Wooden Works Clocks

[Bob Thornborough]

I build wooden works clocks using CNC as well as traditional scrollsaws and bandsaws. When I started, hours were spent looking around the web and libraries for information on clocks and CNC and a bunch of other stuff that would help me get going. Now that I've been at it a few years I've put together at least the beginnings of info on how to go about building wooden works clocks and hope over time to make the website a resource for others who want to start making these sometimes strange kinetic sculptures. The website is http://www.woodenworksclocks.com Would appreciate help from everyone interested in providing advice on what is missing and what is wrong.

Cheers,

Bob Thornborough:)

[George M. Perzel]

Hi Bob;
Great job on your clocks and you site and appreciate your humor and satire. I haven't gone through every page but definitely like what I see and your advice is sound and practical - often the case when someone has actually gone through the tribulations and trials associated with making gears, and, more importantly, making clocks that work.
I and another SMC'r , Jerry Allen, have been making clock gears with the laser for a couple of years and have gone through many of the learning processes that you have- definitely brass and steel make better arbors than wood- my first clock took about 20# of weight to get it to move!!
Jerry has completed some of his own designs out of plexiglas- really awesome and eye catching. I'm sure he will pick up your thread and comment.
Again- very nice work- you certainly have both talent and patience.
Best regards;
George
LaserArts

[Frank Corker]

When I click on your website I just get a blank page - anyone else?

[Todd Schwartz]

Bob, a great site, just scanned it, will spend more time tonight. A group of us in the midwest are working on our first laser cut design, have done it the traditional way up to now. A very interesting project.

Frank, Firefox did not give me the entire page, had to open it up in Internet Exploiter :o, worked fine.

Todd

[Ed Maloney]

When I click on your website I just get a blank page - anyone else?

Frank - Since you're 50 maybe you should get closer to the monitor.:D

[Belinda Barfield]

Bob,

Great website, very enjoyable reading! I will take a much longer look tonight at home. Very interesting work. Thanks for sharing.

[Brian Robison]

Bob, great job on the site BOOKMARKED!
Any suggestions for a plan for a first time clock maker?
What model would be a nice and easy clock to make?

[Ralph Lindberg]

Lots of good info there.

A couple years ago, I had the chance to work with someone that designed, and made is own clock. But all hand cut.... See his work at http://members.iinet.net.au/~andronis/index.htm (http://members.iinet.net.au/%7Eandronis/index.htm)

[Stanley Waldrup]

Just wanted to say Great Site. Thanks. I will be spending a lot of time there.....
Stanley

[Frank Corker]

Nope, still getting a blank page - can someone please post another page into the site, might be able to get by it that way. Obviously something on my new computer is hindering the access

[Bob Thornborough]

Thanks for the comments on my wooden works clock website folks. Interesting that lasers are becoming popular. I wanted to go that route but the costs said otherwise.

Not sure what the problems are with Firefox - I had major issues but thought they were all dealt with. Try bypassing the flash page and go to http://76.162.221.133/Design.htm You should see blue navigation buttons horizontally across the top.

Brian - deciding on a starter clock has a lot to do with the time you have to commit to it. The Thomas clocks at http://www.clockplans.com/ are a good starter. If you have a fair bit of time available then one of the Tovar designs are super from http://wooden-clockworks.com.

[Frank Corker]

Thanks Bob - obviously don't have flash on it yet thank you

[Jerry Allen]

I was having trouble also this morning with Bob's site, but it is now working fine.
Great site. Nice work. Lot's of inspiration.

I'm working on some new wooden ones but have stalled in the design state as I got sidetracked with other projects.
Here's a some of my clocks that I started doing when I got my laser in late 2004. I had started trying to design and build clocks with a scroll saw in 2003 or 2004. It's not easy. I finally bought some wood gears from George but then got my own laser and started cutting my own. Much easier, but it still can be intimidating getting it to run right.
The one with the blue background has been running continuously for more than a year. Brass shafts and pins directly in acrylic works. The next ones will be steel in brass bearings though. Nylon and steel works well tooo. The acrylic tends to get mucked up with some black oxidation and I have to take it apart and clean the shafts and holes every few months.

[Bob Thornborough]

WOW! Beautiful work Jerry. I haven't tried routing plexiglass. Can it be done or just with a laser? The plexiglass makes your clocks look almost etherial.

[Frank Corker]

Wow Jerry they are absolutely stunning! The three of them, where could someone get the designs for those particular ones? I just love them. I do a lot of work in acrylic and I used to be well into my clocks a few years back but not making my own. Amazing

[Jerry Allen]

Bob, I don't see why not as long as you have a fairly small bit for some of the small stuff. You wont get the polished edge but the edge should be more uniform and perpendicular. You can always polish surfaces that need to slip with fine abrasive pads. Wood gears aren't very smooth, but they work.

Frank,
I have some designs on a computer with dead power supply. When I get to them I'll post one. That would be a cut file with few if any notes. And they probably need cleaning up because there is a lot of duplication and tweaking until I get a part right. There are a lot of things on those that I would not do again. There's a lot more to it than just cutting gears. Tolerances are critical and you would be amazed how just the slightest friction or misalignment will stop the works. The operations for gluing shafts and drilling are more critical than cutting the gears.
I made several other clocks, some very small, but none worked reliably.

I am working on new wood designs so hate to spend any time messing with these. There are a couple of running clocks out of acylic but they need mods. The cast acrylic is real nice for making highly visible engravings, has more brilliance, and cuts cleaner, but the fact that it is not as uniform as extruded acrylic makes it a poorer choice for a part that really needs parallel surfaces. I will probably get back to the acrylic later.

[Jerry Allen]

There's a free wooden clock plan by Mark Tovar in this issue of ScrollSaw...:
http://www.foxchapelpublishing.com/productdetails.cfm?sku=ssw26&disccode=SSW
I think there is an error in the pallet/escapement design but it can be fixed by cutting the tips of the pallets back slightly.

[Frank Corker]

Thanks Jerry and if you do manage to fix that piece of junk in the backroom - send me the file :)