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Not really.... Ahhh, if you could just reproduce a clock as easy as copying a jpeg. Then I'd probably have too many clocks, way too fast.
So here is a good picture of what I intend to reproduce. It is an Acorn Clock made by Jonathan Clark Brown circa 1847-50. I hope my work will come out close to this good.
Here is the movement that I have purchased through the help of ebay for an Acorn Clock. (Man, you can get just about anything thru ebay) It is complete, including a nice pendulum bob. The movement came out of a George Marsh Ogee clock originally, but it will be easily adapted for use in this clock. The winding arbor on the strike side is somehow broken. I have already machined a new one and will be restoring the movement sometime soon.
So, have you ever seen a blue fusee??? Actually this is a jpeg of the cad data for the fusees. I'm looking to have these made on a CNC Machine. First I will turn down the wood to it's basic shape, Then I will be CNC'ing the grooves.
So it turns out that the shape of these fusees are not correct. These were based on a drawing a friend gave me for cones for a Smith + Goodrich Steeple. I now know these are different from those used on an Acorne clock. Thus these will be corrected.
So here is what the fusee cones really look like in a JC Brown Acorne Clock. The cad data has now been corrected as you can see. I just obtained a wonderful piece of cherry roughly 2.5 x 3.5 x 30 inches. From this I will be turning the cones and then giving them to a tool shop to CNC the grooves.
Here are shots from NAWCC Headquarters in Columbia with my new friend Carter Harris (curator). (That's me in the striped shirt). Carter was a tremendous help, he brought 3 different acorn clocks for my inspection. Each acorn clock had a different degree of originallity. Between them all, I had a blast inspecting and measuring them.
This is the acorn clock we determined to have the highest degree of originallity. Thus it was used for most of the measurements. However, the tablet is a replacement. The clock with the water scene tablet (non-geometric design) did have an original tablet.
To the left is a tracing taken directly from the clock at the NAWCC Museum. To the right are the plans for the mold base and clamp blocks.
So we have actually gone throught the effort of prototyping the Fusees. These were made on an FDM (Fusion Deposition Modeling) Machine. This machine squirts out a thin bead of ABS plastic (.007 inch dia) moving around to generate the profile and then filling in the center. It then indexes up .007 inch and does it again and again until the part is complete. I figure that if I can't get the wooden ones machined up, I'll be able to use these. Paint em and stain em and they might be OK.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this applies to this photo. This was the "dry run" where I clamped up the laminates to insure my system and concept would work. I did however, soak all the veneer in water before doing this clamp up to insure things would flex and not break. It went "LIKE CLOCKWORK"!!!
So here is the real beginning of my acorn clock. It is the case ready for edge machining.
This photo shows both the raw door and the case.
So here is a real good comparison shot. On the left is a closeup of the top of an original Acorn Clock. On the right is a close up of one of mine.
So here is a complete acorn clock (in pieces). That is everything but the wooden block that holds the mainsprings. That I am planning to do later. Things are now completely ready for aging / staining / and shellacing!!!
Here is the batch of fusee cones with the CNC machining now complete. I'm pleased and extremely thankful to have this part done!!!!
This close up shows the cross section of the OG base molding. When the two pieces are reversed and laid across each other they are a perfect fit. This is how they did it way back when.
Here are the base pieces ready for fitting together.
Here is the mold clamp set up for making the side arms.
Here is a shot at the lathe set up for making the acorn finials.
Side arms are now finished and look just right in my opinion. You will note that nothing has stain yet. But we're getting pretty close!!!!
Here we have things pretty spread out for applying the finish.
Look! There's a whole flock of them!!!!!!
Well, finally these clocks are coming to life as it tics and strikes as it should
So here is the culmination of many many hours and a year and a half of time. This is the finish result of acorn clock #2 and #3. I won't bother showing the detail on the creation of these two tablets. Those familiar with Acorn Clocks will recognize both scenes as being authentic to these clocks. So, let me know what you think.
