Diptych Sundial

I saw a kit at Paxton Gate on Valencia in San Francisco on how to make a diptych sundial and was going to get it for my friend Ben, but then thought of all the extra wood I had from previous projects and decided to just make one from scratch. While I was once upon a time a physicist, I didn't really feel like figuring out all the mathematical details, luckily there are some pretty useful websites dedicated to sundials of various types.

I used this one as a model: http://www.mysundial.ca/tsp/diptych_sundial.html

But this one is also a nice site: http://www.sundials.co.uk/projects.htm

Step 1 Tools and materials

For the Basic body:
- 2 Wood blocks of equal size
I had a bunch of black walnut left over from making my side table with inset greenhouse, so that's what I used for this project. I cut two square pieces and squared them off (more of less) so that they fit flat together. I used japanese-style hand saw which was probably not the easiest choice (easiest would probably be a band saw, but then of course you need to have a band saw...) and required a lot of sanding to get it flat.  Note : It doesn't matter if the blocks are the same thickness, only the same dimensions on the face. You just have to make sure that the base is deep enough to inset your compass.

- Compass
I looked at using small compasses or a large compass and decided to go with a small one, but I think either could be cool.

- Small nails/tacks

- Thin string

- Dremel or router

- Wood carving tools

- Sandpaper and sanding block


For the hinges:
- Aluminum flashing
If you want to be more fancy/polished, you could use silver, and then you could solder the hinges so they look a little nicer, but aluminum flashing is cheap and readily available at any hardware store.

- Jewelers saw and V-block
A V-block makes it easiest to cut out the hinges using your jewelers saw. If you have a laser cutter, then these tools would not be necessary and the results would probably look a bit cleaner, but once you get used to cutting with a jewelers saw, you'll find you can make these shapes pretty easily and quickly.

- Needle Files

- Small nails

- Pin Vise
A pin vise is used for drilling very small holes. This would be the easiest way to make the holes for the small nails that will hold the hinges to the blocks.

For the decorating :
- Paint (latex or oil-based)
Acrylic could work too, but just be aware that if you use acrylic, the paint will remain at the surface of the wood and thus will rub off more easily.

- Painters tape

- Tracing Paper

- Exacto knife

Comments

[Lorddrake]

if I could give it more than 5 stars I would .. this is awesome.

I love the fabrication job you did on the hinges.

[solmstea]

Actually, the fabrication quality was pretty poor, but it was at least a cool idea. Anyway, thanks for the sentiment! I enjoyed this project immensely (probably more than the recipient of the final product...)

[ChrysN]

Cool, what a nice gift!