G'day Chris here, and welcome back to Clickspring.
In this video, I make some changes to support structure of the clock.
Taking it from this, to this.
The classic Y Frame design upon which this clock is based,
was traditionally a very ornate and elaborate mechanism,
and while the current arrangement is perfectly acceptable,
I'd like to push the final result just a bit closer toward that classic tradition.
The lower section of the frames will be replaced
with 4 solid brass legs, embellished with a fine rope knurl.
And the mechanism will rest upon a solid wood plinth,
that consists of contoured hardwood body,
and 4 styled brass feet to set it off the bench.
For materials I'll use this rod stock for the legs and fasteners,
this offcut from making the frames for the feet,
And for the base, I've been very fortunate to find
this beautiful piece of Red Morrel.
Its a species of wood native to Australia,
much prized for its rich and highly figured burl,
and it'll make an excellent contrast with the brass of the clock mechanism.
So lets get started.
Now you wont be surprised to learn
that I wanted to see how the legs turned out before
I committed to cutting the frames,
and they're a lot like the clock pillars from a previous episode,
in that there are some contours that I'd like to have
exactly the same across all 4 components.
And like the pillars, I used simple form tools to make it happen.
I've shaped one tool to form the precursor shape for the rope knurling
at both the top and bottom of the workpiece.
I'll use a longer curved cutting tool to take care of the central body profile,
and this universal tool will take care of the small decorative groove.
A threaded arbor will hold the part for some of the final finishing,
and to hold it while I drill out the wider end,
I'm turning an extra chucking section, as I form the basic profile.
The precursor shapes for the rope knurls were formed,
and then I took a taper cut along the body of the part,
to reduce the workload for the second form tool.
Now I've recently started forming rope knurls while rotating the chuck by hand.
I've found that it significantly reduces the amount of work hardening induced in the brass,
compared to doing it under power,
and it makes a big difference to the final surface finish of the knurl.
I've also started offsetting the tool a few degrees once the pattern is established,
to further enhance the 3 dimensional appearance of the rope pattern.
A relief groove completes the profile,
and the embryo part is ready to be parted off and chucked the other way around.
It was then drilled and tapped to accept the fastener
that will hold the legs onto the wooden base.
An undercut much like the pillars, ensures that the part will
seat at its perimeter when fastened into place on the base.
Next I took care of the initial surface finishing,
using a crossing file to help maintain the profile curve.
And at this point most of the hard work has been done.
It'll still need some more polishing before I'ts complete,
but the only remaining feature to be put in is the small dome at the top.
So using the small threaded arbor I showed previously,
I reversed the part, and then used a graver to form that feature.
Some more sanding and polishing brings up that surface finish,
and that completes the 4 legs.
Next up are the 4 brass feet for the wooden base.
There are cove cuts of different radii along each edge,
to give the part a bit of a styled look.
And to some extent they can be handled in pairs ,
to speed up the machining process.
I'm putting some rough markings on the work to help me keep track of what I'm doing
as I put in the features,
and it also helps me to identify which edges can be paired up.
For the cuts, I'm using standard carbide tipped wood router bits.
And although its a little unorthodox,
I've found them to be an incredibly effective profile cutter
for softer metals like aluminium and brass.
There's a pair of countersink holes required in each piece,
and some final hand finishing with files and abrasive paper brings up the surface finish.
To accommodate the new rope knurled legs,
I need to remove the existing extensions on the frames
that have been performing the function up until now.
The frames come back together using the register pins installed back in episode 1,
and tape will protect the surface during the subsequent cut and cleanup
Now the position and vertical orientation of the mounting holes for the new legs is critical.
Even a slight error would be glaringly obvious on assembly,
and most likely mean scrapping of the frames - an unthinkable outcome.
So I'm taking this next step very carefully.
I've turned up some pins to be a close fit into the lower frame pillar holes,
and I'm using an indicator to position the work upright
using those holes as the datum reference.
An edge finder locates the position of the new holes,
which were then drilled and tapped to accept the leg mounting fasteners.
And speaking of fasteners, there's quite a set required for this part of the build.
4 small screws are required to mount the legs to the frames.
4 of these larger bolts will be used to mount the entire mechanism to the base,
And a set of 8 timber screws are required to fasten the brass feet to the base.
The lathe change gears were set up to give the correct thread pitch for those timber screws,
and then I set about forming the basic profile.
I've turned up a simple cone runner, to give support to the workpiece.
And the threading tool has a 60 degree included angle,
with a wide flat at the top to give the typical timber screw thread profile.
The bolts could do with a simple brass washer to keep them off the wood as they're inserted,
so I made a set of those next.
OK, so with most of the metal working compete,
its time to switch over to a little woodworking, to take care of the base.
And I don't have much in the way of woodworking power tools,
so I'm doing the work on my small mill which is not really ideal from a mess perspective,
but I've covered up everything in the shop
and I'll give the mill a thorough oil and cleanup at the end of the job.
I'm using standard carbide tipped router bits and a shop made flycutter for the cuts,
And this is my shop made version of a well known commercial clamping device
that you might say has a "strong bite".
It uses a slight eccentricity in the fastener to provide an excellent clamping force,
and its great for low profile workholding like this
where the entire upper surface needs to be accessed for machining.
Now to some extent using this piece of wood for the base is a bit of an experiment.
I live in the tropics, so there's going to be an issue with high seasonal humidity.
I'm aware for example that fine wood structures like pianos
have a very hard time in the local climate.
So there's a question mark over the long term stability of this piece of wood,
and I may yet have to revisit this aspect of the build in the future.
But I really would like to be able to use this type of highly figured burl on future projects,
without having to go through the hassle and cost of resin stabilisation.
So this base is going to be a sort of test piece.
It'll give me a good idea of how much this sort of wood will change over the seasons,
and what I can realistically get away with for future projects.
Once the features were machined I applied a shellac finish,
using the French Polishing technique.
Click on the link to see a separate video showing that process.
So with all of the parts complete, let's have a look at how it goes together.
Thanks for watching, I'll see you later.
And if you've just made your way into this clockmaking series, thanks for checking it out.
This is just one episode of a longer series,
where I show all of the steps to make a mechanical clock from raw metal stock,
so be sure to check out those other videos.
If you enjoyed this video and would like to help me bring you more project videos like this one,
then consider becoming a Clickspring Patron.
As a patron of the channel you get access to exclusive Patron only video content,
free plans for the patron projects,
and the chance to win the actual project at the end of each build.
Like for example this useful little hand vise.
Find out more by visiting patreon.com/clickspring
And finally, if you're looking for some new projects for your lathe or mill,
then take a moment to visit clickspringprojects.com
where you'll find a range of plans available for download,
including plans for some of the tools I've made to help me construct this clock.
Thanks again for watching, I'll catch you on the next video