Grandmother clock build thread

[doobes]

Hey all,

Several years ago, I bought this Hermle Grandmother clock movement from a fellow Woodnetter:


I had mounted the movement on a temporary mount thusly:

     


I was off of work last week and finally decided to get off my duff and build a case for the movement. Firing up SolidWorks, I took a concept from the Shaker Style Chain Driven Wall Clock.  After quite  fit of futzing, and simplifying, this is what I wound up with:

   

Yesterday I started preparing the materials.  The materials used have a story all their own. Not long after I got married, some 35 years ago, I got a wild hair to build an entertainment center to hold the TV and stereo gear. I knew less than nothing about woodworking in those days and blindly went to Riverside Lumber and bought two 16' lengths of 16" wide mahogany. I recall it being a bit spendy, but what did I know.....

The entertainment center went together okay, and it served it's purpose for many years until we outgrew it.  It say in the garage for many years with a sad look on it's face.

We were impacted by post Katrina flooding which didn't phase the thing as it had a thick coat of poly on it, which protected the wood from the nasty water. A year or so later, after the house was rehabbed, we relocated to the Northern VA area.  I didn't have room for the entertainment center, but wanted to keep the wood.  Using a hand saw, I cut it up into planks and put it in the POD for transportation.

The material has stayed in my shop some 9 years looking sad waiting for me to get off my backside. 


Yesterday the time had come, so I fished out all the pieces:

   

   

   

I spent yesterday afternoon cutting everything up and preparing for the first part of the assembly.  I'll post photos of the prepped materials in the next post.

Stay tuned!

[mbholden]

Really looking forward to following this build. I too have a hermle clock mechanism awaiting a home.

[Steve N]

I'm in
love a good clock thread


That appears to be quite the works.

[Joel H.]

I'm with George. can't wait to see your fun & challenges on the clock.  

Joel

[doobes]

Okay all,

Sorry for the delay.  

After getting all the materials assembled, it was time for the prep.  To recap, this was some mahogany purchased sometime around 1982. Don't know if it's Philipine or Honduras.

The material was bought it finished on four sides, but the finished thickness, thank goodness was a little over 7/8. That gave plenty of material remove the crappy finish we applied way back when.

After New Years brunch with my daughter and her significant other, plenty of time was left in the afternoon time to prep the materials.

The plan at first was to stain the stuff, but when it came out of the planer, it's clear it doesn't need stain.  This stuff is gorgeous.  Here are the prepped boards:























A piece of plywood that was previously on the back of the entertainment center was planed for use on the back of the clock, but it was was too chewed up to use.  So some material was planed to 1/2" for the inset back.

A quick review indicated a lot of  cross grain joining in the case, so the assembly will be predominantly with screws in enlarged holes to allow for expansion/contraction.

Continued in next post.

[doobes]

On Sunday the 2nd, the assembly began in earnest.

Since pretty much everything revolved around the side panels, those were first up.

I had vacillated a bit on how to attach the rails and styles together. As I had bought a rail and style bit from a Woodnetter a while back I decided to use that. As I had not done that before so I did a lot of testing and such to make sure that everything machined up properly.

And even then, the process was only marginally successful. A better hold down methodology on my router table is definitely needed as the mating sections did not line up as well as I would have liked.

In any event, my friend Murphy reared his ugly head during the glue up. The first side was glued and clamped everything together and I was gluing up the second side.  The styles in both sections were pre-staged for both sides and on the second side it became apparent that the bottle style was above the line, not below as it should have been. 


Rushing over to the assembled side confirmed it was wrong. Taking the clamps off, everything came apart easily, except for one style. It pulled the material from the rail when it came apart.... So another rail had to be made, meaning resetting the router bits, etc... Doh.

So, with this setback, the sides were finally assembled properly. Here's what they looked like when they came out of the clamps:







Continued in the next post.

[doobes]

So last weekend was spent prepping the sides for assembly and making the bottoms. 

Rabbits were cut in the back edges for the insert panel and a dado cut in each side for the face board.

Once that was done the matching top and bottom was made, but some dumb bunny forgot about including enough width to accommodate the face mounted doors. This wasn't realized this until a couple of days later....

The sides and tops/bottoms screwed got together and the back brace cut and installed.  The sides were mortised with a chisel to make room for the brace and it was screwed in place.

The final task was to cut the board separating the top on bottom.  It was to be inserted between the sides, but would wrap around the edges. An inside corner needed to be made. The bandsaw and it worked out very well.

So, at the end of the day, this is what it looked like:











Stay tuned...

[doobes]

Got a chance to get in the shop yesterday to get some more done on the clock.

First order of business was to add a ledge onto the top/bottom that were about 3/4 short to cover the doors.  I cut some pieces, glued and clamped and set them aside to dry.

My attention now turned to the center separator board.  The holes needed were laid out, but decided not to cut them before trial fitting the movement.  So, I made the movement mount and screwed it together and realized the face board grooves were not quite long enough in the trial fit. It was also decided to use pocket screws in the separator board to attach it to the sides.  Drilling them from the top meant the holes would never be seen.

At this juncture the top/bottoms came out of the clamps and went to the table saw for a final trim. After cutting the final board, I lost grip of it and it fell into the spinning down blade cutting big gouge out.



This was the excuse I was looking for to redo the top/bottom and this was it.  It was quite fast as I already new what they looked like, so the setback was minor.

The router bit was set up again for the dado in the top for the face board, and the grooves in the sides were extended as needed.

Now came time for another trial fit. Everything went together well.  The face board was cut to length and dropped into place.

The back boards were to fit the rabbits cut in the back. The top one went in fine, but the bottom hole was not rectangular.  The bottom plate is about 1/16" wider than the top so there is a taper.... There is enough slop in the screw holes to adjust that so it worked out.  I'll have to adjust the width of the bottom when I take the case apart.

So here it is ready for the movement to be fit. Don't know if I'll have time to do that today.

One thing is clear in all this.  I definitely need more practice.... 














Until next time.

[Steve N]

Hmmmmmm I remember when I was younger and would start and actually get going on a project


Looks like a good start Chris

[doobes]

Well,

Thanks to "Social Distancing" I finally finished this thing:

   

   

I've got beveled glass coming from One Day Glass and the hinges from the 'zon.

Once those are in, this thing is finished.