How to Make a Clock

I love building clocks! All kinds of clocks. So in this instructable I will walk you through how I built this clock shaped kind of like a box. Enjoy!

The main tools I used were a:

• Orbital Sander,
• Drill,
• Table saw,
• Tape Measure, Speed Square, and Pencil,
• Clamps,
• Wood Glue--I recommend Titebond 3 because it's much easier to work with then some other wood glues,
• Router,
• And Super Glue.

The supplies I used was the quartz clock movement set. I got mine from Walmart, but there are plenty of nicer ones on Amazon.

Step 1: Sanding and Dismantling

This was a very straight forward step. I just needed to sand off all the junk and old stain on one side and make it smooth again. I did all the sanding in this step with 60-grit sandpaper on my orbital sander. After sanding the one side of the frame I unscrewed all boards.

Step 2: Straightening the Edges

After one side of all the boards were sanded, I cut off the rounded edges of the boards with the table saw. This straightened out the boards a little, but more importantly it took off the rounded bevel on each side. This step makes it so that when they are glued together it will look much nicer.

Step 3: Measuring and Cutting the Boards.

After this I measured onto three of the boards the length and that I want the clock to be. Once I did that I took them to the table saw and cut them off with the miter gauge.

Step 4: Gluing the Boards Together

After I cut three of the boards to length I glued them together into one board. To do this, I put glue on each surface to be glued together and then I clamped them flat in between to halves of a 2x4. Then I took some f-clamps and clamped all the glued edges together. The 2x4 clamps made it so that the glued board would not bow while it was drying and thus dry straight. After it was dried I filled in cracks and holes with wood glue and then rubbed in sawdust I got from sanding the boards at the beginning. This does a very good job to hide all the imperfections from cutting off the edges with the table saw. After everything was dry, I took off the clamps and then sanded off the extra dried glue.

Next, I took the newly formed board trimmed the end of the boards to make it flat and square with rest of the board. Going slow on the table saw is very important to keep tare-out at a minimal.

Step 5: Installing the Clock Mechanism

After the boards was completely finished, I measured where I wanted the clock to come through from the back. Then I drilled the whole for the clock shaft. The board is too thick for the nut to hold the clock to the board so on the back side of the board I traced the clock movement box onto the board. Then I took my router and routed out that area and after that the nut was able to fit on the shaft.

Step 6: Measuring and Cutting Out the Edges of the Clock

After the main frame of the clock was finished I moved onto the sides of the clock that make it look like a box.

To do this I hung up the frame on the wall and measured how far out it stuck from the wall. This gave me the width of the boards that would become the sides. For me this way about 1 1/2 inches.Then I went and cut out strips with that width on the table saw. Then I took it to the belt sander and smoothed down the sides.

Step 7: Cutting the 45-degree Angles

Then I took the strips back to the table saw. Using my 45-degree cut guide, I first cut the ends to 45 degrees. Then I marked on the other end of the piece using the main rectangle to measure where to cut. After doing this three more times they were done. The video shows more of how to cut out these pieces.

Step 8: Gluing It All Together

After that it was time to glue on the sides. I taped all the tips of the edges pieces together to help hold it together while clamping and the glue dried. After I put on the glue I simply had to clamp everything together. Totally simple, right? Easier said then done. Being patience in this step will lead to better results and less frustration.

Step 9: Filing in and Sanding

After everything had dried, I filed in all the cracks and crannies with glue and rubbed in sawdust. After that had dried, I sanded all the outer sides down, starting with 60-grit sandpaper and worked my way up with 80-grit, 150-grit, and stopped at 220-grit sandpaper. Then I rubbed the whole thing down with tung-oil wood finish. The finish really pulled everything together. Any finish like urethane or polyurethane would work just as well. I tested them out on a scrap wood and they all looked pretty much the same.

Step 10: Installing the Clock Hands

The last step for the whole clock was gluing on the numbers. I used Loctite liquid super glue to glue them all on. But before I could glue them on I needed to mark where the numbers would go. After I measured how far I wanted the clock to be out from the center, I marked that distance on a circle to mark where each number would go. This gave me the length and the angle. So after all the points were drawn on the paper I punched a small hole where on all of the 12 points, and a hole in the middle. Then I attached the piece of paper to the clock with the clock mechanism and marked through the punched holes on the wood. I had to go back and make the spots more visible, but other than that it worked pretty well. Then I glued on all the numbers using those points and the center for each number. This worked pretty well but I had to be careful to place the numbers as close to their final location so that extra glue wouldn't show too much.

Step 11: It's Done! Thanks for Viewing!

Subscibe to my YouTube channel! I hope to be getting out many more videos soon!--with better image quality. Also please in the comments sections tell me how I could have done it better, of something I could do to make it more interesting! I would love to hear your feedback! Thanks again!