Wooden Clock - Trial & Error

[Haggard3230]

That looks good Rick, getting a little too close to the router bit for me.

[KtownScroller]

Originally Posted by Haggard3230

That looks good Rick, getting a little too close to the router bit for me.

Actually it turned out to be pretty safe Merle. My fingers were spinning the sheave from the top. I guess the finger closest to the bit was the one holding the sheave flat to the fixture. I never felt in danger throughout the process.

I am going to manufacture the rope sheaves with the wider groove. I can't see spending another $20 for a 1/8" bit. I don't think the width of the groove will impact the rope movement in a negative way. Actually the wider groove might be better in that it will allow the rope to move freely.

Today I am going to make the two pulleys and cut the main frame. My motto is a little at a time and do it right the first time.

[KtownScroller]

Building templates is part of the clock building challenge that is not necessary. It would be nice to have full size templates or at least full size templates sectioned off into 11 x 8.5 sheets. This part of the project is a little time consuming. Getting everything to line up straight is the biggest hurdle. I will not know if I did a good job until I get to the shed later today and lay a three foot scale along the template centerline. The main frame template "back section" is 28 1/2" long x 9" wide. At least that is what it blew up to be from 1/4 scale. The original drawing has the length at 28 3/8". I suppose an extra 1/8" is pretty meaningless, since the bulk of the clock merely rests on the main frame.

[Doc249HMCS]

I wish I had that kind of skill and patients. Great job!
Don

[KtownScroller]

Originally Posted by Doc249HMCS

I wish I had that kind of skill and patients. Great job!
Don

Thank you!

[Wood Dog]

Rick you've busted this myth...."Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, seldom does a woman, and never does a man."

Do you have to use a special kind of rope for the pully? I was thinking of the waxy kind?
Enjoying the pictures.

[KtownScroller]

Originally Posted by Wood Dog

Rick you've busted this myth...."Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, seldom does a woman, and never does a man."

Do you have to use a special kind of rope for the pully? I was thinking of the waxy kind?
Enjoying the pictures.

Thank you! Today I almost busted my nerves. Details in the following post.

[KtownScroller]

Today I cut the main frame, which looked like the easy part of the project... WRONG!

Last night I broke down and bought a 1' x 4' x 1" (3/4) piece of oak. I wasn't going to do it and after I thought about it for awhile I figured that if this is going to be my crowning achievement, then I must not skimp on the most important part of the project... the wood.

I really sweated it out cutting the dado groove in the main frame. At first I used my crummy table saw and nearly made a boo boo on the first pass of the groove. Right then and there I went to plan B. I clamped the 1' x 4' x 1" oak blank to my table saw and temporarily nailed in a board 3 1/2" away from the groove. I used the temporary board as a guide fence for my router. I then carefully routed the groove, moving the temporary guide board several times until I got the exact width that I was looking for. This operation was quite scary since I didn't want to trash a $24.00 piece of oak. Fortunately for me all went well.

Next I attached the pattern to the oak board carefully lining up the groove with the pattern. I sure didn't want the shelf to be crooked. Now I get to the best part of the day, figuring out how in the world I am going to cut this monster. At first I tried the scroll saw, but the blade wandered all over the place. I actually missed my line to the inside, and somewhat screwed up the piece. Needless to say I was not happy! So I pull the blank from the scroll saw and went over to the band saw. Here there was good news and bad news. The good news was that the band saw cut through the oak like butter. The bad news was that I only had a 1" wide blade and really could have used a 1/8" blade. Too bad for me my supplier was all out of 1/8" blades. So I cut as close as possible to the line with the band saw and went back to the scroll saw to tidy up the cuts. Well that was a blinking disaster. Finally I said the heck with it and cut the balance of the cuts outside the line. I only wish I knew I needed to do that from the start. Oh well. So now I'm in luck. I happen to have a 2" drum sander that fits in my drill press. I spent around 1 1/2 hours sanding out the screw ups and evening the contours on the piece. As you can tell by the pictures I was fortunate to get everything looking pretty good. WOW! What a relief.

I cut the shelf and the two supports without incident. The biggest problem I had with those three parts is that the oak at 3/4" thick was a bear to cut on the scroll saw. I actually cut the supports over size and sanded the contours to the line with the drum sander. The square parts were first cut on the table saw.

Lastly, I routed the edges of the back plate and the two shelf supports. I also did a lot of sanding and actually have more sanding to do the next time I get back into the shed. I am not sure if I am going to round over the edges of the shelf. I am kind of leaning towards rounding them. I want to think about it awhile.

The pictures kind of fool you. The parts are only loosely fit together. I did not have time to screw them together. Actually I am wasted both physically and mentally and I didn't want to screw up what turned out to be a good day in the shed.

The next thing I am going to do is to make 8 temporary support pins so you can see what the clock will look like with the other parts of the frame. It should look pretty cool.

[KtownScroller]

Originally Posted by Wood Dog

Do you have to use a special kind of rope for the pulley? I was thinking of the waxy kind?

The plans call for nylon rope. I think I have some in the shed to try. It should work pretty well.

[Haggard3230]

Still looking good so far Rick. The first picture looks like you put it to bed.LOL