Clock making

[Baruch]

Awesome.  I have the Wrebbit medieval clock kit (still unfinished) and I too find a mechanical clock's mechanism fascinating.

Even in the early modern period, you had to make all the intricate beers by hand, using a saw and a file ;-(

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Some pretty cool movements if you're interested ..
http://507movements.com/

[AllPurposeAtheist]

So I've had this scroll saw now for about 3 weeks or so.  I've done lots of sawing of all kinds through the years, but had no idea the learning curve with a scroll saw was as steep as it is.  I'm involved with a few forums on the subject and have learned to modify the saw as most factory designs basically suck and no local stores carry parts much less blades except home depot which only carries pin type blades for cutting large arcing cuts so most everything has to come from specialty places online or in some cases ebay.  I'm just now getting fairy good at making tight turns and how to control the cuts with very close tolerances. Man, it's disappointing to almost have something cut out right only to fuck it up at the last second, but I'm hanging in there  .. I tried my first gear and it was a disaster so hopefully I've got it down now to be able to cut a gear reasonably before sanding the rough edges.  I still have several modifications to do,but they don't come too cheap.
I finally purchased a drill press, a 5 speed harbor freight deal. It seems to work just fine.
My next big hurdle will be cleaning off my work bench and finding places for all the crap I've acquired. I still need to set up a dust collection system and find a small pump for blowing saw dust off my work. The scroll saw has one built in,  but it's about useless. 
I'll keep you posted.
Oh yeah. .I'm learning to do intarsia which is making art work,  pictures with wood. This stuff is pretty slick.. Here's a few examples .. http://www.freeintarsiapatterns.com/woodworking_art.htm

[Johan]

I had no idea scroll saws were so difficult to master. What kinds of modifications do you have to do to the saw?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I had no idea scroll saws were so difficult to master. What kinds of modifications do you have to do to the saw?

They're not major modifications. I probably overstated that, but out of the box the cheaper models like dremel and others are often put together with hard to reach Allen screws, blowers that don't work,  alignment is iffy, etc.
The blades for real fine work are very thin and break easily if anything isn't quite right.  Try threading a 1mm blade into a 1/16th inch hole in 3/4 inch plywood ...takes lots of practice and patience. I have learned that getting in a hurry is no friend of mine.  Part of the problem with this saw of mine is the work surface table isn't perfectly flat. It's cast aluminum and slightly warped so I have to either compensate or find a suitable alternative surface that is flat because the blades have to be at a 90° angle or should be.

[Johan]

Ah, I see. Would you be able to attach some MDF to your table and make a work surface that's more true?

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Ah, I see. Would you be able to attach some MDF to your table and make a work surface that's more true?

I have to be careful because the cutting depth isn't very deep,  about 2 inches.  I thought about corian..

[Johan]

Corian is a good idea. Perhaps a phenolic sheet might work too? I got a hunk of phenolic plate cheap on amazon to make some zero clearance inserts for my table saw. The stuff is cheap, flat and very hard.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Something really cool if you're into this kind of stuff ..a gear template generator. You can set the gear ratios and all kinds of cool stuff online and print them out and there's a downloadable version for $26.
https://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html

I'm thinking of a rack and pinion system for my table saw ripping fence. The one I have now is a POS . The motor is ok, but the table surface and miter slots are shit..

[AllPurposeAtheist]

My first rack and pinion to use on the new table saw rip fence I'm working on.  I might extend it for the entire width of the table, but for now it's probably going to be just a micro adjusted for tight adjustments. I'm still working on that idea ..




It rolls nice and smooth so far ..

I'm still waiting for the new blades I ordered. The blades that came with the saw are plain old cheapo cutting blades. I ordered Flying Dutchman blades and from what I've read they cut a whole lot faster and cleaner.  I'm guessing it's like the difference between the cheapo blades that used to come with a circular saw as opposed to the carbon tipped blades of today.  Those old blades would burn up just cutting 1/4 inch plywood.

[Valigarmander]

Neat. I've always found clockwork fascinating and wanted to build one of my own.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

I'm finally getting this down fairly well. I think I'll make a sanding jig to sand out the inside of teeth or the contact angles because on an 18 tooth inch and a half gear it's tough to make the turn accurately. It needs to be about 20°.

The rack and pinion on the right is the one I made yesterday,  a 7 tooth gear, not so accurate.  The one on the left is 18 teeth,  much more accurate, but not quite as strong and tougher to grab the inside

[AllPurposeAtheist]

2 genius moves today..forgot to plug in  batteries for the drill (I have about 6 of them) then while building a table saw top I glued and screwed an end piece on for stability, but forgot to cut it to the same length as the top.. jig saw cuts really suck.. oh well..