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Pocket Sundial

video Pocket Sundial

Make a simple but trendy miniture sundial that fits in your pocket or hangs around your neck. Very fun and interesting to make.

30 comments

Jan 3, 2008. 6:47 PM

xrobevansx says:

If I ever happen to need a sundial, chances are I won't have a calculator and protractor handy. But good instructable.

Jun 1, 2008. 8:15 PMstatic says:

I suspect if you have your trig. down pat you don't need a calculator nor trig. tables. So I have been told. Only a stick to scratch in the dirt with :) My guess is with a set of make- shift dividers you could make a serviceable protractor. :) Another guess is with a makeshift sextant using the serviceable protractor mad using the makeshift dividers you may be able to determine your latitude. Unless you are marooned with a member of the opposite sex what else you have to do ? :)

Jun 1, 2008. 8:57 PM

xrobevansx says:

I admittedly don't have my trig tables down pat.

Mar 9, 2011. 2:53 AMstatic says:

I don't have trig don't pat either any more. Use it or loose it? Don't matter google sundial calculator

Jan 5, 2008. 6:04 AMcamp6ell says:

well, make it in advance...

Apr 5, 2010. 6:00 PMmust invent says:

Wow,
if you don't know trig, well use a calculator

Sep 16, 2009. 6:37 PMsea_hinchey says:

using a soldering iron to wood burn the lines = trivial, but added aesthetic no less.

thanks kindly for this instruction.

Sep 16, 2009. 5:06 PMMcGyver2 says:

Do you think that you can amke a follow up for this, like put in individual steps so that this can be downloaded as a PDF for ofline veiwing?

Feb 25, 2008. 6:19 AMcopycat42 says:

cool beans! if you pre-drilled an angled hole for the nail, you could store it in another hole in the side. install a tiny compass below the nail, add a band, and you have a flintstones watch. awesome production, reminded me of the old "mechanical universe" animation.

Apr 23, 2009. 8:57 AMdalucero says:

HA! Flintstones watch. That's funny. The pre-drilled hole is a great idea! You'd be stuck with one Latitude I think. Maybe there's not much variance in hour-angles between the upper and lower latitudes of the United States?

Jun 1, 2008. 8:01 PMstatic says:

Other than the annoying audio that I suspect was to represent the ticking of a clock the video production was great. Respectfully I feel I need to get on give you a hard time about creating a video only instructable. Even here in the USA there are area where the ONLY internet access option is dial up, VERY SLOW dial up in rural areas. Please consider editing this to include text and photos. In addition to having a great video you would have a great instructable to your credit. Thanks if you read this to the end...

Jan 8, 2008. 8:21 PMFrenchCrawler says:

Nice job...
Though I still want a Ring Dial :P

Jan 6, 2008. 8:45 PMcallmeshane says:

I can't resist this comment... "Oh but how do you see it at night? Shouldn't you fit some lights or something?" To move beyond the insipid... I think a little face with a little compass would make an excellent daytime watch.

Jan 4, 2008. 7:26 PM1up says:

Awesome! But how do you transfer it from the paper to the wood?

Jan 6, 2008. 8:43 PMcallmeshane says:

Poke holes with a nail / thumbtack...

Jan 6, 2008. 2:49 PM

Goodhart says:

Craft houses still supply carbon paper of various types: I use it for transferring sketches from paper to wood so I can burn the picture into the wood (pyrography).

142

Jan 6, 2008. 5:50 AM

Kiteman says:

If you lay the paper on the wood, and go over it hard with a ball-point, it will leave a faint dent in the wood.

If you colour the lines in dark with a soft pencil, turn it over and rub the back with a coin, it will transfer lines to the wood.

etc.

Jan 5, 2008. 7:15 PMspudquibber says:

A better way to write the formula might be something like: arctan(sin(latitude)+tan(15*Hour)) with latitude and hour in degrees. For me, the fact that you had to take the arctangent was a little unclear. Apart from that, a very good tutorial, I'll probably try it out!

Jan 5, 2008. 3:57 AMWoodWinds says:

I had no luck seeing any photos or video of this instructable

Jan 11, 2011. 8:15 AM

thearchitect says:

Superb video presentation. What platform and software did you use for this? Really cool!..

Jan 4, 2008. 11:54 PMshanuea (author) says:

Windows movie maker.. With a few extra transitions etc I got from the web.

142

Jan 4, 2008. 9:27 AM

Kiteman says:

Very nice - one of the better purely-video projects I've seen for a while.

Jan 4, 2008. 11:53 PMshanuea (author) says:

Thanks man.. Appreciate the appreciation

Jan 3, 2008. 9:48 PMcoretj says:

how would you figure out the math without a calculator? also, if you were stranded on a deserted island how could you approximate your latitude?

142

Jan 4, 2008. 9:26 AM

Kiteman says:

If you were stranded on a desert island, would the exact time be all that important?

Jan 4, 2008. 10:12 PMcoretj says:

It depends on one's susceptibility to the effects of time deprivation. I know that I'd go looney toons in a few days without some way to measure the passage of time more than sunrise and sunset. In bootcamp we measured by chow time it was always at the same time with the same amount of time between meals. until lights out and then we heard TAPS.