Wooden Clock

The problem with making a wooden clock is the number of things that you have to make to get from part A to part B. So I now have cut all my wheels out on the bandsaw. Now I have to sand these things down to the lines. For this I built the linisher, Topsy by name. Topsy is almost there. What we have to do is find some hose clamps to tie her down.

I had no hose clamps so I used duct tape (the all-purpose Alaska Solution to all machanical problems) to hold the electric drill down and thus allow me to sand the wheels. And pinions. The pinions, being small gears, are a lot harder to sand than the big wheels.

In the pic above, I am sanding the winding ratchet gear. This is a gizmo that allows you to wind up your clock. The linisher worked to spec for this gear. But now we have to do the pinions. They are very small gears that mesh with larger gears. Alas, the linisher does not do them very well. One reason is that the belt flexes. So I need yet another sander.Or YAS if you want an acronym.

So I thought (based on an isnpirational YouTube video) that maybe I could use my $10 Dremel jigsaw. I have some boards made for buffing your fingernails. Useful little files, in fact. If I could adapt them to the Dremel jigsaw I might have something.

But the Dremel sander uses blades held in by pins. "Piolini " if you prefer Italian. So my idea was this. Put some pins into a piece of cut-off broken bansdsaw blade. Glue to this piece some cut-up nail-buffing files, sold at any store for peanuts. Would this work? Real problem is putting the pins in. Which brings up the problem of making holes for the pins to go through.  Also brings up the problem of what shall we use for pins?

The answer turns out to be quite simple. (a) use safety pins for pin material. (b) silver-solder these pins to the piece of broken bandsaw blade.  Drilling the bandsaw blades to accept the pins takes some doing. These are very, very small holes. Less than one millimeter. That is as small as I can drill without extreme measures. But first we must blue the bandsaw blade ends. You will not get a hole through a regular bandsaw blade without bluing it. This means softening it in a flame until it turns blue color. So when you have done all this here is the soldering jig:

Here we have a completed blade, left. The embryo blade is to the right. Note the modeling clay, AKA "Sculpy". Its purpose is to hold the pin still while you solder it. It is very difficult to ensure that the pins are at right angles to the blade. With the Sculpy you can make the pins plumb to the blade.

So we have made a blade of sorts. Now we have to glue abrasive to it, abrasive meaning nail files, so stay tuned for our next episode.