G'day Chris here, and welcome back to Clickspring.
In this video, I go through the steps for making the clock pillars.
The job the pillars is to hold the frames a fixed distance apart,
and also to give them some rigidity. So they're a structural thing, but they're meant to look good too.
This is the profile I'm aiming for. Aside from the dimensions, I guess the main thing I want to see,
is that the curves and tapers all look the same on each of the 3 pillars.
So lets get started.
There's a few ways to make this part. For me it works best,
to make the spigots first, and then finish the part between centers.
that way all of the surfaces are concentric, and I can take the part out to check on it as many times as I want
without introducing any errors.
So I turned the first spigot to final size,
and it's important that the pillars seat firmly into the plates, so the spigots are given a good undercut.
Then I drilled and tapped it for the screws. I made the center drill hole quite large,
to give a good bearing surface for the 60 degree center later on.
Then I marked out the dimensions for the other end.
re-chucked the other way around, and then repeated the process for the other spigot.
again I gave it a good undercut, and a generous center hole for the center to seat in later.
Now I don't have a drive plate for theis lathe, so I'm going to turn a center in place from this hex bar,
and then attach a driver to it instead.
I used a carrier to grip the part by the spigot, and I made this particular carrier specifically for this job.
Click on the link if you want to see the video about that
So now with the part between centers, I can get on with the ornamental turning.
First the center section was thinned down.
Then I marked out the end points for the tapers, and the location of the central groove.
I cut the tapers using an offset on the compound of about 4 degrees.
I ground a semi-circular form tool to do a plunge cut for the central groove.
And I made a form tool for the end curves too
I didn't really like my chances of getting the curves to match by hand, so I figured a form tool would make the job easier.
and honestly I don't think I would have even got close to matching the curves without it.
I followed this with a bit of filing and polishing to remove the tool marks.
Then I put a very light taper on each of the spigots. This is to stop them jamming in the plates.
Each spigot was given a test fit in the frames, to make sure that all was well.
and then a coat of clear lacquer.
I'll re-do the polishing and lacquering at the end of the build.
But this coat should protect the pillars from all the handling they get in the meantime.
Now all three pillars must have the same shoulder length.
So I identified the shortest of the three,
pushed it hard up against the chuck jaws,
put in tailstock support,
and then locked off the carriage.
All of this is quite important, because now I can take a fine cut across the shoulder face
and know that the tool is effectively zeroed at what will be the shoulder length for all three pillars.
Each of the remaining pillars is then chucked and faced in exactly the same way.
giving three completed pillars, with exactly the same shoulder length
In the next video, I'll make the washers and screws, and also assemble the frame.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you later.