Wooden Wheel Clock.

Some time ago I observed, in an art gallery in Canberra, a beautifully made wooden works clock and though it had some critical parts made of metal the major parts were fabricated from various timbers. I had never seen one of these before and though I have never made a clock before I decided that making one would be quite a challenge. It became my next project.

After spending a good deal of time swotting up on clocks  in the local library I came to the following conclusions.

The clock would:

• Be powered by a drive weight
• Use a modified Brocot escapement.
• Run for two days between winds.
• Contain as few metal parts as possible.
• Be easy to adjust and keep reasonable time.
• Of necessity the tolerances of construction must be closely adhered to otherwise gear meshing and pivot friction will prevent the clock from ticking.
• Since timber has the habit of warping with changing weather conditions, materials that minimise this problem must be used.

I developed a couple of innovations in its construction in that the pendulum is just a stainless steel wire, the Brocot escapement drives only one side of the wire, and the beat adjustment is totally unique. After about 6 months of intensive work I had one finished. It keeps time within about one minute per month, looks great on the wall in our lounge room and is of great interest and talking point for guests.
However it pays not to think about the fact that you can buy a good time keeper these days for just a few dollars!!

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