School House Clock

[SteveNelson46]

I made this clock last year out of Oak. It has glass fronts on both the top and bottom. The pendulum is functional and ALL parts, except for the clock movement, were carved on the Carvewright.

[cnsranch]

Very nice - best I've seen.

[b.sumner47]

Steve, Nice bit of work, liked the carving on the pendulum. Nice work. Capt Barry

[lawrence]

Outstanding! I especially like the pendulum too.

Do you work at a hospital?

Lawrence

[gregsolano]

I make a lot of clocks but that blows away any I have done, very very nice.

[easybuilt]

That clock is a work of art!

[henry1]

I made this clock last year out of Oak. It has glass fronts on both the top and bottom. The pendulum is functional and ALL parts, except for the clock movement, were carved on the Carvewright.
Wow nice were did you buy the pattern I like it

[Kenm810]

Nice Project, and Great Finish on the Oak!!

[SteveNelson46]

I designed all of the clock parts in the Carvewright Designer (11 MPCs total). The caduceus (medical symbol) I purchased and adapted for the pendulum. I even designed the stem the pendulum hangs on.

I have to admit, it took quite some time to design this clock. There were a few trial and error carves and some wasted wood.

[chebytrk]

Steve, would you be willing to share or sell your mpc's of the clock pattern? If not share, how much for purchasing?

[mtylerfl]

Hi Steve,

Very nice project! Where did you purchase the clock movement (vendor and part number)? Any issues with the pendulum weight affecting the movement? In other words, did you find the mechanism is "powerful" enough to swing the weight of the wooden pendulum, without affecting time accuracy?

[Icutone2]

Very nice GREAT job!
Lee

[SteveNelson46]

I purchased the movement at a local Woodcraft store. Contrary to popular belief, the pendulum has no interaction with the clock movement itself and is only aesthetic. The only common thing it shares is the battery. I think most battery operated quartz movements operate this way. The post length is 3/4 inch. I planed down the clock face to 3/8 inch instead of carving a recess on the back and used a sled to carve the face. This helps reduce the overall weight. It sets in a 3/8 inch rabet in the inside of the base. The base is 3 layers and each layer is all one piece I initially designed in Adobe Illustrator and imported in as a DFX. The bottom layer has the rabet for the back, the middle layer has a notch in the bottom for the pendulum to swing and the top layer has the rabet for the clock face. All 3 layers are glued together to get the depth of 2 1/4 inches. This depth accommodates the movement and the recessed back.

The bezel for the glass on the top I initially designed as two 1/2 inch layers glued together. This allowed enough depth for the glass to clear the movement post and hands. This assembly has 4 threaded inserts and is mounted with four 2 1/2 inch #8 machine screws drilled from the back of the base.

The bezel for the bottom front is carved in one piece with a rabet on the inside for the glass and mounted the same way as the top bezel. This allows it to be removed to replace the glass if necessary. This piece gave me the most trouble. The surface is a carve region to accommodate the Chrysanthemum at the bottom that stands proud of the surface. The carve region itself was no problem but getting the Carvewright to do the edge profile on the inside and outside edges was a challenge due to the depth of the carve region. I finally got it but, I think it would be easier to just do it on the router table.

The pendulum started out 1/2 inch thick. By the time the surface was domed and the caduceus was carved, the final thickness was less than 1/4 inch thick by 3 inches in diameter so there is very little weight.

There were many more design challenges in this project than mentioned here but, it was a lot of fun to design and make.

[mtylerfl]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for all the details of your process. Design challenges to figure out and test, document everything in detail, then write it all up in a form to make everything "seem simple" to end users. You did an excellent job! (Now you know what I go through at least twice every month!)

If you get a chance, please post the actual WoodCraft part number/model number of the clock movement for the convenience of others who may want to make their own original pendulum clock design using the same innards.

[SteveNelson46]

Here is a link to Woodcraft's clock movement that I used

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2001196/517/Double-Chime-Movements-34-Handshaft-with-Pendulum.aspx

[prof]

Steve:

I was just playing around with the idea of making a clock but I was just wondering how did you figure out the placement of the 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11 hour symbols?

Your clock looks great. Maybe one of these days I'll attempt something like that.

Keith

[AskBud]

Steve:

I was just playing around with the idea of making a clock but I was just wondering how did you figure out the placement of the 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11 hour symbols?

Your clock looks great. Maybe one of these days I'll attempt something like that.

KeithMy "Download" link, below, has a lesson titled "Even Spacing Around a Circle" which will help you with the concept.
AskBud

Hint: Your triangles for a clock set-up would be 30 degrees.

[SteveNelson46]

Keith

To place the numbers I drew a circle and centered it in both directions. Then set the diameter to the outside distance of where I wanted the numbers. I then placed the numbers at their approximate locations. I then drew four lines the lengtn of the clock face and centered them in both directions also. Set the angles to 30, 60, 120, and 150 degrees. This will allow you to place the numbers at the circle's edge and centered on the lines. Delete the circle and the lines or modify them to use as decorative lines or guides.

There may be other ways to do this but, this method worked well for me.

[prof]

Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to know.

[cestout]

I think you should sell this project in the Pattern Store. You would have to change the pattern used on the pendulem to something you created or that came with Designer, from the Basic file.
Clint

[b.sumner47]

What a project ," Simply Beautiful ". I just hope that somehow it could be offered to us. , Capt Barry