Make a Clock out of a Bicycle Brake Disc

Here is what you can do with all those old/spare bike brake discs you have lying around!

You will need:

- bicycle brake disc
- cheap quartz wall clock
- superglue
- ruler
- 2 long bolts and 2 nuts to fit them (optional)
- brasso
- kitchen sponge + towel

Step 1: Clean it up

If your brake disc is an old one and very rusty - like mine was - then get a little 'brasso' or other metal cleaning stuff and a kitchen sponge that you would use for washing up, and give it a good clean. It can get scratched easily if you use the hard side of the sponge, but with the rust being quite bad in my case, i didnt mind scratching it abit to get rid of the brown stuff. After it all comes off, get a clean cloth or paper towel to wipe it all off, it should become nice and shiny, just like new.

Comments

[hamsammy]

Great job!! I think I might do this for a friend who rides, then one with a motorcycle disc for myself.

[lfisher11]

Thank you, thank you. I wanted to make something for my partner this year, and this is perfect. He's already used a couple bike brake discs on art projects, so we may have more lying around, but he's anal and would know if I swiped it. I found one exactly like the one above on Amazon.

[Frederbee]

Thanks a ton for this instructable! I had an idea to do something like this, but wasn't sure if it would work out the way I thought... And you proved it could! I work at a bike parking service and we wanted to decorate our area with more biking things, so this is amazing

[pro5200]

I like it, so unique & creative

[pro5200]

thank you for your inspirations friends :D
I took my unused disc brake from my scooter, If I had time I will post the instructions

[TheCheese9921]

this is a neat idea, know only if you could add on a bike bell or horn to sound off the hour

[jonpersonals]

I did something like this once. I used a old Fire alarm Phizo buzzer . It runs on 5-10 volts and a 9v batt will really wake you up. A copper strip makes a easy sw or surplus cherry switches. I have used old dimes to switch 50- 100 amps, pennies will work , newer pennies have little copper more zink . Nickles are moe stainless steel than nicker , old nickles were more nickel, and make good switches too. Silver solder is the best switch material. 98% silver .You can coat your old copper contacts with
silver solder and increase the life 50x and it wont corrode., I did and do this with Car starter Solinoids so they last forever. Also transfer more volts and amps so your starter works better and lives longer....... I rebuild classic
corvetts and hi perf cars

[FreshPineSent]

You mean "now".

[TheCheese9921]

aha, yes

[grigsby]

I think drive sprocket would be nice and more attainable.

[Crashmaxx]

This is a great idea and it was so easy. It really makes a perfect gift for anyone that likes tech. As for not having these disc lying around, I just bought a new one at my local bike shop. I asked them if they had any worn out ones to give, but these don't seem to wear out that much, so good luck. But a new one off the shelf was just $15 so no big deal for me. I used numbers on mine, they come with most clock kits and the brass look goes nicely with the metal disc. I recommend getting a kit for thinner mounting like 1/4" so the hands don't stick out. I found JB weld worked best to glue it, hot glue was worthless, but epoxy like recommended is probably fine. I couldn't find fully threaded bolts in the length I wanted, so I got partially threaded ones, some acorn nuts and some aluminum tube to space it. I think it turned out great and looks even better. I like the look of cap head screws better too and used all stainless steel hardware just to make sure it stays nice. Best bet for the hardware is bring the disc into the hardware store and test fit some bolts till you're happy.

[Crashmaxx]

Uploading images seems to be broken ATM, so here are links to pics of my clock:
Bike Disc Clock Front
Bike Disc Clock Rear

[chris.thedrummer]

I like the idea of putting numbers on it! Where could i got some numbers like that?

[Crashmaxx]

I got them at the craft store, they were right next to the clock kits.

[chris.thedrummer]

ok thank you :)

[hiphopapotamus]

sweet instructable!

[Rob K]

So that's where my front brake went. Someone stole the disk brake off my mongoose a few months ago. I don't know why.

[Shifrin]

Pretty Sweet!

[Squee]

Wait.... I'm suposed to have spent enough on a bike that it actually has/had disk brakes?

[SerJ]

sorry, i dont understand your question..

[Squee]

Sorry, I was being sarcastic... it was late and.... yeah. Mostly in response to your "Here is what you can do with all those old/spare bike brake discs you have lying around!" comment. Most bikes over here have the brakes that brake on the rim of the wheel, bikes with disk brakes tend to be rather expensive (unless they have come down in price considerably in the last few years).

[SerJ]

re: your comment about my comment about the old/spare brake discs - i was being sarcastic as well! as you dont get alot of people with the spare ones just lying around :)) still, this is just an idea of what to do with one, mine was from a bike that has rusted in a wet shed for the last 2 years, so i just took it apart and had no other use for this disc.

[alvincredible]

sarcarsm doesnt work on instructables :-)

[iwantacuracy]

you could just get a bowl of metho and sit the brake in that for a while and swish it around a bit. then take it out and dry it.

[chunkymuggen]

dude, this is freakin awesome! ime going to my bike shop to get a disc brake for this!