Cable ties as both a gear and a flexible rack...An unfinished idea

Two years ago I bought two 4 foot cable ties as they were only $1. I thought that I should get them even though I had absolutely nothing big enough to effectively use them. But, after tripping over them for a while I thought that they may work as both a gear and a flexible rack and I tried some experiments. And, I did get the idea to work but the real usefulness has not been realized. I have run out of ideas to use the process and wanted to pass along the information in hopes that someone else might be able to use the idea. I will post the photos and the writeup with the downsides of the procedure:

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I began with a battery operated clock and attached a 2 inch gear as it was all that I had that was round enough. I then cut a length of cable tie 6.25 inches. (2 X 3.1416, Pi). The edges were removed as shown in the lead photo.This was then epoxied to the gear as the "real" outer gear. Instead of wheels, I used nylon washers with ball bearings to let it move freely. Then, I used Velcro (adjustable) to attach the rack, (37.7 inches) to the inside diameter of a cut down joint compound bucket. Not shown in the photo is an arm that extended from the clock to the center post to allow control for the clock to run  concentrically. With the gear on the minute hand shaft, the speed was 6 inches/hour. It certainly worked but it was not very impressive! I was going to make an inclined rack and use the gear as in a cog railway but did not get around to it.
I still believe that the idea has utility but there are at least two concerns. Nylon is a stiff polymer and it is difficult to get a tight radius. And, the gear "teeth" are a sawtooth pattern, and not trapezoidal so this scheme can be run in only one direction. Having added the caveats, I hope than someone can use the idea, or I just made a very bad clock...

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