The Dale C. Maley Family Web Site
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Signature Shop Clock
In October of 2016, I stumbled across a 2001 downloadable plan for a neat looking shop clock, with easy to read big numbers.....
I have a small clock in my workshop, but the numbers are too small to easily read, so this would be a neat addition to my workshop.I paid the $8.00 and downloaded the plan here.
I went to Klock-it's web site, and they no longer carry the exact clock movement specified in the clock plan. But, they still have the same size movement with big letters, just with a slightly different flavor........
I bought the Klock-it movement here.
Wood Selection
I am going to use walnut for the base board, like the plans suggest. I am going to use maple for the hammer instead of ash. I don't have any ash pieces large enough, and the light maple gives a better color contrast to the dark walnut.
The plans call for maple for the chisel blade and cherry for the handle. I'm going to use yellow-heart for the chisel blade and padauk for the handle. This will add a lot of color to the clock.
Walnut Blank
A friend of mine gave me some short walnut planks a few years ago, I blew the dust off them and glued up a blank for the main piece on the clock..........
The finished main piece is 12.75 inches wide. My planer has a max width capacity of 12.5 inches. I thought about changing the plan to fit the 12.5 inches of my planer, but things are packaged pretty tightly on the plan. I will use my Delta 18" wide sander to take the glued up pieces down to the final 3/4" thickness......
I haven't used this Delta wide sander very much yet. On this job, I got a 1/4" wide streak from one section of the drum sander. I disconnected the power, raised the cover, and looked at the drum. It looks like residue has caked on this section of the drum, so it is worn out. I guess I will have to learn how to change the sandpaper on the drum!
On the hand-crank, only increment it about 10 degrees at a time when the drum starts to sand. It is not like my planer, where I can go a full crank at a time. When I did a full crank on the drum sander, I stalled it and kicked out the circuit breaker!
Compound Sawing
This plan uses a common scroll sawing methodology called compound sawing. You put a paper patter on 2 sides of a piece of wood, cut 1 side, tape the scraps back on, then saw the other side. This yields objects with a 3D look. This plan uses this for the hammer handle, chisel blade, and chisel handle. Here is the hammer handle:
I used a combination of different types of sanding equipment on these rounded pieces including drum sander on drill press, disc sander, stationary belt sander, and Dremel tool with sanding drum.
Here are all the pieces completed and glued up. I sighted the pieces by eye, versus transferring any measurements from the plan. I used yellow titebond-2 glue.
Clock Movement thicker than Main Board
When I was rough assembling the clock, I noticed the movement protrudes behind the main board versus being flush. I checked the specs on the Klock-it movement, and it is 15/16" thick versus the main board thickness of 3/4". This might create a problem, if you screw the main board to the wall, and get it tight, then the movement won't go clear into the clock main board.
I wish I would have known this, because I could have made the main board 1 inch thick instead of the 3/4" called for in the plans. I think I will make a couple of 1/4 thick wood washers, and glue them to the back of the clock around the 2 mounting screw holes.
I went ahead and made up 2 washers, 1/4" thick, of white oak, and CA glued them to the back of the clock. This will prevent pushing out the movement when it is screwed into the wall. I probably should have made them from walnut versus white oak, but nobody will see the back.
Finishing
I gave the clock 3 rounds of 220 grit sanding and polyurethane. Here is after the 2nd coat.........
Finished Clock
Finished Clock installed in my Work Shop on Oct 31, 2016
Closing Thoughts
This was a fun clock to build. It took less than 12 hours to build it. It will make a nice addition to my woodworking woodshop, and I can now easily see what time it is because of the big clock letters
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