Introduction: Build a Cuckoo Clock From Scratch
I recently inherited a 1950s German made cuckoo clock. It belonged to my father in law. He was an amazing man. Career army. Prisoner of war in Korea, fought in Vietnam, Purple Heart, 2 Bronze Stars, and so much more. He passed away last May. He would have been 92 in August.
We are done with settling his estate now. My wife has two sisters and they went through everything and figured out who wanted what of his stuff. I love old mechanical clocks so when they came across the old cuckoo clock they figured I should have it. Ha, it was in pretty rough shape. Missing parts, broken pieces, dusty/dirty/tarnished movement, didn't run... wasn't sure what I could do with it but I felt that I needed to get it working somehow. Just seemed like a proper tribute to the man I had so much respect and admiration for. He had purchased the clock as a present for his mother while he was stationed in Germany. It returned to his possession when she passed away. I don't know how long it has been since it was in working condition. For the past 20 years it was simply a keepsake decoration that he hung over his workbench in the garage.
So I took it apart (pic 1), cleaned and oiled the movement, rebuilt the two whistle bellows, replaced the missing pieces, and fiddled with it for a couple days adjusting things. Wow... I was amazed at how well the movement cleaned up. And oh my... I was so tickled when I finally got it working! It has been running for several months now and I couldn't be happier with the results (pic 2). Ha... It's silly but I run into the kitchen right before the hour to hear it strike... and I laugh every time. It makes me happy and it reminds me of Pops (that's what the grandkids called him).
When I first took the clock apart I took stock of what all was there and found that there were several missing or badly deteriorated pieces so I needed to locate a source for parts. I found a place in Massachusetts called Clockworks that had an extensive inventory of cuckoo clock parts. I also notice that they sold brand new mechanical cuckoo clock movements that were reasonably priced. Along with all the other parts that I had ordered I also decided to purchase one of the movements. I wanted to get the old movement working again but I thought if it just won't run I could replace it with a new movement. At least that's what I told myself to rationalize buying the new movement. But the truth is the more I worked on and learned about these clocks the more I became fascinated with them... and I decided that I really wanted to build one from scratch. So here we are.
I'll have to say that this is one of the most challenging projects that I have done and it certainly tested my craftsmanship skills. It's funny... as far as woodworking goes, with the exception of all the fancy scroll saw work, there's nothing exotic here. It's mostly a simple box with simple joinery... BUT there's quite a bit of detailed work that requires very careful attention. Simply figuring out stuff was the most time consuming part even though I had the old clock to use as a guide. Lots of details to sort out... coming up with dimensions for what looked good, how thick should the pieces be, sketching the accent pieces, how am I going to make a certain part, what's the best way to mount this piece, how to do I ensure that it will be easy to work on later when it needs maintenance, etc. The most challenging part of the build was installing the bellows pushrods and getting the whistles to work. It's easy to make the bellows and whistle but connecting it to the clock movement and getting it to sound right took quite a bit of adjustment and tinkering. I'm going to be building more of these clocks and I'm curious how much easier it might be now that the design is done and I'm further along the learning curve. We'll see. I'll add to the gallery section of this instructable as I build more.
For anyone who might be interested in building this clock or maybe coming up with their own design I have several suggestions. Designing and building this clock has been a blast. If you want the full blown experience then go for it... it is a lot of fun. Just know that it isn't easy. Hopefully you will be able to learn a few things from this tutorial that will help make things go smoothly for you. Now... there are ways to make this a much easier project. The Clockworks website sells lots of parts for these clocks and you can buy some of the more challenging pieces from them instead of building them from scratch. One of the most critical items in my opinion is the whistle/bellows assembly. It's not a cuckoo clock if it doesn't "cuckoo". You can buy these as a pair... premade and ready to install in your clock. There are a number of different sizes available. Also, if you don't want to fool around with a lot of scroll saw work or hand carving you can purchase various pieces to decorate your clock. The clock dial is another piece that you might consider buying. I thought about carving the little bird by hand but decided to buy one instead. It comes with the hardware to mount it to the clock movement. So... you have lots of options to tailor your clock building experience. The most important part is to have fun!
As you read through this instructable you will see that I will provide greater levels of detail in certain steps that I believe are crucial. For example, the whistle and bellows sections. I will reference the pictures in the step and provide commentary on each individual picture. In other steps where there is a general process and the process is simple (for example, where I cut out and attach the decorations) I will provide commentary on the process and the pictures are included so that you can step through them to see the progression. If somehow there is something that is still confusing or isn't clear please ask questions in the comment section. I will be happy to answer.
As a preview.... Picture 3 is a shot of the finished clock.
Supplies
It doesn't take much wood to build the clock and for the most part I was using scraps from various other projects. I wanted to use a variety of wood types to get a good contrast in all of the different accent pieces and make the clock look interesting. I ended up using cherry, oak, walnut, and teak. I used the teak to make the whistles and bellows. The rest of the clock parts were made from the cherry, oak, and walnut.
The clock movement and just about the rest of the hardware were purchased from the Clockworks website. I got a couple things from Home Depot. The leather for the bellows came from Columbia Organ Leathers in Pennsylvania.
Clock Hardware
Regula 25 Cuckoo Clock Movement - 23.5 cm drop
Pinecone Weights - 320 g and 500 g
Clock Hands - 40 mm
Gong - 2 1/2 inches
Dial Numbers - 9 mm
Brass Screw - #6 x 2 inches
Knurled Nut - #6
Leather - 6" x 12" CPL Leather, Thin
Special Tools
Glue
Finish
Templates
Step 1: Whistle
Without the two whistles a cuckoo clock is just... well... a clock. So I figured that if I was going to make a cuckoo clock then the first thing I had to get right were the whistles. I played around for several days and made a number of whistles.
As a side note I believe my wife is now regretting the decision to give me the old clock. Man I made a lot of noise making and testing whistles.
The goal was to make something that was compact with a loud clear tone. I had quite a bit of teak scraps left over from a couple of previous projects. It's wonderful stuff to work with. Any hardwood will work though. Picture 1 is what I finally settled on as a design. Compact, easy to make, and a loud clear tone. I taped it together so I could move pieces around until I found the sweet spot. You end up making two whistles for the two different tones you hear in the "CUCKOO". I did a little research to find out what tones I should be shooting for. As it turns out the key (ha) is that the two tones are separated by 3 intervals (half steps). The first note is three half steps above the second. I chose C and A. I used my guitar. On the high E string (sixth string) the eighth fret is C. Three intervals down is A on the fifth fret (on the guitar each fret is a half step). When I got to the point when I was ready to tune my whistles I used these notes.
Picture 2 shows the strips of wood used to make the whistle. Two pieces are 5/32 inch thick and the other is 3/8 inch thick. All pieces are cut to the same width... 21/32 inch. I know... weird dimensions but these little tiny distinctions are important. I wish we used the metric system. I made one whistle about 4-1/4 inches long and the other was about 4 inches.
Picture 3 shows all of the parts for one whistle sitting next to the prototype. From top to bottom... there are two side pieces and a bottom piece, two top pieces, and two plugs. The top plug (which is the shorter of the two) is sanded about 1/32 inch narrower to make the channel that air travels through.
We start assembly in picture 4 where the two side pieces, bottom piece, and the two plugs are taped together. The plug we sanded down a bit is 7/8 inch long and is inset in the assembly by 1/8 inch. Make sure it is pressed firmly against the bottom piece. Use thin CA glue to bond the short plug in place (picture 5). Hold the piece so that glue does not run into the area where the lower plug is. That gets bonded in later. Once the glue sets remove the tape and the lower plug (picture 6). Apply glue to the area where the plug was to finish bonding the sides to the bottom piece.
The short top piece is glued with its end flush with the end of the whistle (picture 7). There is a 3/16 inch gap between this piece and the longer beveled top piece. The gap measurement is sort of critical so get close to 3/16 inch. On the longer piece I shaped the bevel on the belt sander... I didn't measure anything... just eyeballed it. As it turns out it's about 9/16 inch long. Once the long top piece is bonded and the glue is set (picture 8) insert the lower plug into the bottom end of the whistle (picture 9). You'll notice that the further you insert the plug into the whistle the higher the pitch will be. The last step is to tune your whistle to the desired note, bond the plug in place, and sand it flush (picture 10). The remaining pictures show various dimensions with the last picture showing the two finished whistles.
Now just don't drive everyone in the house crazy by tooting CUCKOO on your two new whistles over and over. Ha... I failed there.
Step 2: Bellows
First 4 pictures - Like for the whistles I used my leftover teak to make the bellows. Again, any hardwood will work. The bottom piece is approximately 3/16 inch thick and the top is 1/4 inch. Dimensions for the two pieces are 1-3/8 inch by 2 inches. A 3/4 inch countersink is drilled in the top pieces as shown to accomodate the lead weights. The weights shown here ended up being nowhere near heavy enough and I poured a couple more that were much heavier (around 30 grams). The bottom pieces have a 1/4 inch hole drilled in them to allow air to pass from the bellows into the whistle. Note - This is very important... there is a left side bellows and there is a right side bellows that are mirror images of each other. Make one of each.
There are different materials that you can use to cover the bellows. I used Tyvek paper to recover the bellows in my old cuckoo clock. For my new clock I decided to use leather. After using both I decided that I greatly prefer working with the leather and that's what I'd recommend. I used a thick CA glue but if you want a little more of a grace period then you might go with rubber adhesive.
Pics 5, 6, and 7 - There should be about a 1 and 1/2 inch span when the bellows are opened fully and that requires a two inch wide piece of leather. A new Xacto blade and a straight edge are the tools you'll need to cut the leather.
Pics 8 thru 12 - First step is to glue the hinge in place. I cover the inside faces of the two pieces with clear packing tape to ensure that I don't inadvertantly glue them together in the process. The top and bottom pieces are aligned and held together with masking tape. Glue is applied to the end and the small piece of leather is bonded in place. There is a slick side of the leather and the other side is kind of fuzzy... I glued down the fuzzy side. Once the glue sets trim any overhanging piece of leather and remove both the masking and clear packing tape. Note that the hinge is glued on the opposite end away from the countersink and through hole.
Now take the two inch wide strip and cut it to length. I went with about 7 inches to give me a bit of overlap. Start by making a couple of midpoint marks on either side of the strip (picture 13). Also mark the midpoints on the ends of you top and bottom pieces (picture 14). Picture 15 shows your starting postion with the midpoints aligned. Glue down one side at a time. I started with the bottom piece in picture 16. The top piece is glued down in picture 17. Now apply glue to the edges shown in picture 17 and then tip the assembly over on its side (picture 18). Stand it up again on the other side (picture 19), apply glue to the edges and fold down (picture 20). Cut as shown in picture 21. Trim off the excess in picture 22. Repeat on the other side to you end up with picture 23. Apply glue to the first flap (picture 24). Bond that to the hinge are and turn it over (picture 25). Repeat on the other side (picture 26).
The next five shots show how to fold the bellows. Press down firmly to get good creases. Picture 31 shows what you're shooting for.
At first this procedure seemed a bit intimidating but it really wasn't that bad.
In picture 32 we are about to glue the bellows to the whistle. We haven't talked about the little round mounting pieces on the whistle yet... we'll get to that in a few more steps. But I wanted to show the completed assembly in this step.
Picture 33 shows the completed assembly. It is important to offset the bellows away from the face of the whistle when you glue it in place (I used thick CA glue). When the whistle is mounted inside the clock the face will be against the inside surface of the clock case. You don't want the bellows to rub against the case so it needs to be offset a tiny bit.
The last step is to clamp the bellows together to develop a good crease in the leather. During the rest of the build it's a good idea to keep this clamp in place until you are ready to install the whistles for good.
Note: It VERY important to orient the bellows properly on the two whistles. When you have the back of the clock facing you the higher pitched whistle will be mounted on the right side and the lower pitched whistle will be on the left. The hinged side of the bellows will be towards the front of the clock. And remember that there is a right and left bellows as well to make sure the through hole will blow air into the whistle. This orientation is critical so please pay close attention.
The last picture is for reference. These are the weights that I ended up using on top of the bellows. They are 30 grams each and 3/4" in diameter. Kind of heavy but that's what it took to get a good sound from the whistles.
Step 3: Pendulum
OK... the first two steps were kind of fiddly and fussy... let's make something easier now.
The pendulum shaft is 7/32" thick by 11/32" wide. Ha, I know, more weird dimensions. Sometimes I just run stuff through the surface planer until they look right and then measure them later. That's what I did here. Ditto on the pendulum bob which is made from 7/32" thick material. But I did make the bob an even 2 inches in diameter.
For the bob you'll first cut a dado down the center of your piece of wood. It is a smidge over 7/64" deep so that when you glue the two halves together we will have a slot for the pendulum shaft. The dado needs to be a tiny bit over 11/32" wide too. That way the bob can easily slide up and down when it is installed.
Glue down the templates ensuring that they are center over the dada and cut out the two bob pieces on the scroll saw. This takes us through the first 5 pictures.
In pic 6 I have cut off a 3/8" section of the shaft and drilled a 5/32" hole through the middle. Glue this into the bottom end of the dada on one of the bob pieces as shown. Also apply glue over the inside face of the bob piece and bond the two halves together. Final results in pic 7 and 8.
Insert the shaft into the bob and push it in as far as it will go (pic 9). Then using the pendulum bob as a guide match drill the end of the shaft (pic 10). Drill in about a quarter to a half inch.
Pic 11 shows the required hardware that I purchase at Home Depot.
Pic 12. Ready to assemble the pendulum.
Pics 13 and 14. Cut the head off of one of the screws. Take the headless screw and glue it into the hole in the end of the shaft. As the glue sets make sure the screw is straight. I used CA glue here.
Once the glue has set you can now assemble your pendulum and add the knurled nut to hold it all together (pic 15).
The next five pics (16 through 20) are added for reference. This was the final result for the finished pendulum once I went through the process of cutting it to the correct length during the test run step later on.
Step 4: Case
This is another easy step and when you get done it will look like you've made a ton of progress. Woo hoo... let's go.
I've included templates for the front, back, sides, bottom, and the dial. We'll talk more about the dial in the next step. I made the case from 5/16 inch thick cherry. UPDATE (March 30, 2023): I also need to update the templates to make the clock 1/2 inch taller to provide a bit more room for the whistle bellows. So for now make sure you cut the front, back, and side panels 1/2 inch longer. Align the templates with the bottom edge of the panels when marking the cutouts for everything else. You want that extra half inch at the top. The intent is to push the roof up a little more.
First 5 pictures. It's a simple matter of printing out the templates and cutting/drilling along the lines. As I was building this clock I used the template for the front piece to also cut out the back piece. I've since updated my drawing to include the details for the back piece so use it. I've also updated the front template to avoid some confusion. The dial is now it's own template.
Once the parts are cut to shape then the next step is to cut a shallow rabbet (1/16") on the front, side, and back pieces as shown in picture 6. To be clear... the rabbet is cut on the bottom of all four pieces and then both sides of the front and back pieces. The bottom is left as is. The rabbet makes it a bunch easier to keep everything aligned and square when you glue the parts together.
Sometimes my design process is a bit convoluted. As was the case here. It was easier for me to work on the design to a point then go ahead and build the part with the intent of using it to help figure out the rest of the design details. It's a lot easier for me to figure stuff out when I have the actual part in my hand. That's what the process was for the clock case. I built the basic box and used it to figure out the mounting details for the clock movement, the dial, and the whistles. This means the pictures will be somewhat inconsistant. You will be able to cut and drill everything according to the updated templates where I was figuring out the details as I went along. So keep that in mind as you are stepping through the pics. You'll see me cutting parts and drilling holes after the box was built where now all that can be done before assembly. Sorry if there's any confusion. If you have a question... please ask.
In pic 7 we have the mounting pads for the clock movement. I talk about how to make those in detail when we work on the whistle mounts. Just glue those down according to the locations shown on the template.
Pics 8 and 9 show where I cut the access panel free of the back piece.
Pics 10 and 11... parts are taped together and then bonded using thin CA glue.
In pics 12 and 13 I have the movement mounted using 1/2 inch #6 screws that came in the screw assortment we bought from Clockworks. I set the box on its side and was checking to see that the slot for the pendulum and the holes for the chains all lined up. The pendulum slot was fine but the holes were a little off though not enough to where it mattered.
Pics 14, 15, and 16. I used small (1/8" diameter x 1/8") neodymium magnets for the catch on the back access panel. You can find these on Amazon.
Pics 17 through 20. I've spent some time figuring out where to mount the cuckoo whistes. Here I'm drilling the mounting holes as well as the hole for the whistle aperture. Like I said, the template has been updated so that you can drill these holes before you assemble the box.
Last pic shows where I drilled a small access hole for a chain to fit through. This chain will be connected to the strike mechanism release lever. More detail on this in the final assembly step.
OK... you've got a clock case built. This is the foundation for the rest of the project. Next we'll make the dial for the face of the clock.
Step 5: Dial
As I said in the intro... you can buy the dial if you prefer but I wanted to make as much of the clock as I could (within reason). So how do you make a nice round dial with a recessed area for the numbers? Making the a round dial is easy... print out a template, glue it to a piece of wood, and cut it out with the scroll saw. To cut the rabbet on the edge as well as hogging out the recess I modified my teak grate jig we used to make our charcuterie set in a previous instructable. I was very happy that the jig was dual function now and no longer a unitasker!
It's pretty simple. I use a drill bit as an axle to hold the dial in position while the dial is rotated through the cut. My old Incra router table jig controls the fence position so I can make accurate cuts in various widths. When I have everything set I clamp down the dial jig to the router table to keep it from moving during the cut.
The dial is about a quarter inch thick. The hogged out area on the top of the dial is 1/16" deep. This is where the numbers will go.The rabbet on the bottom is about an eighth of an inch deep and the width is such that the result will fit inside the clock case cutout. The second largest diameter on the template is the clock case cutout diameter. (Note: The included templates have been updated to simplify all of this. The dial template is separate now.) The reason for all of this is that it provides a bit more clearance for the clock movement when it's mounted in the case. If you end up buying a thin flat dial to glue onto the face then you would need to counterbore the back side of the front piece to create more of a recess. Just make sure that none of the clock movement parts are pushed up against the inside face of the clock case. Pic 14 shows the recessed area and the clock movement. The bottom most piece of the movement you can see is called the rack. There is another piece in front of that which is even closer to the inside of the clock face. This part is called the snail. You don't want this piece touching the inside of the case. The rack and snail are what control the number of strikes that occur on the hour. The last pic is a good shot of the rack and snail (the part that looks like a snail shell).
Step 6: Roof and Shingles
I actually built the roof while I was test running the clock. It was something to do while I was letting the clock run and adjusting the pendulum bob every hour to fine tune the movement so that it would keep good time. But this seems like a good spot to add the step.
A lot of cuckoo clocks have a simple roof. Just a couple pieces of wood glued together. A lot of times this is because the hand carved decorations on the front of the clock are so big that you really don't see the roof. I had decided on a different style of decoration... one where the roof would be visible so I wanted something a bit more ornate. I went with kind of a fish scale shingle pattern and added a decorative piece for the facia. I like it! It reminds me of the roof on the little houses in Christmas Town in the old Rudolph Christmas special.
First 5 pictures. I used the miter saw to cut 41 degree bevels in the two base pieces to match the slope of the top of the case. The pieces are aligned and taped, then flipped over, glue is applied, and the mating surfaces are brought together. Once the glue sets remove the tape.
Pics 6 thorough 9. The shingles are made from 1/8" thick material and are 11/16" inches wide by 1-5/8" long. It took me a couple days to make enough to cover the roof (there are 104 individual shingles). Not a lot of fun but then not hard either. I'd cut a strip of wood to the correct width, round off either end (freehand) on the disc sander, and then cut off each end to the correct length with a pull saw (dozuki). I figured it would be easier to glue on each course of shingles if they were already glued together rather than gluing down each individual shingle. Since I wanted each successive course to overlap the previous I made two different versions... one full course of seven shingles and the other with eight. For the course with eight I sanded down the shingles on either end of the course so that they ended up as half width shingles. Make 6 assemblies of each version.
Pics 10 though 13. I played around with the spacing until I found something that I liked and marked the spacing on the roof piece. After that I glued down the course assemblies alternating between the two types so that each course was staggered.
Pic 14. The cap pieces are a little shorter and the ends are sanded to match the pitch of the shingles. You only have to worry about getting the angle correct on the first two shingles in the front. You won't be able to see the joint for the rest of the shingles so you can sand those at a steeper angle. Glue the cap pieces down and you're done.
Last pic... completed roof with shingles!
Step 7: Adding the Whistles
In this step I spent a lot of time figuring out how and even more importantly where to mount the whistles. You just want to make sure that no one piece will interfere with the operation of another. You're looking at where the pendulum wire goes, where the bellows pushrods will go, the position of the gong hammer, making sure there's enoung room for the bellows to open. Lots of different stuff. Luckily I have that all figured out for you now. Just use the templates and it will all fit the way it should. You're still probably going to have to bend the hammer and bellows pushrods a bit to get those in proper alignment.
One thing that I always had in mind was to build the clock with the idea that one day some maintenance would need to occur. Cleaning/oiling or replacing the movement and possibly replacing the bellows leather for example. So all of the parts need to be removeable... and the easier this is the better.
On the old cuckoo clock the whistles have a screw and a small nail to hold them in place. As much time as I spent making the whistles I did not want to risk splitting the wood so I added a couple of wooden buttons on the front face. They are turned using the disc sander (pics 8 through 12). Then I made some thumb screws to secure the whistles to the case through the holes in the side of the clock case. The small buttons are 1/8" thick and 3/8" in diameter and the larger buttons on the thumb screws are 1/2" and a little thicker than the small buttons. I used a drill bit to align the small button with the larger button when they were glued up to make the complete assembly (pic 13). The top of the thumbscrews are countersunk to accept a 1/2" #6 screw.
In pic 17 everything is ready to go. When you are looking at the clock from the back the small (higher pitch) whistle will go on the right and the other will be on the left. At first the screws will be a little hard to install until threads are cut. You may need to use a screw driver initially... just don't over tighten.
The remaining pics show various views of the whistles in place.
Once I was happy with the whistle installation I took it all apart and added the bellows to the tops of the whistles. But now that all of this is figured out you will have the bellows already installed for your build.
Note: On the side of the clock case the hole for the whistle aperture is 1/2" diameter. The two holes for the whistle mount are a bit larger than 3/8" diameter to give you a little wiggle room when installing the whistles. Though you need to keep them under 1/2" diameter.
Step 8: Test Run
I wanted to do a test run at this point to check out the operation of the whistles and get the pendulum close to the correct length. It's a lot easier to fiddle with everything without the roof, dial, and backplate installed. One of the tricky parts here is installing the chains. I'll go into detail on how to do that in the final installation step. We'll also permanently install the pendulum there too. Here I just have it temporarily taped in place.
One feature of the clock movement that is helpful during this stage is the release lever that triggers the strike mechanism. It's a little lever that is on the left side of the movement (as you are viewing it from the front). That way you don't have to wait every half hour for the strike to occur. The first thing that I discovered was that the 350 gram weight was not heavy enough to drive the strike mechanism. I figure that the extra heavy weights that I used with the bellows was the cause. No problem, we'll just get a bigger weight. I also had a 420 gram weight but it wasn't heavy enough either. I looked at the different weight options that were available and saw that the next two sizes up were 500 and 630. I had an old Crown Royal bag and some lead shot that I pressed into duty as a makeshift pinecone weight. Using a digital scale I added shot to the bag until I hit the desired weight. For the first pass I jumped up to 630 grams. That worked but it drove the movement a little too fast so I backed off to 500 grams and that worked perfectly. Ha... I knew there was a reason for saving those Crown Royal bags.
The next thing that I noticed is that the lower pitched whistle bellows was ballooning out instead of folding back on its creases. The problem was that the pushrod was still a little too long and was hyperextending the bellows. Easy fix... just bend the rod a little shorter. Now on to the pendulum.
When you buy the clock movement you have pendulum options. The characteristic is called "drop length" and is an indication of how long the pendulum needs to be for that particular movement. Drop length is measured from the top of the movement to the middle of the pendulum bob. Thing is... that length just gets you in the ballpark. It depends a lot on how you have made your pendulum. So to hedge my bet I made the pendulum way too long and figured I'd shorten it bit by bit until the clock kept good time.
The drop length that I selected was 23.5 cm (or 9.25 inches). Now when you plug that length into the the equation to calculate the period of a pendulum you come up with a period of around 0.97 seconds. Hmmm... that sounds odd to me but OK. That works out to approximately 60 beats of the pendulum in 58 seconds. So now it is a simple matter of starting the timer on your phone and see how long it takes for 60 beats of the pendulum. The period of a pendulum is proportionate to its length. Longer pendulums have longer periods and shorter pendulums have shorter periods. Ha... sometimes it's easy. When you are timing your pendulum you will hopefully find that it takes longer than 58 seconds to count off 60 beats. I would time the pendulum with the little knurled knob at its lowest position. Then I would dial it up to the highest position and time the pendulum again. If the pendulum was still too slow I would cut off a small section of the shaft equal to the distance I moved the knurled knob. I repeated that process until I got close and then used the knurled knob to dial in the correct pendulum period. This process gets you pretty darned close. Now the process is to let the clock run and compare it to the time on your phone every hour to see that the clock is keeping the correct time. Adjust the knurled knob up to speed up the clock or dial it down to slow down the clock.
I also added the clock hands just for fun... I'll talk about how to mount and set those a bit later on.
Ha! I don't want to take it down to finish it. The cuckoo whistles sound AWESOME!!!! So loud and clear... and what a great tone they have too! WOOO HOOOOOO!!! The sweet sound of success. This was the part I was most worried about.
Step 9: Mounting the Gong
Based on what my old cuckoo clock sounds like... the piece that is called the "gong" is misnamed. If the name is supposed to be an indication of the sound the device makes then it should be called a "clank". It's not a pretty sound. My original intent was to use one of the chime bars that I had taken out of an old doorbell chime. But the bar was too long to fit inside my clock case. Oh well, I'll buy a standard clank....er, I mean gong, to put in my new clock. They come in different diameters... this one is 2-1/2 inches.
The tricky part here is that you need to bend the little hammer into position such that it is close to the back wall access door and also not interfere with the pendulum wire. It also needs to strike the gong somewhere around the middle of the horizontal section. And the gong needs to be mounted such that no part of the wire coil touches the inside of the clock case. I know... more fiddly stuff. But honestly it's not that hard. One last key point is that you don't want the hammer to actually touch the gong... it needs to be just barely above it. That way it won't damp out the gong when it is ringing.
Once I got everything mounted I gave it a test run. Oh hey! It's not very loud but at least it makes a "GONG" sound. Hmmm.... I wonder what's up with my old clock. I may have to go back and fiddle with it a bit now.
First pic is the gong from my old clock. Second pic shows the new gong and also the bar that I originally wanted to use. Pics 3 and 4 I attach the gong to the back panel. Last pic shows the gong in place. Also note the locations of the pendulum and the various levers. One of the fiddly parts in this clock build is to ensure that the strike hammer and the two bellows lift levers don't interfere with the pendulum wire or each other. Something to keep in the back of your mind during the build.
Step 10: Cuckoo Bird
Here is another step where special attention is required. You will pass a point of no return during this step.
The clock movement is sold with a ridiculously long rod that sitcks way up and looks like some sort on an antenna. The rod will become the perch where the little cuckoo bird sits. The reason for the long straight rod is that it allows you to custom shape the rod to fit your clock. This involves bending and cutting the rod to proper length. It's best to get this right the first time since there's not a whole lot that can be done once you complete this step.
The first picture is a close up of a commercially available cuckoo bird. The tail seems too long doesn't it? There is a purpose for the long tail... there will be a small wire mounted in the side of the bellows top on the right side whistle. The wire is bent so that it will be positioned just below the bird's tail when the clock is striking. As the bellows top goes up and down it moves the bird up and down and also opens and closes his beak. Neat huh? Ok... maybe not as fun as the Tiki Hut birds at Disney but still kinda cool. Anyway... we'll talk more about automating the bird in the final installation step.
In picture 2 I cut off a small section of the rod to do a practice bend to get a feel for how easy it was to bend the rod. I held the rod in some vice grips and then bent the rod over with my thumb. It took a bit of force but wasn't too hard.
I figured out where the rod needed to be bent and marked it with a piece of tape. With the rod rotated forward in the strike position the rod is bent parallel with the front face of the movement and cut to length. Mount the bird on the rod and tighten the little set screw on the mounting hardware (pic 3). In this picture the bird is rotated back in place. When the strike occurs the rod will rotate and pivot the bird forward as shown in the last pic.
Step 11: Adding Decorations
The whistles and movement were removed for this step. Print out the first picture full size for your patterns. For reference... the square block on the lower right side of the image should be 1 inch by 1 inch once it is printed. You'll need several copies. Flip the image for the right side patterns.
There are many styles of cuckoo clocks with varying themes and complexity. I spent a lot of time on the internet looking at the various styles and found that I preferred the railroad station house version the most. I really liked the look of it and I figured that it would be easier to make than the styles that had a lot of hand carved birds, deer, etc. I found a picture of one clock that had decorations I felt were within my skill level to make using the scroll saw. I drew the forward view of my clock design in AutoCAD and printed it out full size. Then I hand sketched the decorations onto the full size plot and scanned it into a file. I've tried to draw freeform/organic type stuff in AutoCAD and it was just too much of a pain and I didn't get the results I wanted. I have some artistic skills when it comes to hand sketching things so that was a bunch easier. I saved a little time by only sketching the left side... all you have to do for the right side is flip the part over after you cut it out... or print out a mirror image of the template.
The roof is more along the lines of a chalet style cuckoo clock and maybe isn't quite right for the railroad station version... but I like it nonetheless so we'll have a fusion style clock. Heck, we're just having fun here anyway so why not.
The process for the decorations is to print out a template, cut out the individual pieces, glue them down to a piece of wood, and cut them out. I run my scroll saw on a fairly slow speed, take my time, and use a very fine saw blade. You can't hurry. Yeah, it's kind of tedious but the results are pretty cool. Just stick with it.
As I was working my way through making and installing the decorations I kept assessing the look and the design evolved a bit. Luckily it was towards a less complex design so, for once, I didn't continue to complicate something. Mostly things were looking a bit cluttered around the door area. I left out the saw tooth trim and a couple of the leaves. I like it.
For the little berries I made a short dowel out of cherry wood. I took a 1/4 by 1/4 inch piece that was around 4 inches long and put it in the drill press like it was a bit. With the press turned on 100 grit sandpaper is used to work down the piece until it is round. I have the sandpaper held again a flat piece of scrap wood to ensure the dowel is turned down uniformly. Remove the dowel from the drill press, round off the end, and cut the end off using a very fine pull saw (like a dozuki). Sand the flat side and it's ready to glue in place. I used CA glue.
I'll have to say that I really don't enjoy doing intricate work on the scroll saw. I guess some folks love it but I find it to be a bit nerve racking. Kind of like playing a game of Jenga. The further you go the higher the stakes become and one false move will screw up the whole deal. But dang it... I love the results. It took me several days to make all the parts but it was worth it. The clock was truly transformed once all of the accent pieces were in place. Wow... really impressive.
I am also glad that I hand sketched these parts. I think something that was CAD generated would be too perfect. The leaves, berries, and vines are organic... so I think that the imperfections in the sketch add to the look.
Well shoot! The lower blade chuck on my scroll saw broke today (pic 22). Luckily I found a source for a replacement and ordered two of them. In the meantime I decided to add numbers to the dial. Here's where I used wood glue instead of the CA. CA glue is great. It's strong, fast, easy to use... but it is brutally unforgiving. You don't have much time to adjust the piece once you glue it down. So I went with the Titebond 3. I used a fine brush to apply the glue as well as a paper template to help get the spacing right. Oh, I forgot to mention something about how the numbers are packaged. It's quite clever but they come in four identical sections. Use an Xacto knife to separate each little group of Roman numerals as you are ready to glue them in place. You need to be strategic when you do this in order to end up with everything you need. The one thing that is a tiny bit off is that you end up using IIII for the number 4 instead of IV. My inner engineer was annoyed by this but I told him to get over it. Ugh... engineers! So picky. The numerals are sold in sections that contain VIIIIIX when viewed right side up. You need to get all twelve numerals with these 4 sets. I started with V, III, and IIX. Rotate IIX 180 degrees and you get XII. Next was VI, IIII, and X. Then VII, II, and IX. And finally VIII, I, and IX. Rotate IX to get XI. When I say "rotate" I don't mean for you to flip it over... you need to turn it keeping the backside against the table. I hope that makes sense. I haven't really thought about it but there are probably other combinations that work too. Ha, I hedged my bet and bought two sets of numbers in case I screwed up.
Hey, it's looking like a clock! Well that's all I can do for now... I'm shut down for a week waiting on the saw part... stand by. Hmmmm... I guess I can clean up the shop a little... make corrections to the CAD drawing... work on the Instructable some more...
WOOT! WOOT!.... got the new part for the saw and it only took 4 days so I'm back on line. Didn't manage to get around to cleaning up the shop but I did get the CAD drawing updated and I'm current on writing the Instructable. Back to cutting out decorations. Wow... the new blade chuck works great. Ha... I didn't realize how much I was struggling with the old one. Accent pieces are done. My goodness, I really do like the results. The clock has truly been transformed. Time to apply some finish and we'll be ready to start putting it all together.
Step 12: Final Assembly
Yay... we're at the final step of the assembly process. Ha... there's a catch. We have a ton of stuff to do. But that's OK... we'll get there. Take your time, do your best, pay special attention to detail, be patient... all will be well. This was a tough section to document. There was a lot going on and it was very difficult to take good pictures inside the clock case since it was so packed. I'll do my best to describe the process.
Time to mount everything back in the case. First will be the clock movement then the whistles. Next we'll hook up the push rods for the bellows and the door. Then we'll run the chains through the drive wheels. After that we need to hook up the release for the strike mechanism. Then we'll hot glue in the bellows weights. We'll perform a quick test run on the strike to make sure the cuckoo whistles are good and make any adjustments if necessary. And then finally install the back access door, and glue on the roof. We'll hang the pendulum and install the hands once we mount the clock on the wall.
In the first 3 pics I've applied a few coats of teak oil and have everything set up to begin the final assembly process. The teak oil has really brought out the natural colors in the various types of wood.
Before we start installing all of the parts inside the clock I need to wrap up one more detail first... the door. In pic 4 you see some of the wires from the wire assortment that I bought from Clockworks. I used these for the door hinge assembly. The wires with the eyes will be trimmed to about a quarter of an inch long. Pic 5 shows the hinge wire inserted into the side of the door. Small holes were predrilled to keep from splitting the door. The eye wires were also installed and the assembly was set in place to mark the location for the door. Holes were drilled into the case, the eye wires were cut to a quarter inch and then inserted into the predrilled holes in Pic 6. Opened door in Pic 7.
The clock movement goes in through the access hatch in back (pic 8). 1/2" #6 brass wood screws secure the clock movement in the case (pic 9).
In Pic 10 another eye wire is trimmed to length and inserted into the predrilled hole with a drop of CA glue in Pic 11 (Mr. Cuckoo is peaking through the door). The pushwire for the door is installed (pics 12 and 13).
In Pic 14 we are ready to install the bellows/whistle assemblies. Note the eye wire that has been added to the bellows. The eye needs to be oriented as shown for the pushrod to stay in place. The whistles are held in place by the thumbscrews we made (pics 15 and 16). Top view of installed whistles in pic 17.
Picture 18 shows the old bellows pushrods. These were the result of installing rods that were too long and then tinkering with them until I got the whistles working. We'll make new pushrods the correct length (pic 19). The loop on the left side of the pushrod inserts into the eye wire on the bellows. The other end connects to the lift levers on the clock movement and then bent closed. Installing the bellows pushrods is a pain. It seems like it took forever to get them hooked up. Connecting them to the bellows is easy... connecting them to the lift levers and bending them closed is the hard part. Yay, (pic 20) the pushrods are installed!
Ha! I'm a knucklehead!!! I forgot to hook up a wire to the strike mechanism release lever. Now it's going to be really hard to do with the whistles in place but NO WAY am I disconnecting the bellows pushrods. Another hard fought battle but I got it (pic 21).
Installing the chains is not near as hard but it is a two handed operation and it was not possible to take pictures. Hopefully I can describe the process well enough. There are two drive wheels in the clock movement. One is for the strike mechanism and the other drives the pendulum. You have to hold the clock upside down while you feed the chain through the hole in the bottom of the clock. Here gravity is your friend. Feed enough chain through until you can just see the end of the chain emerge from the drive wheel. Now rotate the clock to its side so that the chain engages the teeth on the drive wheel. I used a bamboo skewer to start advancing the teeth one by one on the drive wheel for a few clicks then rotate the clock a little further so it is right side up. Continue advancing the teeth by pushing on them with the skewer. At one point enough of the chain will be hanging down that you can grab the end of it with some needle nosed pliers and pull it the rest of the way through the bottom of the clock. Twist tie the two sides of the chain together where they just come through the bottom of the clock. This will keep the chain from slipping off the drive wheel while you install the second chain. Once the second chain is installed and the clock is rightside up then take off the twist tie on the first chain. Installed chains in pic 22.
Picture 23 shows the pendulum wire. It is installed as shown in pic 24. Make sure that the bellows pushrods or the strike hammer don't interfere with the pendulum wire.
Now let's hang the clock on the wall and do some final tinkering to finish up the project.
Step 13: Mount the Clock on the Wall
A cuckoo clock is heavy. I would not recommend simply tapping a small nail into sheetrock and hanging the clock on the nail. You spent a lot of time and effort to build this thing... it would be a real heartbreaker to have it crash onto the floor when the nail gives way. Fortunately there are some very good sheetrock anchors available. This is in the event that there's not a nice handy wall stud available where you want to hang your clock.
Attach the weight hooks to the chain. Open up the chain link on the end of the chain, place the hook inside the link, and then crimp the link shut again (pic 1). Hang the heavier weight on the right side and the lighter weight on the left side (pic 2). I have the pendulum taped in place again. I'll install it permanently a bit later. For now I want to install the hands and get it running (pics 3 and 4). I attached a small length of chain to the strike release mechanism wire in picture 5. Pulling on the chain will make the clock strike. This is very handy when you are checking things out and making adjustments. To wind your clock hold the weight in your left hand to take the load off of the chain while you pull down on the right side of the chain with your right hand. This movement is a one day movement so you'll need to wind it every day. Actually I wind it at night and then in the morning when I get up. To start your clock just give the pendulum a little tap and the movement should take off tick tocking on its merry way.
Almost done. Time to install the clock hands. Now that the clock is running wait for it to strike the hour, note what hour has just been struck, and stop the pendulum. First to go on is the smaller hour hand. It is simply a friction fit and you just press it gently into place pointing at the hour that has been struck. There are three pieces required to install the minute hand including the hand (pic 6). The first is a little round piece that has a square hole in it. That goes onto the back side of the hand. There is a square section on the clock shaft that this will fit over. You want the minute hand to be pointing at 12 when you set it in place. The little round piece is a press fit into the minute hand. You'll have to fiddle with it a bit to get it aligned such that the minute hand is pointing at 12. The last piece is a round threaded nut that you screw onto the shaft until it is snugly against the minute hand. This holds the minute hand in place. Don't overtighten it. That's it!
I would recommend waiting until the time of day matched where the hands are currently located and then starting your clock. The hands are kind of delicate so I would avoid messing with those as much as possible. It doesn't hurt to move it a few minutes ahead but that's all I'd do. Again, just tap the pendulum to get it swinging and you're off and running again.
At this point the roof is not glued on yet to provide access through the top of the clock. I ended up fiddling a bit more with one of the bellows pushrods as well as the bird door. I let the clock run for a day and it seems to be working fine. Time to finish her up. A wire is added to the lower pitched whistle bellows (pics 7 and 8) and permanently attach the pendulum. Originally I had the wire on the higher pitched whistle but it didn't line up properly so I moved it to the other whistle. I think for now I'm going to hold off gluing on the roof and bellows weights. I still want access through the top of the roof to maybe play around with stuff. We'll see.
WOOO HOOOOO!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Now sit back and enjoy your new clock.
You know, I've got a Texas made German style clock... I think I'll celebrate with a Texas made German style beer. Prost y'all! Pic 9!
Here's a video of the clock striking. Ha... it's fun to watch!
Step 14: Post Project Thoughts
I am beyond happy with my clock and I absolutely love the whistle tones. So loud and clear. They're my favorite part.
It took me about five weeks to complete this project but a lot of that time was spent designing and figuring stuff out (plus writing this Instructable). The next clock build should go much quicker... 2 or 3 weeks maybe. If I had to guess... somewhere around 100 hours. I'll keep track and post an update after I complete the next one.
This is not an inexpensive project either. The clock movement is $130... which honestly is super reasonable but still it's over a hundred bucks. Together the weights are $55 and all the other bits and pieces like clock hands, assorted pre-bent wire parts, leather for the bellows, numbers for the dial, etc. add up. I'm guessing the total cost is upwards of $300. Maybe more... I haven't bothered to add it all up at this point. It's a bit of an investment but holy cow you end up with a family heirloom quality clock that should last a long time.
Building the clock is a challenge. There's a lot of delicate work that requires special attention to detail. If you enjoy this kind of work then it is a whole lot of fun! The main thing is to approach it with the right attitude. Sure it's a tough build but it is made up of a bunch of little steps which are all reasonable to complete and the end result is amazing.
Overall I am very happy with the design. It's beautiful. Functionally, it works great. It would be nice to figure out how to make whistles that are loud and clear but don't require as much weight to operate. I may play with that some before I start the next clock. Or heck, I may just take the easy way out and buy the whistles... you don't actually see them. I'm also thinking I might want to make the whole clock just a tiny bit bigger... just guessing but maybe 10% larger. There's a bunch of stuff that gets packed into that little clock case. Some more room would make it a lot easier to work on. Ah... we'll see. One thing's for sure... I would NOT make it smaller!!!
I did my best to take a bunch of pictures (there are over 200) and write (hopefully) clear instructions. I do assume that anyone who would attempt a build like this is going to by fairly experienced. I've provided a lot of dimensions and templates but there will probably still be some small details to work out on your own. I'd love to provide a full set of dimensioned drawings but dang it... that would end up being more work than actually building the clock. Besides, I would think you would want to add your own special touches and make it yours. I do like to review my instructables from time to time and provide updates to correct errors and provide clarification if needed. My goal is to try to have something that is accurate and informative. If you think something is wonky just let me know in the comments and I'll take a look. I'm a craftsman... and not so much of a horologist... it wouldn't shock me (or hurt my feelings) if someone finds a mistake.
As always, comments, suggestions, and/or questions are most welcome. If you do build this clock or something similar PLEASE post pictures down below. I would love to see your work.
Good luck!
Until the next project...
Willy
Step 15: Pendulum Update
After the clock had been running for a few days I finally noticed that the pendulum amplitude was a bit high and causing the time keeping to be a bit erratic. So to damp down the pendulum I added a little weight. I took one of the lead weights that I had planned on using for the bellows, drilled a hole in the middle, and painted it shiny gold. I slipped the weight onto the threaded rod just above the knurled nut. This helped tremendously. I've run the clock for several more days now and it keeps excellent time. The weight was around 8 or 9 grams.
Step 16: Gallery
I'll add pictures to this section as I build more clocks. Stay tuned!
Second Prize in the
Clocks Contest
