Skeleton clock litterature

hosinsky

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Hello,

I would like to learn about building a skeleton clock and am looking for recommendations on literature, where to start. There seems to be a lot of different books on the subject. I would like something explaining the basic techniques and perhaps with step by step building instructions. I have no prior clock building experience.

Thanks
Goran, Canary Islands
 
Google Books has a good selection of clock making books, free. Mostly from turn of 20th century and older but still applicable.

Gerrit
Who is fascinated by the topic of clock making but is resisting its attraction :)

Hello,

I would like to learn about building a skeleton clock and am looking for recommendations on literature, where to start. There seems to be a lot of different books on the subject. I would like something explaining the basic techniques and perhaps with step by step building instructions. I have no prior clock building experience.

Thanks
Goran, Canary Islands
 
I am afraid most of Googles books are blocked for non US contacts. I am quite happy to buy a book, just want to know which to start with.
Goran
 
You could use a vpn such as getusvpn.com to bypass that issue

Gerrit
 
Are you looking for books explaining how to build clocks in general or for a book describing a particular clock and instructions and drawings for building it?

There are several authors giving descriptions of a skeleton clock. John Wilding is one of them. He has a book called "The Construction of an Elegant Scroll Frame Skeleton Clock". I do have the book but did not build the clock (yet). His descriptions are very thorough and understandable for novices in machining as well as clocks. I did build his 16th century styled clock and found it very satisfying.
Since this is the only clock I have built so far, I cannot comment on other books and authors, but I reckon they might be at least as good as Wilding is. The only thing that was a little annoying for me was the use of imperial measurements where I am accustomed to metric and having to lookup corresponding metric drills etc... but it is only a minor "problem".

Building clocks is definitely great fun!

Regards,

Jan
 
Check out guy leautard. He has plans for sale, pretty reasonable price, for clocks and all sorts of tools. Unfortunately his books aren't in print anymore so the price for those is a bit high. Just Google his name. Another must have is George Daniels book "Watchmaking", considered the best. That's about $60.

Check eBay or Amazon for the books.

Look me up on youtube: BillShop322
 
Have a look at Brian's "Dark Lady" clock. It is available in a thread here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/a-beginners-clock.9737/ It is a great beginner's clock and the cost is kept down a bit because the frame is made of blued steel rather than from brass. The thread goes through many of the details of building the clock, and in his build he uses only a 7x12 mini lathe, a Dremel tool, a small bench top drill press and various hand tools to build the whole thing. Have a look at that thread and if you are interested, Brian will sell you a set of plans at a very reasonable cost.

Guy Lautard's book on making clocks is very good, if you can find a copy. It is out of print, so you will probably need to settle for a used copy. I got lucky and got one while they were still available, and sorry, but no, it is not for sale. :)

Another book that is available and is a very good beginner's book is from the Workshop Practice Series, called 'Making Clocks' by Stan Bray. It can generally be purchased new for about $15.
 
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