Has anyone ever used thier Shark to create. ..

[cjablonski]

Aserver- beautiful work on the clocks! Saw a non us and a floor clock (my favorite of them both). Nice stuff!

[asever]

Thanks. That was the first clock I ever built. With David's permission I put it up for auction to support our local food bank. This may sound crazy but with furniture you develop a builders eye for imperfections craftsmanship etc that clock taught me about good quality sound that comes from a working clock.

On a side note I agree 100% about the polishing and reducing friction.

Andy

[cjablonski]

All for a worthy cause, and glad to hear David backed the idea. Its funny how detail oriented this hobby makes you, and the skills you end up possessing in the end. Additionally, since with all clock builds you spend a lot of "time" listening to the heartbeat (tick), and how from sound alone you can tell a well built, well timed clock by just sound. I love building them, and despite the eventual tinkering, staring, swearing and more tinkering how rewarding it can be. As said to me in the past," The greater the challenge, the greater the reward !"
I will try on the next build that I do from scratch ( A kit Sextus underway, long weird story how I got the strike going before the Sextus, but I digress) to document my process in a build with pictures so more can grasp the ease but challenge with them. Although it will not be totally a clock ( the CMCO as mentioned before) it will still be a mechanical movement so people can get a "feel" of a build. Do you currently have one underway? planned? In future consideration?

[asever]

Believe it or not I am working on a Sextus as well. I started it a year or so ago. The frame I made out of wenge and the pendulum arms out of blood wood with the gears our of walnut. I had to set it aside as I kept finding that the wood kept twisting on me after I machine the various parts. This clock has been on my to do list for years so I decide to give it another go. This time I made the frame out of bubinga and the gears out of cherry ply wood that I made (so I can make sure that it is stable). Today i am working on the inlay pieces that will be glued on the pendulum. I decided to use different Celtic trees to represent the seasons. I am looking forward to reading your build log.

Andy

Attached below are two of the inlays...they still need some work as they have only had the initial sanding.

[cjablonski]

Absolutely beautiful I must say. As with my next build, if you would, please post your progress here, as I would love to see it through!

[asever]

I will gladly share what I can. Here is the clock as it currently sits. All the gears are cut and I spent a good part of yesterday polishing shafts. Right now they all turn freely with the lightest of touches.

Today I have been working on the pendulum arms (mostly the inlay for the arms). I like the idea of trying to include some symbolism in the clock and having spent sometime in Ireland I thought I would try to use Celtic trees. While not impossible it would be really difficult to get the detail using the normal inlay process ie cut the male and female parts in wood and glue them together. Instead I am v-carving and using metal. All the trunks are powdered bronze and the upper portion is copper/brass/aluminum or malachite.

The process is pretty straight forward but I took some pictures as I think they will do a better job then I can in showing how easy it easy to do inlay this way.

Start with the Vcarve.

Add the bronze (Whenever I stay at a hotel I keep the door cards as the make great masks/glue spreaders....)

[asever]

Cont...

Add the other metal (in this case Aluminium) and soak in CA. Make sure you have a fan blowing the ca fums away from you...

Sand the CA and extra material away and you are good to go.

Andy

[cjablonski]

Absolutely stunning views! Never seen it done before. Great work! BTW - What do you mean by "CA"?

[NewAgent45]

CJ,

Yes! That is nice work and technique. CA stands for Cyanoacrylate. There is a whole family of CA glue products. You may know one as "super glue". One of his pictures above shows a bottle of Fastcap 2P-10 Thin which is a thin (low viscosity) wood formulation. Be sure to follow the safety precautions as with all cyanide compounds.

... Rod

[davemartin88]

I've never done a clock but do the inlays ever cause issues with balance on a part or are they done on parts that aren't critical? They look great and interesting to use the CA like that.