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1) Is this clock really made
completely of wood?
2) How long does it take to assemble the kit?
3) How accurate is the clock?
4) What kind of maintenance does the clock require?
5) What is so special about Baltic Birch?
6) Do you have any other wooden gear clocks for sale?
7) What factors affect the pendulum period?
8) Do you offer quantity discounts?
1) Is this clock really
made completely of wood?
The clock frame, gears, and all other parts of
the clock movement are made of wood. The arbors (shafts) are wood.
The hands and dial pieces are wood. The weight shell is also made of
wood. The only non-wooden parts of the clock are a few screws, some
nylon washers, the string, and the metal shot contained inside the weight
shell.
2) How long does it take to assemble the kit?
This depends somewhat on how much experience you have with similar tasks.
For example, some experience with woodworking will probably allow you to
complete the project more quickly. About a day's worth of time
should be all that is required to assemble the clock. If you were to
assemble more than one, you would probably find that you could put the
clock together in an hour or two.
3) How accurate is the clock?
Being a wooden clock, it is sensitive to changes in temperature and
humidity. If environmental conditions remain fairly constant, the
clock will maintain accuracy to within one minute over the course of
several days to a week. Even when climatic conditions fluctuate, the
clock is easily accurate to within a minute in 24 hours.
4) What kind of maintenance does the clock require?
Other than winding, the clock should not require any regular maintenance.
5) What is so special about Baltic Birch?
Baltic Birch is imported from the Russian Baltic, and is not generally
found at home centers. It differs from home center birch plywood in
several ways. First, 1/4" North American birch plywood is
typically three plies or two plies with a composite core material.
1/4" Baltic Birch plywood, on the other hand, is constructed of 5
plies. This provides increase in stability of the material.
Also, Baltic Birch plywood is void free, as opposed to home center Birch
plywood which may have voids in the internal plies. Being a European
product, Baltic Birch plywood is manufactured in metric units.
1/4" Baltic Birch is actually 6 mm (a little less than 1/4").
True Baltic Birch comes in 5'x5' sheets instead of the 4'x8' sheets so
familiar in the U.S. Finally, the visible outer plies of Baltic
Birch plywood are of the highest quality.
6) Do you have any other wooden gear clocks
for sale?
Additional designs are "on the drawing board" right now.
We hope to have produce prototypes in the near future.
7) What factors affect the pendulum period?
In physics class, you may have learned that the period of the pendulum
(the time required to complete a swing) depends only on the length of the
pendulum and the acceleration of gravity. Therefore, at a fixed
location on Earth, the length is considered to be the only factor
determining the pendulum's period. Since materials expand and
contract with changes in temperature, the pendulum is sensitive to
temperature (precision clock movements use a variety of means to
compensate for this, most notably bi-metallic grids). In reality,
however, there are other factors that influence a clock pendulum's period.
Wind drafts, barometric pressure, magnitude of the driving weight,
escapement geometry, and shaft stiffness all have an influence on the
pendulum's period.
8) Do you offer quantity discounts?
Yes, we would be happy to discuss quantity discounts with you.
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