My First Clock - The Silver Lady

[Dataporter]

We used to have a joke at my office about one of my talkative co-workers. The joke was, ask him what time it is and he would tell you how to build a clock! Well, I'm not going to tell you how to build a clock because Brian has written a book! Also, I don't know how to build a clock, yet... So what I am going to do here is just share my build of Brian's Dark Lady Clock. I'm hoping that if I get stumped or have a question, Brian or someone else here can share some advice. Brian did a thread right here on his build of this clock. Brian's plans are for building the clock with minimal tools and on the cheap material wise. I'm calling mine the Silver Lady because instead of blued steel for the frame of the clock I'm using some stainless steel that I have. The stainless brushed with a brass wheel looks silver and Silver Lady seems like a more romantic name than Stainless Lady. I'm also going to use more brass etc because I can. I'm using my 3 in 1 instead of a 7x10 mini lathe and I have rotary table / dividing head and some other tools. I elected to buy a mod 1 gear cutter. The plans are in metric and this is my first experience with metric. Most of my digital tools and my DRO switch from inch to metric with the touch of a button. My brain does not. I got a nice conversion chart and a metric ruler and a Harbor Freight 0-1" 0-25mm digital micrometer (which seems to be very usable). Of course, the good old USA missed the metric boat, unfortunately, and I have to use material that is the closest fraction of a inch in many places. I hope I don't screw that up!

Here's a picture from Brian's Website of what his clock looks like...

 

[Dataporter]

Here is some pictures of the frame (so far) and the assembly tools that I have made. I've actually improved the assembly tools a little. You'll see the improvements in later posts.

 

[Dataporter]

This is how I made the escapement wheels

 

[Dataporter]

The escapement arbor is shown in one of the last photos in the thread above. The arbor has to be concentric so both sides were turned and faced and the hole was drilled through the center without removing the stock from the chuck.

 

[Dataporter]

Here is a dress rehearsal of the escapement wheel assembly

 

[BRIAN]

Looking great keep up the good work.

Brian.

 

[Dataporter]

Here is the MOD 1 Cutter that I bought to cut the wheels (that's how a clock maker says gears, I guess). I made the arbor. Brian's Dark Lady plans have easy plans and instructions for making the cutter. I thought about making my own, I'm sure I could have, but in the end, I bought this one...



Below is how I lined up the cutter to be on center. As a side bar, I was using this ER-40 chuck mounted in the Morse Taper 3 hole in the center of my rotary table. Before I cut the first gear, I decided to check the run out and it was nearly .010"! (0.25mm) I decided that was unacceptable and you will see later that I mounted my 5C chuck on the RT instead.



My understanding is that the cutter can be sharpened many times by simply grinding the leading face of the cutter.

 

[Dataporter]

Cutting the Main Wheel. This is the first wheel or gear I ever cut! It was a little nerve racking, only because I hadn't done it before. Also, it seems like there are more than one way to mess this up.




The clip is on there to mute the ringing while cutting


The moment of truth, when you cut that last valley, will it form a perfect tooth with the first valley you cut??

 

[Dataporter]

Apparently, as a clock maker, first you cut the wheels, then you determine the ideal center dimension between the two wheels. Then you transfer this ideal dimension to the workpiece. So to do this you need a depthing tool.
So, I made one, and here it is...

When I tried to just hold the wheels in my hand and run them against each other, it seems like a pretty funky meshing. However, mount the wheels on the depthing tool you can definitely tell they mesh much better when they are held and turned in the same plane. Then you have to determine where the sweet spot is, i.e. where they mesh and spin without binding each other.

 

[Dataporter]

Above I'm checking the run out of the mandrel, before mounting some wheel blanks to turn to size.



Below I am making the flanges that guide the wind cord over the drive wheel. I drilled and reamed the center holes first. Then I used the bolt circle function of my DRO to drill the holes for the mounting screws.
Then I rough cut them on the band saw before mounting on a mandrel and turning them to size as shown above.



Below is the layout of the line cord stop

Below I am using a slitting saw to cut the ratchet wheel.


Below is getting ready to cut the teeth on the reverse minute wheel. The minute wheel is stuck to the mandrel with Loctite 603 because there is no way that little screw can hold on while cutting the teeth.

Below I'm cutting the radial holes in the ratchet hub. We will eventually press little pivot pins in the holes for the weight rope to drive the ratchet assembly. This little chuck has a micro feed collar that lets you use your fingers to start and drill holes. Perfect for these little drills.


Below I am making the two little pinion gears.


Drilling the holes for the pivot wire that will be pushed in to the pinion to form the "teeth".

Below I am sawing off the pivot wires with my dremel mounted on the tool post.

The pinion gears are in the picture below one is on the left side of the depthing tool and the other is sitting on the wheel that is immediately below my 6 inch scale.