As a dial for this clock, I decided to use an old dial -- a porcelain enamel dial which came from a pre-WWI German 400-day clock. It's in great shape, and better than anything I could find in modern form.

I set the dial in a bezel, which consists of a ring which frames the dial in front, and a dial back plate which conceals the dial back and mounts the bezel to the front of the movement with posts and screws.

I made made the bezel ring from 1/16" brass. I drafted a pattern with Deltacad, which I pasted onto the brass. The bezel ring pattern has an interesting geometrical shape, and also has a mark to indicate its center, which I center-drilled with a combination drill and center on a bench drill.

I put the faceplate on the lathe, and held the mother brass to the lathe face plate with a live center in the tailstock of the 9x20 lathe, putting the live center point into drilled center on the brass. Then I marked the lathe face plate to indicate the centered position of the brass.

Then I removed the faceplate from the lathe and drilled and tapped 10-24 mounting holes through the brass and directly into the lathe faceplate, using the marks made earlier on the faceplate to keep the brass in center. (I wouldn't directly drill the faceplate of a Schaublin lathe, but somehow it didn't seem an act of impiety to drill the faceplate of a Chinese 9x20 lathe.)

I oversized the mounting holes in the 1/16" brass mother material, so that I could manoeuver it a little to final position. I put a piece of cardboard between the lathe face plate and the brass to make a little clearance, since I'll be boring close to the faceplate.

Then I put the lathe face plate back on the lathe, where I re-centered the brass using the tailstock live center. I drilled a hole in the center of the brass, and used a boring tool to enlarge it to final size. I beveled the inner edge of the ring, for looks. I removed the brass from the lathe face plate and used a jewelers saw to saw out the geometric pattern on the outside of the ring.

I made the dial back plate of the bezel in similar fashion. It's made of a round 1/8" brass plate which is hollowed out to accept the dial. To make the hollow, I mounted a piece of 1/8" brass on the 9x20 faceplate, using the same drilled and tapped holes made earlier for the bezel ring brass. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the brass, then cut the hollow with the boring tool.

I parted off the brass from the lathe face plate with a normal bit. Then I put an arbor which has a 1/4" bolt in its center in the lathe chuck and mounted the dial back plate brass on the arbor using the 1/4" hole in its center. Then, using small cuts, I trued the rim of the dial back plate.

That same arbor has 3/4" internal threads, which allow it to be screwed to the stud in the center of the Sherline rotary table. I screwed the arbor onto the table, and drilled five 0-80 holes on the rim of the dial back plate, which will be used to screw the bezel ring onto the dial back plate.

The dial of a clock must be mounted to the front plate with special care, since the handshaft must be in the exact center of the dial. To do this, I first removed the front plate from the clock, leaving the center arbor and its bridge in place. Then I made a bushing which has the internal diameter of the center arbor and an outer diameter of the hole in the bezel back plate. The bushing centers the backplate on the center arbor.

Then I made a hole in the backplate which is in the position of one of the posts which will mount the dial to the lathe face plate. I marked the front plate of the clock through the hole to indicate the position of the post on the front plate. Then I rotated the backplate so that the hole is now over the other side of the clock front plate and made a second mark to indicate the position of the second post. It's always wise to drill such holes a little small, so that if it's discovered that the holes don't exactly align, they can be "moved" a little by filing and broaching.

The posts are made by conventional lathe work. The backplate screws onto the front of the posts with 4-40 screws. The posts mount on the front plate of the clock by threaded studs and knurled knobs. I could have used screws here, too, but I like the looks of the knobs, and they do make it easier to remove the dial from the clock. I detest attaching dial posts to front plates with pins, since they don't stay in, and you scratch plates when you remove them.

Today's links:

Bezel blank on lathe faceplate
Centering ring on faceplate
Boring bezel ring
Bezel ring cut
Ring and dial
Boring back
Trueing back rim
Drilling back
Back with center arbor bushing
Posts
Back with screws
Back with posts
Dial and bezel finished
Bezel ring drawing GIF