Jumbo Ball Clock Complete
I finally made time to finish the jumbo ball clock. I decided not to remain faithfull to the George Nelson original with regard to the design of the clock dial and hands. I went with a 10-inch dial in Wenge with aluminum markers and hands.
Wenge
Wenge is a really neat-looking, dense harwood with a disntinctly contrasting grain pattern. I cut out the round for the dial on the bandswaw before sanding it with 150, 220, 400, and 600 grit sandpaper. I finished it with a rubbing of Howard feed-n-wax.
The dial markers are cut from some 8 guage aluminum wire, and de-burred with a file. I wet-sanded the markers with 1500 grit to give them an even aluminum lustre, and epoxied them into place.
I painted the Rockler-obtained hands with an aluminum spray-paint, but in retrospect, I should have just stripped the hands to bare aluminum and given them the same treatment that the markers got.
The steel frame received a dose of gloss black spray-paint before I attached to the dial with 4 screws and washers. I gave the balls a quick shot of clear laquer, epoxied them into place and called it a clock.
« Phase 1, Learning to Weld…
That is pretty, and sooooo you, Steve! The contrast between the dark wenge face and the orbiting maple balls is sweet. The clock would absolutely not be the same without the 8 gauge dial-markers. Some of your welds look halfway decent too. ;)
Wow, that is excellent. I really like the wenge, great work!
Thanks Fellas!
steve
I realized that you could run this clock upside down and nobody would know. Sideways they would figure out, because of the woodgrain.
Steve says:
Yeah, I furrowed my brow for some time over which way to run the grain before realizing that it didn’t matter.
steve
Sweet!!
Looks like I have my weekend planned now.