Today I finished made the dial pan, and I also finished the handshaft. I sawed the dial from a piece of 1/16" brass after making a center punch divot in the material, and then scribing a 3.5" circle with a pare of needle-nose dividers. The hole in the center of the dial is drilled to the same size as the hour pipe -- the dial will later be placed over the pipe on the clock to determine the position of the post holes in the frames.

I mounted the dial in the lathe by pressing it up against a wooden block screwed to the lathe faceplate. It is pressed by a live center pushing into the dial's center hole. Friction against the block is usually enough to keep the dial from spinning on the faceplate. If not, a hole can be drilled though the faceplate (in a place to be later cut away) and a screw or small nail can put through to the wood of the faceplace.

The edge of the dial is trued with a bit in the lathe. Then I cut a recess into the face of the dial which is only about .010" deep. This recess will later hold the custom paper dial for this clock. The recess makes for a neat appearance -- the dial looks painted.

Eventually, I will cut out the center of the dial to form a chapter ring, but first I removed from it from the lathe and drilled the two holes which will hold the dial posts. I place the two holes inside the paper dial recess so the paper dial will later cover them.

The dial posts (described later) are placed in the holes and temporarily secured with Super glue. Then the dial is mounted on the clock by slipping it over the center arbor, minute wheel and hour wheel already in place on the clock. The outer points on the posts are then used to make marks on the frames to indicate the location of the holes in the frames through which the posts will fit. This assures that the hands will be dead centered in the dial.

The posts are made from 3/8" brass. I cut one end down to 1/8" and made it long enough to fit through the frame, with enough length on the inside for a through hole for the pin which will hold it onto the frame. The through holes are made using a simple wooden jig. A 1/8" hole is drilled in a block of wood, and another 1/16" hole is drilled crosswise a bit more than 1/4" in. Alignment is achieved by drilling the holes on a common a pencil line. The other end of the posts is also reduced to a snug fit through the two holes already made in the dial. The posts can be given an ornamental shape by chucking the 1/8" spigot in the watchmakers lathe and shaping them by hand with a graver.

Then the dial is then returned to the lathe and the center of it is parted out by making a deep cut with a lathe bit. The posts are riveted into the dial by first marking and then shortening the post so that the end of each post is exactly flush with the outer surface of the dial. If they are carefully made flush, they will not bulge out through the paper dial. The holes have shallow contersinks made with a countersink tool in the drill. Then the outer end of the posts are mushroomed over with many small taps of the round end of a ballpeen hammer. The metal is expanded into the countersinks, and none remains above the surface of the dial. Should any remain, it can be carefully ground out with a Dremel tool.

When the dial is finished, holes can be made in the frames at the positions marked earlier and the dial can be mounted to the frames, using two 1/16" pins. Then the hand shaft can be shortened to fit the dial. After marking, the hour pipe and minute pipe are superglued to drill bits slipped through their center holes (the famous "drillbit chuck ") and are reduced to the proper length by inserting the drill bit chucks in the lathe.

A shoulder is left on both pipes which will serve to mount the hands. The minute pipe (cannon pinon) is left longer than the hour pipe. Then the center arbor is appropriately shortened, and a through pin hole is drilled through it to hold the handshafts onto the center arbor. The pin is placed in such a place that the small leaf spring behind the disk on the cannon pinion is under tension, forming the hand clutch.

The basic clock movement is now finished. What comes next will be finish work and the case.

Dial blank and dividers.
Truing dial.
Truing dial II.
Cutting dial recess.
Drill post jig.
Drill post jig II.
Marking frames for posts.
Dial post flush.
Dial pinned.
Trimming hour pipe.
Dial work done. (Note reflection)