A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a harmonic oscillator: it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length and resists swinging at other rates.
From its invention in 1656 by Christiaan Huygens until the 1930s, the pendulum clock was the world’s most precise timekeeper, accounting for its widespread use.
Let see how to build a pendulum clock out of pallet wood.
Material, equipment & tools needed:
- Pallet Wood
- Face mask
- Glasses
- Gloves
- Sanding Tool
- Hammer
- Measuring Tape
- Nails
- Handsaw or Chop-saw
- Knife
- Pliers
- Pencil
- and Paint of your choice
Electronic Components:
- 1 x Arduino Nano
- 1 x Servo Motor
- 1 x 18650 Battery or a 5v DC Buck Step-Down Module
- 1 x Battery Protection Board
- 1 x SPDT Switch
- 1 x Generic PCB
- Connecting Cables
- and General Soldering Equipments
Dismantling the pallets
First, you will dismantle one wood pallet with 2 hammers. You can see several techniques to disassemble a pallet in this article.
Sanding the pallet planks
After disassembling the pallet, let’s start by sanding the boards to give them a pleasant and smooth texture.
Wood Cutting
Next using a chop-saw, cut the two sides, bottom and the top sections of the clock.
Building the clock case
Assembling the sides
Once all the sides are ready it’s time to join them all together. We recommend to use screws to hold the sides of the clock.
Assembling the roof
You can use an edge decorative stick to prepare the roof of the clock.
Preparing the base
Using some of the leftover wooden blocks, you’ll be able to prepare the base of the clock.
Filling the groves
To fill in the gaps, you can add a bit of PoP to the groves. However, as we all know two dis-similar materials like wood and plaster expand and contract at different rates. For any sort of permanence you need to isolate the movement of each relative to the other.
This problem is commonly encountered when you paint the siding on a house. However, this clock is not going to move a lot and will not be placed outside the house so adding a bit of PoP would not really matter as long as I seal it properly.
Preparing the Dial
Prepare the dial of the clock using a board extracted from a broken chest’s drawer.
The plan is to have a dark-colored dial and a light-colored housing for it. You can paint the dial in black, but it’s up to you the color you prefer for the dial.
For the numbering bit, you can use a printed sheet and a stencil to transfer the numbers from the sheet over to the circular board.
Once all the numbers are transferred, paint the graphite impressions with white color.
After giving the finishing touch, drill a hole in the center of the circle and place a $2 watch circuitry which you can buy online.
Designing the Pendulum
Now, from the same compress wood board, extract another circle which will be used for the pendulum of the clock.
For more information on the assembly of electronic part of the clock, check-out the tutorial at DIY Projects4U.
Check out the video below for the step-by-step tutorial.
Read Diy – Pallet Pendulum Clock by tarantula3 on 1001 Pallets!