structure, there is the clever way the slots are ‘sprung’ so that the tabs are retained snugly. Then there are the artistic touches—the animated flapping bird on the Earth, and other ornamental features. I had to have three goes at assembling the mechanism using the eccentric/off-centred gear before it would run smoothly, but apart from that, the build was straightforward, although I used a great deal more sandpaper than was supplied... A superb and highly educational working model of the Sun, Moon, and Earth. My first from Ugears, but by no means my last. Congratulations to everyone involved!

    G
    Giulia Zambelli

    Beautiful model, but ultimately useless as it kept falling apart. It seems that the pieces didn't fit tight enough and the earth was too heavy for the base so the earth didn't revolve around the sun properly and some of the toothed wheels kept falling down. Very unfortunate, we put a lot of time and effort into waxing and assembling everything (we did it twice) and would have loved to see the model in action.

    W
    Wolfgang

    The tellurion is a really nice machine but unfortunaely it does not run the way it should. Mechanically everything runs smoothly but the axis of the earth does not point to the same direction in one year's way around. Instead it rotates itself anticlockwise once per year, like a precession of a spinning top. Mechanically this kind of rotation should go clockwise to compensate the anticlockwise run around the sun, which would lead to a stable axis of the earth. Because everything else seems to run correctly I guess there is a design error in this beautiful machine. Unfortunately it just makes no sense to use it this way, which is astronomical nonsense. If you have any clue where I might have a mistake in putting things together I would like to hear any suggestions. But again: because the whole thing runs nicely the way it should I cannot think of anything I could have done differently. In my opinion I assembled anything by the given book.

    C
    Customer

    Das ist (natürlich) neben anderen Bausätzen eines meiner Topbausätzen. Faszinierend die Konstruktion mit den Jahreszeiten in Relation zu den Monden. Für mich eine technische Wunderleistung wie die CNC-Maschinen programmiert wurden. Traurig, traurig was im Moment passiert. Ich hätte gerne einmal eine Reise zur Fabrik gemacht und vor Ort die Entwicklung und Produktion angeschaut.

    G
    Geoff Dougal

    This is model #5 for me! Incredible thought and execution went into this model, from your design, fabrication, and instruction book teams. Well done! EVERY part fits exactly how it is shown in the instructions. It operates quite smoothly. The tellurion is pretty accurate in showing position of earth/moon/phase each day of the year.

    G
    George Starbuck

    This was my tenth UGears build. Very complex, fascinating design, sanding and waxing carefully made the Tellurion run smoothly. My favorite so far!

    R
    Rick B

    This is my 8th model and it was a fun build. I always enjoy putting the sub-assemblies together and then watching as it starts to take shape as it comes together. Highly recommend this model!

    H
    Hal P

    An old man's reversion to his childhood, and what a delight! I had a great time assembling this, made my share of mistakes, and fascinated that it worked so well. This is the first of many, I'm sure!

    M
    Mark Newton

    A lovely smell of laser-cut plywood on opening the package! I bought this to while away the time while temporarily immobilised, not expecting too much, but I was impressed with the design and accuracy of the parts and instructions. It fits together very well, and providing care is taken to lightly sand and wax where necessary, operates easily.
    Definitely recommended..

    C
    Chris Wright

    This is a well made model. It is different than most other models. It is a lot of fun to assemble and works quite smoothly considering the number of gears involved.

    S
    Susan

    Beautiful, functional, with surprising details. More accurate than I expected - I'm going to use it in my astronomy unit in May to demonstrate seasons and moon phases. Well done! I really like the animated bird on the Earth - what a nice, yet simple, touch!

    I must admit, it's nice to not only have a fun build, but a useful product. Kudos on a sensible design that's NOT just fun. I recommend the Tellurion to anyone who teaches planetary astronomy.

    B
    Bill Turner

    A very fun build. Works great.

    a
    allan

    All parts fit well and all works fine really intrestlng model

    C
    Customer

    Excelente calidad, como siempre. Esta maqueta me ha encantado, tanto por su dificultad como por su belleza.

    R
    Rob

    Best build yet! I thouroughly enjoy this model

    k
    ken norfolk

    i had problem getting it together every thing sanded and waxed,but end result it would not work properlyi may have to take apart and start again.