Wood Gear Clocks

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SP6 wood build

Hi Steve,

Now I have it complete I wanted to give you some feedback on a build variant of the SP6 Silent Desk Clock, the story being after building one of Clayton Boyer’s wooden design back in December I was eager to tackle another project ideally a small form factor and the SP6 ticked many of the boxes.

The only downside being I really wanted a wooden implementation, did see on your site that it was on your to do list and yet to come. Having learned a lot from building Clayton’s clock I figured why not have a stab it. I must say at the outset it’s a great design and fair play to you for doing all the hard work on the coding and sussing out the new CNC V4 shield variant which for sure achieves such a smooth and silent result.

Let me give you…

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mcshane.michael

Jan 11

Hi Steve, I had spotted that small gear clock on the website ok and I like the clean wood look impressive for sure. Indeed the SP12 would be a great candidate for wood its very gear symmetric, I imagine the challenge is in the frame methodology and support structures to prevent sagging. Look forward to seeing what you come up with. should present no problem for CNC with 1/8 end mills.

sosalty62

January 7, 2025

Testing my Laser using a random escapement wheel

I was anxious to keep making gears after completing Steve's SP14 clock. I'm considering building a wooden clock as well and thought I'd give the laser a try cutting out a gear. So I just found and downloaded the first free wood gear file I could find and ran it on 1/8" Birch Ply. Came out beautiful. Cut in only 3 minutes with a single pass. I think my laser will do just fine producing laser cut clock parts.

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Steve

Jan 08, 2025

I did my first CNC router experiments using Home Depot plywood. They came out reasonably well after I got the router tuned up. But when I went back to Home Depot for more material, it was all crap. Most CNC router builders recommend Baltic Birch plywood for gears. Laser cutters might have different recommendations.

Your experiment looks great on the flat surfaces, but the core looks a bit rough. That is the surface that matters when making gears. Baltic Birch has thick layers without voids. Aircraft plywood is another option, but crazy expensive. A 4'x4'x1/4" sheet with 12 plies could be $140. Experiments should be done on generic plywood.

The wood desktop clock was for a woodworking club challenge to build something using a limited amount of bamboo. Technically, it is grass but works like wood. The gears are small enough to work with flat cut material. The clock is about 7" tall with gears around 0.2" thick.

mnelson3

May 7, 2023

alternative to cnc for wood clocks

Steve, as you consider wood clock plans, pls keep in mind that some of us cut them with a laser printer/cutter. Thickness isn't usually an issue because it is easy enough to laminate thinner pieces. Similarly I cut and splice to create pieces otherwise too large for my printer. I've been using either baltic birch or hardwood veneer on mdf for my clocks, most of which are Clayton Boyer design.

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Steve

May 08, 2023

It probably would be. I am starting with a printed clock, but keeping a wooden gear design in mind when designing it. Maybe I should run a quick strength comparison between PLA and plywood. 1/4" might even be enough.

ksmietanski

January 28, 2023

Coup Perdu Printed in Wood Filament

Hi Steve,

The local filament supplier has discounts on their filaments and have been toying with the idea of buying some wood filament and printing the deadbeat version of your coup perdu using this wood filament.

Have you had any experience in using wood filament and would the frictional forces be too high for this clock.

I presume that unlike PLA I would probably need to sand/polish the gear teeth??

Any thoughts???

Cheers

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Steve

Jan 28, 2023

Real wood filament PLA has a rougher surface than standard PLA, but it should still work. There is a risk that friction will be higher. You can do a few things to minimize the risk.

Print the deadbeat version of the clock. It often runs without any extra weight, or just one pocket filled. You will be able to add extra weight if needed.

You may want to sand the pallet and escapement since those are the surfaces with the most sliding action. The gears should be fine.

Add some lithium grease to the pallet and escapement.

Steve

April 28, 2022

Wooden Desk Clock

A woodworking club near me held a project challenge to make something with a small amount of bamboo material that they provided. I decided to convert the 3D printed desk clock to wood. The wooden gears are super quiet compared to the printed version. The size is about 8" tall and 8" wide. Larger versions are being planned.

I am running low on the small circuit boards used to control the stepper motor in the clock. My goal is to have a new design with a real time clock added for the next order of boards. The RTC looks to be the easiest to integrate https://www.amazon.com/Sensors-Precision-DS3231-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B08D11ZGMK and it uses a temperature compensated oscillator. I am still working on the algorithm. Hopefully it will be ready soon.

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