Thread: Simplicity Wooden Clock WIP

Hi George

I will be following your build with much interest. I aspire to building this clock one day too, but need a bit more practice yet with the fine woodworking skills required.

I was really impressed with your "Quintus" build as well, but the "Simplicity" is the one I like most of all. Good luck with the build.

Can you tell me where you got the brass tubing from?

Cheers
Geoff

Thanks Geoff.

I bought the brass rods from Hobbyco. Most reputable hobby shops should stock them. If you can't find any locally, try these guys. They seem to have a lot of stuff (rods, tubes, threaded rods, bearings etc) and ship nationally.

Rod Round Brass - Hobby Engineering Product Catalogue

Hi George
I to will be following with great interest I do like the stile of clock.
I get my brass from a company called brass and copper Or is it coper and brass they have racks and racks of just copper and brass

Russell

I've been searching for some reasonably sized panels for a reasonable price, because I'm a reasonable kind of guy, for over a week now.

In the States there are many wood and hobby suppliers that sell 12" by 24" sheets for under $10. Woodcraft was one such supplier. I asked for a shipping quote which came to a measly $200. Add another $100 for the items. No surprises there really. Their shipping is very affordable for US customers but anything that has to cross water attracts a pretty penny.

Locally I was having next to no luck just finding Baltic Birch. The hobby scene here is pretty small so there is almost no demand for small panels. Instead, you need to buy 1200mm x 2400mm sheets that won't fit in your car but at least you can make enough clocks out of them to satisfy the whole village.

After some searching around and a few phone calls I was put off by the high prices and awkward sizes. There was one supplier though that I initially overlooked because they were in Melbourne. I figured since I would need to ship these panels even from a local store, I might as well try an interstate one. My persistence paid off.

Plyco have two offices in Melbourne but they deliver country wide and their rates are very reasonable. They sell a 'handy panel' range of Baltic Birch, which they call Russian, at very affordable prices and in a whole range of sizes starting from 3mm through to 24mm. The handy panels are 1200mm x 600mm which is their smallest size and they are all B grade premium face and back.

I ordered a 3mm, 6mm, 9mm and a 12mm panel which is enough for all 3 plans that I purchased from Clayton Boyer and then some. Should keep me busy for a while and it allows me to experiment (ie. make mistakes).

My order came to a touch over 20kg and the freight from Melbourne to Sydney was only $40! One of the earlier quotes I got from a Sydney store was more than that for 2 panels only, albeit larger panels. The total order came to $160 and this is enough plywood to make about 8 clocks if you're careful. I'm hoping to make a couple out of this with a few 'experimental' pieces. *cough*

Hey two40, I would be interested to hear what you think of the Plyco Baltic ply. I have just completed a Bird Of Paradise clock from Clayton using some very ordinary plywood which was just about impossible to cut without chipping. I am moving on to Simplicity and Galileo's Bicycle next and intended to order some Baltic from Plyco but wasn't too sure what the quality would be like. Because the price differential is substantial I was going to sue the 6mm only and laminate it up to give the 12mm thickness.

Regards.
Philip

Hi Philip,

Will report on the quality as soon as it arrives. I was told it would ship on Tuesday and I should receive it by weeks end.

Do you have photos of the clock? Would love to see it. The Bird of Paradise was very interesting to me and I almost bought it. There's still a possibility I will after I get through the first lot.

As I mentioned the plywood I used chipped a lot and while I am pleased to have built a wooden clock, I am not prepared to post the results here.

The one thing I have learnt from the process is that it is absolutely critical to minimise the friction on the arbors. Without the escapement attached the whole thing would spin with about 300grams of weight. Once the escapement was engaged this rose to 7 kilos and unreliable motion. Spending time getting the arbors well polished reduced this to less than 100grams and about 5 kilos has it running (more or less) reliably.

Fantastic fun building it!!

Philip

looking forward to this

Originally Posted by two40

My material list for the next project received its first ticks today with the purchase of some brass rods and tubes. The clock I will be building is the Simplicity by Clayton Boyer. As the name suggests, it is a simple one to start with but after reading through the instructions and having a look at all the drawings, I’m contemplating calling him out on the name. Nothing worth doing is ever easy as they say and they’ve never been wrong before.

This is what the clock should look like once complete. The finish will be different on mine and I might decide to go with a different style face but you get the idea.



It’s all very exciting at this stage. I’m about to embark on a great adventure and build the most accurate and beautiful clock there ever was. Once complete, the villagers will visit me daily to calibrate their pocket watches and linger for hours to listen to my tales. I’ll tell them my favourites like the time I was tending my sheep and watching a horse cart roll by and how that gave me the idea for inventing the cog. Or about the time when the Duke invited me over to sup with him and offered his youngest in exchange for my clock.

Anyway, that’s all ahead of us and I don’t wish to give the whole story away in one sitting. You’ll just have to experience it alongside me so grab yourself a cozy spot and have a pitcher of ale on me.


The brass rods/tubes I purchased today glistening in the sun with pride at being hand picked over all the other brass rods/tubes.



For anyone interested, you can follow my build more closely on my blog over at tickingwood.com. Although I do post everything relating to this project here, there are other posts I make about woodworking and clocks in general.

Hi George,

Good luck with Simplicity it's a lovely clock to build and Clayton's always ready to help and offer advice if you get stuck. Simplicity was my first clock finished about 18 months ago. She ticks away nicely.
Can you get aircraft grade ply where you are - its great to work with?

Regards

Andrew

Originally Posted by eastgate

Hi George,

Good luck with Simplicity it's a lovely clock to build and Clayton's always ready to help and offer advice if you get stuck. Simplicity was my first clock finished about 18 months ago. She ticks away nicely.
Can you get aircraft grade ply where you are - its great to work with?

Regards

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Thanks. I'm looking forward to the build. It might take me longer than initially planned. I've just signed off on a new house for my fiance and myself. I'm certain that will take up all of my spare time but the clock will be a nice way to take a break from sanding walls and painting window frames. Instead, I can sand cogs and paint the frame.

I ordered some Baltic Birch from the neighbouring state last week and it has just arrived today. I'm still at work so I haven't seen it yet. I'm hoping it will be fine. It was advertised as premium grade B on both sides. I'll take some photos and report back on how it goes.

I'm pulling up a chair again.
I'll be interested to watch this.

Your first real construction project from the ground up. Fun, fun, fun.

You're getting me more and more interested in clocks as well now.
I might have to give one a shot when I get a couple of the other things out of the way. I only need to add a scroll saw to the repertoire, I think. I have most other tools now.

Another place for brass tubing, rod, etc is: - Tuberoundbrass - Small Mechanical Parts And Components

I was planning to buy some rod and tube for my wooden hinges, as insert/pin sets, for added strength, but haven't got around to it yet.

Thanks for the link Steve.

Originally Posted by RobRoySyd

If you need any timber milled drop me a PM, I have a friend closeby who runs a joinery business and has a thicknesser etc. He might even have some real Australian Red Cedar still left if you're interested.

Mighty generous of you to offer. Much appreciated.


The panels I ordered from Plyco arrived on Friday. The courier driver was delayed a day because of bad rain. They would have normally been delivered on Thursday after having been sent on Tuesday from Melbourne (to Sydney). Not bad for $40 and over 20kg of wide wood panels.

1/Well packaged with steel belts and caps on the sides to keep the belt from damaging the wood. The plyboards were sandwiched by two thin sheets of mdf which will come in handy as well. The edges are exposed which can easily be damaged in transport but that's not an issue for me since I'm cutting up the board.


2/ Slight edge damage which you should be aware of if you intend to use the whole panel uncut.


3/ The 3mm board split on one of the corners.


4/ Bit of a worry to see a gap between the plies. You do not want to cut the cogs and be left with gaps around the teeth. Hopefully this is an isolated problem.


5/ The variety of widths I purchased and the number of plies used for each can be clearly seen here.


6/ A nice clean face.


7/


8/ I believe this was the 9mm panel. Lots of little knots which could be a problem should one of them fall around the tooth area of the cogs. Fortunately for me, this size is required for the Toucan only and is used for the face and non-wheel parts.


9/

Good one. All set to go.
Fingers crossed there's no flaws in the wrong places in the middle of the ply.

I bought some basswood ply a little while back, (from elsewhere), and it arrived with similar minor damage on the edges too. One of the drawbacks of mail order purchases.

Not related to my clock build but it is on topic...

When two weeks ago my partner (she with the laser stares) and I went to look at a house for sale in Oatley, we had no idea just how much we would fall in love with the property and the area. Frantically we fought tooth and nail until we secured the contract 4 days after the first viewing and we couldn't be happier.

They say location, location, location. I agree. Given the choice to live in a brand new house on the outskirts of Sydney or close to the city in a nice suburb but in an older house, my decision would be the same every time. After all, you can always knock down the older house and build something you'll be happy with in an area you'll be happy with. It's harder to knock down a suburb on the outskirts and start again...

After the very first inspection we drove down to the town centre to have a look at the shops. We spotted a clock tower standing proudly in the middle of the shopping village. Reading the plaque we burst out in laughter. Neither of us are superstitious but this was surely a sign.

Watch out Oatley, there is a new clockmaker in town.