Wooden Clock - Quintus - Complete

[two40]

What do you want to be when you grow up?

It all started with that question. A couple of weeks ago my partner and I were holidaying up at the beautiful Great Barrier Reef coast and I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. Now, we're too old for that question but it was asked with a playful 'what if' and we spent about half an hour discussing it. Wouldn't it be great to posses all of this knowledge that comes with experience and hindsight and apply it to your choice of career at the beginning rather than mid way or at the end of your working life? We both learned a little about each other and we both reflected.

She decided to work with kids via musical therapy when she grows up while I decided to make beautiful things with wood when I grow up.

Perhaps it is too late for me to learn a trade and make a living out of it. Perhaps this is a silly dream that should remain as one. I don't have the answer either way but at the risk of sounding crass and corny, f#ck it, life is too short to keep dreaming - I'm building a wooden clock.

I own a small selection of tools and no workbench. My woodworking skills go no farther than a none too enthusiastic year spent mucking around with my friends in high school. It will be an expensive venture with lots of frustration but as they say, a dog will bark when struck with a wrench. That hardly made sense but then again nothing about this makes sense so let's run with it.

Since you need a minimum of 3 rather expensive machines to start making clocks I figured I would cheat a little with my first one and buy an already cut clock kit. There aren't too many around but one caught my attention. It's a design by David Atkinson from Woodentimes. I fell for the Quintus which is an electromagnetically powered clock. I chose the chime less version and it cost me a touch over AU$200 delivered. It comes with everything you need to get started less the tools.



Since ordering the kit I have been researching tools. The three necessary machine tools to build a clock from scratch are a scroll saw, drill press, and a belt/disc sander. I'm sure you can build them without these tools but no sane mane would try it. Certainly not one with very little woodworking experience to start with.

I have managed to source a drill press from a family friend and yesterday I purchased a belt/disc sander. The scroll saw is not a necessity at this stage since this first clock comes with cut cogs. There will be other tools required no doubt. I own a small selection as I already mentioned but one thing I do not own is a decent workbench. Rather than spending money on the bench I will try to get away with a home built one. I managed to source an office type bench top from work which is very solid. All I have to do is attach it to some legs and maybe build a shelf under it.



This is the sander I picked up for $60 yesterday. It has an upright 25mm belt and a too small 127mm disc but it'll do. I bought it mainly for the belt (used to sand between cogs) and let me tell you it's a hard task finding these types of sanders here in Australia. They seem to be readily available in the states but the shipping is not kind.

I will be posting periodical updates in this thread but for those that want to follow my silly journey you can find lots more on a little blog I started called Ticking Wood. Follow me and see if I can finish one clock before I cut off one finger. Seems like a realistic goal.

[C.Michael]

THIS is cool. Goodluck, I constantly think of things I would love to make. Never get around to it though !

[lithos]

Did you hear about the wooden clock...?

[lithos]

John Harrison, one of the single greatest boffins to ever live and one of the greatest horologists to ever live, built his first clock out of wood.

He had zero formal horology training, either. He was a cabinet maker, hence the wooden clock.

Harrison went onto create, at the time, the world's most accurate, stable chronometers - uber-clocks - the designs of which remained unchanged and in use for over a century, and without which we wouldn't have had the Age of Sail, and the golden age of exploration and trade would have petered out.

[pelmen]

Great project and oddly enough a virtual one I'm halfway through (I got the kit plans for a wooden clock and permission from the author to create a 3D model from it all).

I really like wood as a medium and respect the craftsmanship that can go into items. It's actually not too difficult to get a good start with things like bread/chopping boards (such as the chess board pattern using two different woods...very simple to actually make). Great gift ideas and maybe even something you can make a little money on the side with.

I highly recommend anyone interested in wood work (whether they intend to try any or not) to check out the Wood Whisperer (www.thewoodwhisperer.com) site. The videos are great, very entertaining and very informative...don't let tool envy put you off watching. He goes into a lot of techniques and tricks from simple sandpaper and hand tools right up to the big machines. He takes you through projects such as breadboards and even a workbench (making sure you build a perfectly true box benchtop and solid level base etc). Also things like choosing the right types of wood for a project, where to get decent wood and what features in a piece of wood might lead to trouble once you start working and what features will enhance the look of a final piece. Really entertaining just to watch regardless and you can't help but learn stuff too from it.

Good luck with the clock!

[two40]

Originally Posted by lithos

John Harrison, one of the single greatest boffins to ever live and one of the greatest horologists to ever live, built his first clock out of wood.

He had zero formal horology training, either. He was a cabinet maker, hence the wooden clock.

Harrison went onto create, at the time, the world's most accurate, stable chronometers - uber-clocks - the designs of which remained unchanged and in use for over a century, and without which we wouldn't have had the Age of Sail, and the golden age of exploration and trade would have petered out.

I've read a little about him. A very interesting and switched on fellow.

Originally Posted by pelmen

Great project and oddly enough a virtual one I'm halfway through (I got the kit plans for a wooden clock and permission from the author to create a 3D model from it all).

-snip-

I highly recommend anyone interested in wood work (whether they intend to try any or not) to check out the Wood Whisperer (www.thewoodwhisperer.com) site. -snip-

Good luck with the clock!

Would love to see some progress pics if you have them.

Just last night I subscribed to their podcast and have left the PC on to download a whole bunch of them. I did watch one and it looks like a fantastic source of information for beginners such as myself.

Cheers

[pelmen]

The only pic I have handy (just happened to be on a thumb drive) is an old test render just to check geometry and see how parts were starting to look when placed together. Nothing exciting though. The instructions came with autocad files but I wanted to build them myself, giving the edges tiny bevels etc. Figuring out the animation rig so everything turns properly and it keeps time will be interesting (I know I can cheat it but I enjoy doing things the hard accurate way).


Click to view full size!

[two40]

How long have you been working on this project? Some of the experienced guys can build a clock from scratch in a weekend but I'm guessing my first one from scratch will take me a fair few weekends and then some.

Keen to see more pics when you get the chance. What type of escapement are you using? I'm absolutely in love with the walking escapement as seen below. It's a design by Clayton Boyer and it's another electromagnetically powered design. I'll be buying these plans along with some others of his but will leave the Tucan for my second or third build. Want to get some experience first and produce a half decent clock.

[BRGMCS]

Originally Posted by lithos

Harrison went onto create, at the time, the world's most accurate, stable chronometers - uber-clocks - the designs of which remained unchanged and in use for over a century, and without which we wouldn't have had the Age of Sail, and the golden age of exploration and trade would have petered out.

I saw some of the actual Harrison clocks at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich last year, and a couple of them were running (H4 is too delicate to leave running all the time). Seriously amazing things to see, especially when they are the real thing and not reproductions. They sound beautiful.

[lithos]

Originally Posted by BRGMCS

I saw some of the actual Harrison clocks at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich last year, and a couple of them were running (H4 is too delicate to leave running all the time). Seriously amazing things to see, especially when they are the real thing and not reproductions. They sound beautiful.

It's one of the most awesome and inspiring and beautiful stories around, I think. Some of the maps Cook made on his second and third voyages are amazingly accurate; he carried the Larcum Kendall clone of H4, K1.

OP should read Dava Sobel's "Longitude" for the breakdown of Harrison's story. It's a brilliant one. Great hero, dastardly villain, all true.

[two40]

Originally Posted by lithos

OP should read Dava Sobel's "Longitude" for the breakdown of Harrison's story. It's a brilliant one. Great hero, dastardly villain, all true.

I work in a bookstore so I picked it up today. Fairly small book. Looks interesting. Cheers

[BRGMCS]

the documentary series is VERY good as well.

[two40]

Woke up at half past 5 on Saturday. It was too early to start banging about in the garage so I moved my blog over to a self hosted WordPress site. Check it out at:

tickingwood.com


I spent whatever other spare time I had, which wasn't until Sunday, to clear out a room in the basement in preparation for a bench build. I picked up a couple of 1500 x 750 x 35 laminated office style bench tops from work on Saturday which will help me keep costs down. To further help with keeping costs down the frame will be made with 90 x 35 MGP10. Looking forward to spending some father and son time with my dad when we're building the workbench. I've taken some photos of the room before I started the clean and will take some more as we build the bench so more on that soon.

The sander I bought last week turned up on Friday. After stripping it and giving it a good clean she looks set to rub against some wood. I took some photos of this as well and will post them soon. The disc sander, as I suspected, is too small and I will need a 12" unit soon.

Originally Posted by lithos

OP should read Dava Sobel's "Longitude" for the breakdown of Harrison's story. It's a brilliant one. Great hero, dastardly villain, all true.

Read the first chapter on my way to work this morning. Must say I didn't want to get off the train. Cheers for the recommendation.

[sirshelldrake]

what tools do you need to buy? You can pick up scroll saws for about $100 and bandsaws for around $200. I can't imagine there would be a need for anything fancy, just an ability to accurately cut the teeth and cogs.

best of luck, I too have wanted to do similar. I know there are a lot of different types of wood clocks out there and the plans aren't that expensive.

[two40]

Originally Posted by sirshelldrake

what tools do you need to buy? You can pick up scroll saws for about $100 and bandsaws for around $200. I can't imagine there would be a need for anything fancy, just an ability to accurately cut the teeth and cogs.

best of luck, I too have wanted to do similar. I know there are a lot of different types of wood clocks out there and the plans aren't that expensive.

Scroll Saw
Carba-Tec 18" for $600 plus a few dollars for a Hegner quick release
or
Excalibur 21" for $895

I'm leaning more towards the 18" but there is a trade show coming up where I might be able to get a decent enough discount to justify the 21". Re the $100 scroll saws - I'm of the mind that an entry level anything will just cause you more problems so I'm trying to stay away from them. When I talk about saving money I'm doing that more so that I can buy better quality tools and to keep my lady friend from hyperventilating.

Drill Press
Hare & Forbes SBD-25A for $350. Has good reviews and is a good value for money drill.

Disc Sander
Woodfast DS300 for $250. This one can wait a little bit but I'm sure I'll feel the shortcomings of the 5" I own very quickly.

Band Saw
Hare & Forbes BP-355 for $890. This will have to wait. I don't need it right away and I can make do with my circular saw for rough cuts initially. I figure the scroll saw can do most of the detail cuts since the sizes of the wood I'm cutting will be pretty small initially. The band saw will be a luxury but if I keep at it I'm sure it will become a necessity.

There will be a whole bunch of other small tools that I'll need but I can buy them bit by bit to ease the pain. Chisels, files, sanding pads and papers etc.

Plans look pretty cheap to me at about $40 odd from Clayton. He has at least 3 that interest me. Materials will put a small dent in my wallet but nothing too scary. There will be a lot of waste initially I imagine.

Cheers