G'day, Chris here, Welcome back to Clickspring.
In this video, I get started on the wheel spokes,
by taking the main wheel of the clock from this, to this.
Crossing out the wheels, is definitely one of the more time consuming parts of the build.
There are 6 wheels plus the escape pinion to take care, so that' s a fair amount of filing and hand finishing.
I've chosen the largest wheel for this video,
mainly because it's size means it should be the easiest one to show the detail,
and weighing in at just over a kilo, its a fair chunk of brass.
But by the time I'm finished crossing it out, it'll weigh just a fraction of that.
I'm aiming for clean straight lines to the spokes, square corners at the perimeter, and good overall symmetry.
So lets get started.
First up I applied some layout fluid, to prepare for marking out.
This layout blue is an old bottle I'm trying to finish off. Unfortunately I think it might be past its use-by.
It painted on ok, but you'll see later it wasn't the best to scribe a line on.
I'm doing the marking out with the help of this jig. Its based on the design by J Malcolm Wild,
Check out the description box for more info.
The wheel is centered on a locating pin, and
then a center point on the top of that pin assists the scribing of any circles with a divider.
So that takes care of the perimeter and the central boss.
Once that's complete, specially turned pins are inserted in the center hole,
and around the perimeter at each of the spoke positions,
so that when a ruler is held up to the pins, they define the spoke taper and then the line is simply scribed.
Its a huge time saver, and I find I get amuch more consistent result with this jig than without.
This wheel has a sort of ornamental pattern around the center, which the jig can't really assist with,
but it's still a great platform to hold everything steady while marking out curves.
And I think you can see the problem with that old bottle of layout blue, I'm not getting a very clear line, but it'll do the job.
The first step was to drill some holes in the waste section of the stock, to allow entry of the scroll saw blade.
Any scratches that I put into the work now, are just more work at the end of the build when I'm polishing,
so I figured a layer of tape on the underside of the wheel was a good idea.
It'll protect it from scratches while I'm working on it with the scroll saw.
So thats the bulk of the metal removed, and for the first time its starting to look a bit like a clock wheel.
The next step was to tidy up the scroll saw cut with this bench filer.
I mainly use these #2 cut files, which are good at removing metal fast,
and leave quite a good finish.
You can see here the real value of this machine.
Because of its vertical action, it makes it really easy to clear out, and then square
up all of the internal corners. And best of all, the cut is always perpendicular to the work.
So at this point, I'm short of the line by about the same amount around the whole wheel,
and I'm ready to start the hand filing.
The tape can come off, it's done its job of protecting the underside.
And I made life a bit easier for myself with the filing, by making this guide.
My CAD program gave me the geometry to machine the correct shape, and using a guide will
give me a fair shot at getting a consistent result for all 8 spokes.
The wheel then sits on a locating pin, its sandwiched between the plates, and then a dowel pin lines everything up.
The idea is that the scribed lines are rotated just beneath the guide,
and then its all held tightly with a toolmakers clamp and the clamping action of the vice.
Now initially I thought I was going to have a bit of trouble holding onto this wheel
to comple te the hand filing, because the wheel is just too big for the vise.
But by a stroke of luck, the vise jaw which can be removed
was small enough to be threaded through the wheel.
Now it wasn't holding onto very much, and I would have preferred a better grip,
but it was enough to get the job done.
The next few days will be spent hand filing. So I'm setting up at the bench with plenty of light,
magnification, and some needle and escapement files.
Most of the files have at least one safe edge ground into them, to help cut cleanly into the corners
I started out with #2 cut files, to get the wheel into basic shape, and I did every surface
with the same cut before moving to a finer cut.
And I'm using the guide to keep me honest, by making sure that all of the surfaces are
parallel to the guide, even though I'm still quite well short of it.
Now that the bulk of the metal is gone, and its basically in shape, I can use #4 cut files,
and take it right to the limit of the guide.
So after a solid day of filing, I'm about half way. I'm reasonably happy with how it looks around
the hub and along the spokes; its just short of the line. But theres still quite a bit
of work required on the rims, so I took care of that off camera.
Next up is the finishing work with #6 cut files, and from here on I'm working without the guide,
so I can get a good look at what I'm doing as I work.
The guide has made this part of the job quite painless, its mostly just recutting the surface for a better finish,
but I'm still taking it really slow, and checking the result constantly.
I've got so much time invested in the part now; I don't want any slip ups!
And then as a last step I used a sharp 8 cut triangular file to gently clear out and square
all of the corners for the last time.
And that's another full day of filing. Overall I'm pretty happy with the result.
I could probably keep going on this forever, but I'm calling it done now, before I push it too far.
A quick rub on crocus paper deals with the small burr raised by the filing.
And now we're basicaly on the home stretch. The wheel is ready to have the inside edges
papered, and then burnished.
The little strips of sandpaper I'm using are held around a file that best suits the shape I'm working on.
I'm starting out with 600 grit.
Then 800 grit
Followed by a quick touch with the rodico to remove the brass shavings.
before finally finish off with the burnisher, to give a mirror finish.
Burnishing also pushes up a burr, so another quick papering deals with that.
And I gave it a quick polish just to make it more presentable for this video.
Although in truth the final polish comes right at the end of the project.
And its done, only 6 more to go!
Thanks for watching, I'll see you later
And if this is your first Clickspring video, welcome. I post regular video's on this clock build, as well as other short project video's
on making tools in the home machine shop, so be sure to hit subscribe
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you go don't forget to like, share and leave me a comment.
Thanks again for watching, I'll catch you on the next video.