Balancing Clocks

Very nice

-- Grant...."GO BUCKEYES"

Awesome! How you calculate ballance lenght?

-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted

Very Very nice! Hope you will share with us your secrets on how it’s made!! I cannot stop looking and wondering.

-- Kelly, woodworker under construction

Very good looking clocks. Your idea is great. I bet several of us will try to copy your idea. Thanks for sharing.

-- Max - Birmingham, AL

Awesome work fawig!

I too would really like to know how you calculate numbers to balance them. I know my dad would love one of these for his office!

-- New to working and learning as much as I can :D

These are great! I really like the left one in the picture of the three. The round dowel used as a fulcrum makes it look more like it’s gonna teeter-totter.

-- Perform A Random Act Of Kindness Today ... Pay It Forward

Hey!!! These are nice and make great projects. Congratulations.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

Great looking set of clocks—never seen this design before! I love the cantilevered design of them!

-- Dean -- "Don't give up the ship -- fight her 'till she sinks!" Capt James Lawrence USN

Amazing

-- The Old Rednek Workshop https://www.facebook.com/theoldrednekworkshoptn

Thanks for all the encouraging comments!

Regarding the “calculations,” I must admit there was trial and error involved (which bothers me greatly since I’m an engineer!). I used SketchUp to get the proportions so they were visually appealing, focusing primarily on the angle (I used 55 degrees). I made the post and the horizontal pieces longer than needed, glued the post to the base, and assembled the clock (which I purchased from Woodcraft), clock housing, and horizontal pieces.

I clamped the horizontal assembly to the post (using a small clamp), then added another clamp to counterbalance the first clamp (does that make sense?). I tried different positions until it felt balanced and still looked proportional. I then trimmed to post and horizontal pieces to length and repeated the dry assembly to ensure it still balanced.

Admittedly, this is not very scientific! But there are places to “hide” weights to improve the balance after gluing everything together (i.e., behind the clock, inside the dowels, etc.); I had to do this on the set of 3 because the balance wasn’t solid.

Good luck!

-- "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." Phil 4:13