Introduction: Popsicle Stick Clock
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About: working on fixing up my apartment
the challenge;
to do it as cheap as I can using things i find or have access to.
Sometimes,(OK all the time ), my mind works in strange ways. After seeing the weekly challenge and the contest page and thinking to my self that I had no idea of what I could do,then a light came on,but no that was just my son passing through the living room on his way to the bathroom. So while I was no longer sitting in the dark I still had no ideas forming in my head. So I went on cruising the web forgetting all about making something, when in the back of my mine unrelated items started going out on dates with each other, living with each other,having babies, raising families and planning their summer vacations, and out of all of that came a Popsicle stick clock. where in I went out searching for Popsicle sticks at 9 pm at night realizing that I only had 3 day to get it done in and here it is.
Step 1: Supplies
- Popsicle sticks
- glue
- hammer
- finishing nails
- graph paper(not shown)
- pen/pencil (not shown)
- guts from a clock
- hot glue gun
- scrap wood(not shown)
- tape(not shown)
Step 2: Making the Jigs
First a little bit history.
A year or two a go I was help my son make DNA model in which he used Popsicle sticks to build it, we bought box of them and had a lot of them left over. That started me thing about how, when I was a kid, people would use them to lamps and things. So I thought I would see if I could find out how to make one. To my disappointment all I could find was some pictures of old ones that different people had put up for auction, but no plains as how to make them. After thinking about it for a while the only thing I could come up with was how to make a jig to help get one started or to make the parts and this is what I came up with.
First I tape two sheets of graph paper together so I had a big enough sheet to draw the pattern for the base.
Next I laid out the Popsicle sticks, using the grid on the graph, in the pattern I wanted (an octagon).
Making sure they all over lapped the same, about a quarter of an inch, then marked the inside corners where the nails would go.
Now I taped the graph paper to some scrap wood and hammered the nails into the wood where I marked the inside corners and then using the hammer I bent the nails in toward the center the Popsicle sticks from the jig.
I then made the jig for the square parts in the same way
A year or two a go I was help my son make DNA model in which he used Popsicle sticks to build it, we bought box of them and had a lot of them left over. That started me thing about how, when I was a kid, people would use them to lamps and things. So I thought I would see if I could find out how to make one. To my disappointment all I could find was some pictures of old ones that different people had put up for auction, but no plains as how to make them. After thinking about it for a while the only thing I could come up with was how to make a jig to help get one started or to make the parts and this is what I came up with.
First I tape two sheets of graph paper together so I had a big enough sheet to draw the pattern for the base.
Next I laid out the Popsicle sticks, using the grid on the graph, in the pattern I wanted (an octagon).
Making sure they all over lapped the same, about a quarter of an inch, then marked the inside corners where the nails would go.
Now I taped the graph paper to some scrap wood and hammered the nails into the wood where I marked the inside corners and then using the hammer I bent the nails in toward the center the Popsicle sticks from the jig.
I then made the jig for the square parts in the same way
Step 3: The Top Half
To make the top half where the clock goes, I placed the sticks the jig gluing them in place to form the first ring letting it dry first before you start the next layer.(I did not do this because I was in a hurry so mine did not come out as even as it should)
Continue adding layers going straight up until you have about one and a half inches of height.
now you need to start bringing the sticks in toward the center a little at a time to form a gentile curve.
I did this by two layers in only about 1/8 of the way in then the next couple a1/4, then 1/2, then 3/4 then 100%, and kept doing it at that level till they meet and form a square.
Now you do another one just the same and when it is done you glue their bottom halves together to make the top.
Now you make a solid platform of sticks to make the clock face with a square cut out of the middle of the middle stick(it is easier to do this before you glue them together),then glue two halves of the sticks to the back to reinforce it.
Now all you need to do is pick which side is the best and glue the clock face to it.
Continue adding layers going straight up until you have about one and a half inches of height.
now you need to start bringing the sticks in toward the center a little at a time to form a gentile curve.
I did this by two layers in only about 1/8 of the way in then the next couple a1/4, then 1/2, then 3/4 then 100%, and kept doing it at that level till they meet and form a square.
Now you do another one just the same and when it is done you glue their bottom halves together to make the top.
Now you make a solid platform of sticks to make the clock face with a square cut out of the middle of the middle stick(it is easier to do this before you glue them together),then glue two halves of the sticks to the back to reinforce it.
Now all you need to do is pick which side is the best and glue the clock face to it.
Step 4: The Base
To make the base you start the same way you did for the top but when you start to bring in the sides in you do it the opposite you did for the top, starting bring them in at 100%,then 3/4,then1/2,then1/4,and finishing with 1/8. This will make concave, fluting it instead.As in when you made the top stop when they meet and form a square.
now you need to make the square units to form the rest of the base.
Using the square jig place 4 sticks on the jig gluing them together(you can do this while you are working on the other part of the base),letting it dry before you take it off and make another one.
Keep making them and stacking them up until they stack up as high as you want (mine stacked up to about 3 inches).
I glued them together so that they formed a tight spiral by matching up the opposite corners.
now you need to make the square units to form the rest of the base.
Using the square jig place 4 sticks on the jig gluing them together(you can do this while you are working on the other part of the base),letting it dry before you take it off and make another one.
Keep making them and stacking them up until they stack up as high as you want (mine stacked up to about 3 inches).
I glued them together so that they formed a tight spiral by matching up the opposite corners.
Step 5: Mounting the Clock
I use the guts from a cheep clock I bought from Target for $4 usd.
I then glued it in place by putting a lot of hot glue around the stem of the clock being careful not to get any on the stem.
Then pressed it in place.
I then glued it in place by putting a lot of hot glue around the stem of the clock being careful not to get any on the stem.
Then pressed it in place.
Step 6: Attaching Top to Bottom
Put glue along edge of top square of spiral where it meets the top.
Let dry.
Attach the hands.
Let dry.
Attach the hands.