Are any of you folks into making wooden gear stuff? Clocks or gizmos?

[OCtoolguy]

After I get done making a couple of Christmas gifts, I want to try my hand at making a wooden gear clock or something that does something. I'm going to buy a book for ideas but I thought I'd ask here if anybody is into that kind of stuff. I find it fascinating.

 

[Woodmaster1]

1.75 hp is plenty of hp for anything as long as the blade sharp and you don't force the wood. I had the 1.75 at the school I taught at and had no issues. I would get the better fence. Does Johnson's wave the delivery fee? The woodworking store I buy from and demo at waves the fee if it orders three or more at a time. They have some in stock ready for pickup or delivery if it is not too far. 

 

I thought was was still on Tablesaw topic oops

Edited November 14, 2018 by Woodmaster1
Posted on wrong topic

[Hermit]

I'm interested in it myself and had purchased the book called "Big book of Gizmos & gadgets." That's as far as I've gone so far though. I need to get much better before I can tackle some of these projects. 

[Gonzo]

Yep, I gave it a try. I had a blast making my clock.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work, bummer. But, it's still cool looking. I know Scrappile made the same clock I did. Not sure where he is at on that. 

[Rockytime]

I just ordered the gizmo book and the wooden clock book from amazon. One book was $12.47, the other $11.00 including shipping with Prime. Small investment to check it out. I don't know if I have the patience or if I will live long enough to finish a clock. Should make interesting reading for sure.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

I want to do some wall art stuff. Not really into the gear clocks. You need perfect cutting and wood. Temp and humidity play a roll in keeping those turning. Seal the wooden gears when done. 

[OCtoolguy]

There are some great videos on youtube of things that do something. I like stuff like that. I'm not into all the wall hangers but that's what made Baskin Robbins rich. Something for everybody. Les, let me know which books you bought and what you think of them.

 

[SCROLLSAW703]

Howdy Mr. Ray,

So you're a wantin' to be a wood machinist, are ya?:) Awesome Idea!! I kinda been kickin' around the notion to create one of those Grandfather clocks what has all wood gears in it, and is about 5' or 6' tall, kinda fancy like.;). I have cut a lot of different sized gears out of different materials. Your cuts have to be pretty precise, Mr. Ray, or your gears won't come together quite right.

There were several neat patterns in back issues of the Scroll saw magazine. Man, and don't make my thinker box go to work tryin' to remember which ones, neither.;) You could go their website and do a search for them, I reckon. And like Mr. Les, go to Amazon and start to huntin' for a book on them.

Might I ask, fine Sir, have ya been to your local library just to have a look see at what they might have available, or have access to? It might be worth a shot before ya buy a book ya may not care for or end up usin', my friend.;) I'll do that here with our meager little community library. And, sometimes, I'll even locate a couple on Amazon and then take myself down to the library and see if they have access to those books, and if they do, I'll check them out and study them a little before I purchase them.

Happy huntin', youngster!:) Keep crankin' out the Sawdust!!

Sawdust703(Brad)

[Sycamore67]

I built this awhile ago

..

[oldhudson]

I wrote quite a lot about a weight driven wooden gear clock I made, the Genesis clock.   I think it was in 2013. Anyway here's a link to the thread. My clock is in the shop and has run perfectly since it was made.  Making another, that requires less room is high on my list. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

 

http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/7800-wooden-gear-clock/?hl=%2Bwooden+%2Bgear+%2Bclock

[MrsN]

http://www.derekhugger.com/ has some cool plans for making kinetic sculptures. I have ordered one of the plans, but havent built it yet.

 

http://www.woodthatworks.com/interesting-links/ has a section of links for plans from other people

Edited November 14, 2018 by MrsN

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

8 minutes ago, MrsN said:

http://www.derekhugger.com/ has some cool plans for making kinetic sculptures. I have ordered one of the plans, but havent built it yet.

 

http://www.woodthatworks.com/interesting-links/ has a section of links for plans from other people

Those are what I like.

[munzieb]

Built a Wooden clock based on HolzMechanik.de purchased plans. Gear cutting was not too bad since plans are excellent. I had to rebuild several items in the plan like the fulcrum and the sprocket tooth gear because of the strain of the weights. It runs intermittently but it may be because I keep it in the garage. Several Youtube videos on his clocks. All plans are in metric. Chris always responds to his emails. Some of the parts have been modified since this video was made based on the current drawings..

 

[meflick]

I think @Rolf has done some for the magazine maybe.  

[OCtoolguy]

7 hours ago, Sycamore67 said:

I built this awhile ago

..

That's what I'm talking about. What powers it?

 

[OCtoolguy]

12 hours ago, SCROLLSAW703 said:

Howdy Mr. Ray,

So you're a wantin' to be a wood machinist, are ya?:) Awesome Idea!! I kinda been kickin' around the notion to create one of those Grandfather clocks what has all wood gears in it, and is about 5' or 6' tall, kinda fancy like.;). I have cut a lot of different sized gears out of different materials. Your cuts have to be pretty precise, Mr. Ray, or your gears won't come together quite right.

There were several neat patterns in back issues of the Scroll saw magazine. Man, and don't make my thinker box go to work tryin' to remember which ones, neither.;) You could go their website and do a search for them, I reckon. And like Mr. Les, go to Amazon and start to huntin' for a book on them.

Might I ask, fine Sir, have ya been to your local library just to have a look see at what they might have available, or have access to? It might be worth a shot before ya buy a book ya may not care for or end up usin', my friend.;) I'll do that here with our meager little community library. And, sometimes, I'll even locate a couple on Amazon and then take myself down to the library and see if they have access to those books, and if they do, I'll check them out and study them a little before I purchase them.

Happy huntin', youngster!:) Keep crankin' out the Sawdust!!

Sawdust703(Brad)

Brad, there is no shortage of books and patterns out there. I have seen quite a few. Lot's of great videos too. I posted the questions because I had never seen anything mentioned here on SSV. l figured that there had to be some folks who had given it a try. A while back I also ran across a great website and videos done by a guy up in Canada. He is a genius. His name is Matthias Wandel and his website is Woodgears.ca. I think I have watched every video he has produced. He makes a lot of his power tools out of wood.

[OCtoolguy]

6 hours ago, oldhudson said:

I wrote quite a lot about a weight driven wooden gear clock I made, the Genesis clock.   I think it was in 2013. Anyway here's a link to the thread. My clock is in the shop and has run perfectly since it was made.  Making another, that requires less room is high on my list. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

 

http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/7800-wooden-gear-clock/?hl=%2Bwooden+%2Bgear+%2Bclock

Thanks for that link Oldhudson. I'm going to go on a search now for that issue. I didn't start subscribing until the following year. 

 

[OCtoolguy]

4 hours ago, munzieb said:

Built a Wooden clock based on HolzMechanik.de purchased plans. Gear cutting was not too bad since plans are excellent. I had to rebuild several items in the plan like the fulcrum and the sprocket tooth gear because of the strain of the weights. It runs intermittently but it may be because I keep it in the garage. Several Youtube videos on his clocks. All plans are in metric. Chris always responds to his emails. Some of the parts have been modified since this video was made based on the current drawings..

 

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate it. This is a great clock you made. I hope to do as good a job when I make one.

 

[Sycamore67]

I built my Dynamo Men based on the plans by John Hutchinson that were in Woodcraft Magazine.  It is powered by a 12. RPM  motor I bought on eBay.  He has made several other animated lamps and similar.

[OCtoolguy]

30 minutes ago, Sycamore67 said:

I built my Dynamo Men based on the plans by John Hutchinson that were in Woodcraft Magazine.  It is powered by a 12. RPM  motor I bought on eBay.  He has made several other animated lamps and similar.

I just went out and found a whole bunch of videos of the lamps etc. that he has made. Great stuff. Where can you buy the plans?

 

[Sycamore67]

Www.johnwhutchinson.com. This is the website for Dynamo Men and others.  You can contact him about plans but several have been in the scroll saw magazine.

[SCROLLSAW703]

Howdy Mr. Ray, 

That's great to hear, Sir! I have never been much of a video type of feller, but if you have located a source you like, & will help you, Sir, AWESOME!! That's how ya learn, my friend! Now ya got me anxious to see what you're goin' to create

[RabidAlien]

I've always wanted to make a wooden clock, since middle school and hearing a story about a freed slave who borrowed a pocket watch from a white friend, disassembled it, and carved all the gears with a pocket knife to replicate the clock.  Something like that, anyway.  I've got several plans I found online somewhere, haven't made one yet since I don't have the weights or other brass parts (shafts, bearings, etc).  Anyone know a good source for those parts?  I can find clocks all day long, but not the weights.

[oldhudson]

2 hours ago, RabidAlien said:

I've always wanted to make a wooden clock, since middle school and hearing a story about a freed slave who borrowed a pocket watch from a white friend, disassembled it, and carved all the gears with a pocket knife to replicate the clock.  Something like that, anyway.  I've got several plans I found online somewhere, haven't made one yet since I don't have the weights or other brass parts (shafts, bearings, etc).  Anyone know a good source for those parts?  I can find clocks all day long, but not the weights.

For weights I used copper plumbing pipes, easy to work with and the caps to fit the pipe are in the same aisle at your local big box store. Inside I put lead sinkers from a fishing equipment supplier. The sinkers were too large to fit in the small pipe so ended up use shot. The local hobby store had the brass for the shafts, although I'm sure you can find that stock on-line. My clock has no bearings, wood rides against brass. I did polish all the brass shafts, as noted in my initial posts of the build. But you can use lots of other materials. One Genesis clock I saw on-line used rocks. 

[munzieb]

2 hours ago, RabidAlien said:

I've always wanted to make a wooden clock, since middle school and hearing a story about a freed slave who borrowed a pocket watch from a white friend, disassembled it, and carved all the gears with a pocket knife to replicate the clock.  Something like that, anyway.  I've got several plans I found online somewhere, haven't made one yet since I don't have the weights or other brass parts (shafts, bearings, etc).  Anyone know a good source for those parts?  I can find clocks all day long, but not the weights.

For the clock I built, I found the plastic tubing on line and was able to order divers shot that comes in bags online also  The shot allows you to add or remove for the proper weight needed. My local Lowes had some of the brass rod in stock but I was surprised to find that Truevalue also had a good selection of rod and brass plate.

plastic tube: https://www.ebay.com/itm/11-7-8-Acrylic-Round-Tube-Clear-2-1-2-ID-x-2-3-4-OD-x-1-8-Wall-Nominal-/151541710317?hash=item234896fded:g:IX4AAOSwPe1T85hl

Small brass tubing along with "soft shot divers weights" can also be found on Ebay.