Building a Wooden Clock with Veneer

The first step in building this wooden clock was to create the cutouts for the face of the wood. I used a jigsaw to carefully cut out the shapes and designs that would make up the clock's face, making sure to get them precise enough so that the clock would sit flush with the rest of the wood. Next, I started on the veneer, which is a multi-stage process. To avoid any issues during this process, I made sure to only cut two sides at a time, using oversized pieces and then trimming them down to size as needed.

As I worked on the veneer, I had to be careful not to cut myself too close to the edge of each piece, which would result in gaps between them. To avoid this, I would leave a little extra material overhang and then come back later to smooth it out with a plane or sander. This helped ensure that the edges were as clean and flush as possible.

I spent a lot of time laying out and preparing the veneer, making sure that each piece was aligned perfectly before moving on to the next step. I used a utility knife to trim off any excess material and sandpaper to smooth out the edges, which helped create a professional-looking finish.

The clock's design is carefully planned to make sure everything fits together seamlessly. To achieve this, I used a combination of hand-cutting and veneer-laying techniques, making sure that each piece was properly aligned before moving on to the next step. This process required patience and attention to detail, but the end result was well worth it.

To finish the clock's front, I applied a light coat of spray adhesive to the display and inserted the electronics, then used another coat of adhesive to secure the buttons in place. The buttons are attached with screws, which are driven through pre-drilled holes on the back panel.

The next step was to connect the wires to the button bezels and attach them to the back panel using wire nuts and electrical tape. I had to make sure that I got the correct pair of wires before soldering them in place, as this would be a critical safety feature of the clock.

Finally, I attached the power cord to the back panel by drilling a small hole for it and feeding the wires through from underneath the veneer. To secure the cords in place, I tied them off with wire nuts and then wrapped each one in electrical tape for added protection.

As I worked on this project, there were several lessons learned that would be valuable to others attempting a similar build. Firstly, spending more time on the veneer process would be beneficial, as I had to go back and fill tiny gaps with wood filler, which didn't look perfect.

Secondly, using a veneer with figuring (the natural pattern of wood grain) could help reduce the appearance of the clock's face being obscured by the numbers. Finally, choosing a different clock model that was brighter and easier to read would be essential for this project, as well as selecting one with instructions in English.

The author also mentions that if there are any experienced veneer builders out there who have tips or recommendations, they should leave them in the comments section below. The article concludes by encouraging readers to like, share, and subscribe to the channel, and invites viewers to join live on September 9th at 9:30 p.m. for a new episode of "Brain Pick" featuring Jay Bates.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to show you how to make a box that's also a clock I started out with a clock kit that I found on eBay you can get them on Amazon and I'll put some links down in the description for you to find everything you need for this project but this kit has everything you need in it including instructions that show exactly where to put all the components on the board the boards actually drawn out with the shapes of all the components there so even if you don't know what the pieces are it's really easy to find the right ones and stick them in place one of the problems I had with this particular kit is that the instructions were in another language so I just kind of had to go on my knowledge of electronics and just following the pictures on the board once I got all the pieces in place I bent the wires to hold all the components where they needed to be and then flipped it over and soldered on each connection finally plug in the integrated circuit which is the brain of the clock if you don't already you should definitely keep a stockpile of old cell phone chargers and things because it's really handy to just have a power adapter when you need one I found one that fit the right voltage strip the wires and plugged it into the board it happened to be 5 volts which is really common and I ended up having three or four different chargers that would have worked plugged in the adapter and it fired right up you notice there's two tiny buttons on the front that you can use to set the clock off to change those later next I moved on to making the box it's gonna be covered in veneer so I just use some scrap pine that I had so it wasn't specific about the material but I was very specific about the size you're gonna have to measure out all the different sides that you need to make a cube I found the center point of the front piece and then figured out exactly where I wanted to display to be holding that in place I traced the board so that I knew where to notch out so that the clock could sit down in the wood he used a Forstner bit just to get rid of most of the material and then came back with the chisel to knock out the corners setting the clock in place I was able to find exactly where the wires were going to feed through behind it so that I could drill some holes there are three holes so that I can feed the power wire through but then I'm also going to extend the two buttons in two buttons that I can mount on the back of the clock I cut four lengths of wire and then strip the ends off of each one pre soldered at the ends so they'd be easy to attach and then soldered one wire onto the backside of each one of the buttons each button got two wires then I had to make some holes in the back panel to accept the buttons I found the center point and then measured over three quarters of an inch in each direction I drilled a half inch hole for each one of the buttons and then used a Forstner bit on the backside just to thin out the face of the material after making sure that I had all the pieces laid out in the right place use the brad nailer to connect it all together you can see that some of this wood is a little bit warped it worked out fine but I think in the future I would probably be a little more selective on the wood that I used I had to take out the power wire so that I could feed it up through the hole and then feed the button wires down through the hole here you can see that it's really important to get the cut out the right depth so that the clock will sit flush with the face of the wood next I started on the veneer and I cut some pieces that were oversized and only cut them two at a time the veneer is a multi-stage process you can really only do two sides at a time so I did one side laid the clock in place and then did the top then you have to wait it down and wait for it to dry before you can do the other sides I used a utility knife to trim off the excess and here is a place where you could definitely be more careful than I was I got a little too close to the edge and it probably would have been best to leave a little bit more overhang and then come back with a plane or a sander or something just to knock it down that would help stop with the gaps that end up between two pieces of veneer I did all of the sides leaving the front of the clock for last I wanted to make sure that the edges were as close as possible since it'll be the one that you're really looking at on the front face I got rid of as much extra glue and veneer as I could with a knife and with the sanding block because I want the veneer on the front to sit as flush as it possibly can I set veneer on the front of the clock and the lightly traced where the clock was so that I wouldn't put wood glue in that area instead I use some spray adhesive in that area and then block off the electronics and put spray adhesive on the display itself after that drive I came back and trimmed off the excess leaving a little bit more so that I could sand it off this time I had to open up the holes that I had drilled on the back panel through the veneer the buttons that go in here have a little bezel around them so I had to put them in after the veneer run on each button has a nut the screws on the back of it so I added that to the wires and then fed the wires up to the hole make sure you get the correct pair of wires and solder them on to the button then you just push the button down into the hole I had to drill one last hole so the power cord could come through the box so I measured the center of the box and just did a 3/8 inch hole then making sure that it was not plugged in I cut the power wire in half and then stripped all four individual wires I took the two wires from the adapter fed them through the hole and then tie them in a knot so that they couldn't pull back out then making sure to get the correct pair I used some wire nuts just to twist them together it would probably be a good idea to come back and wrap each one of these in some electrical tape as well so as a proof of concept I think it worked all right but if I were to do another one of these there are several things I would do differently that I think would make it a lot better one I would spend more time on the veneer I would be more careful with how I cut it because I had to go back and fill these tiny little gaps with wood filler and it just didn't quite look right second I would get a veneer that didn't have figuring so that it wouldn't obscure the numbers anymore than it had to and three I would probably get a different clock for a few reasons one the display is not really bright enough for what I'm trying to do here I would prefer for it to be a lot brighter and show through the veneer more and also this seems to be a 24 hour clock which isn't very useful for me personally because the instruction is in a different language I don't know if I can change the setting to turn it into a 12-hour clock or not so when you look for a clock you might want to look for one that has instructions in English now if there's somebody out there that has more experience doing veneers and you have some recommendations some tips or something please leave those in the comments both for me and for anybody that wants to make something like this if you liked this project be sure to hit the like down there and share it around that helps me out quite a bit if you want to see some more project videos I've got some there and don't forget on September 9th at 9:30 p.m. I have a new episode of brain pick coming up with Jay Bates it's gonna be awesome come hang out with this live there and ask some questions we can talk about projects or whatever and get in touch with me on social media and all the different networks and show me some stuff that you're working on have a conversation I'd love to hang out with you and talk with you there thanks for watching guys see you next timehey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to show you how to make a box that's also a clock I started out with a clock kit that I found on eBay you can get them on Amazon and I'll put some links down in the description for you to find everything you need for this project but this kit has everything you need in it including instructions that show exactly where to put all the components on the board the boards actually drawn out with the shapes of all the components there so even if you don't know what the pieces are it's really easy to find the right ones and stick them in place one of the problems I had with this particular kit is that the instructions were in another language so I just kind of had to go on my knowledge of electronics and just following the pictures on the board once I got all the pieces in place I bent the wires to hold all the components where they needed to be and then flipped it over and soldered on each connection finally plug in the integrated circuit which is the brain of the clock if you don't already you should definitely keep a stockpile of old cell phone chargers and things because it's really handy to just have a power adapter when you need one I found one that fit the right voltage strip the wires and plugged it into the board it happened to be 5 volts which is really common and I ended up having three or four different chargers that would have worked plugged in the adapter and it fired right up you notice there's two tiny buttons on the front that you can use to set the clock off to change those later next I moved on to making the box it's gonna be covered in veneer so I just use some scrap pine that I had so it wasn't specific about the material but I was very specific about the size you're gonna have to measure out all the different sides that you need to make a cube I found the center point of the front piece and then figured out exactly where I wanted to display to be holding that in place I traced the board so that I knew where to notch out so that the clock could sit down in the wood he used a Forstner bit just to get rid of most of the material and then came back with the chisel to knock out the corners setting the clock in place I was able to find exactly where the wires were going to feed through behind it so that I could drill some holes there are three holes so that I can feed the power wire through but then I'm also going to extend the two buttons in two buttons that I can mount on the back of the clock I cut four lengths of wire and then strip the ends off of each one pre soldered at the ends so they'd be easy to attach and then soldered one wire onto the backside of each one of the buttons each button got two wires then I had to make some holes in the back panel to accept the buttons I found the center point and then measured over three quarters of an inch in each direction I drilled a half inch hole for each one of the buttons and then used a Forstner bit on the backside just to thin out the face of the material after making sure that I had all the pieces laid out in the right place use the brad nailer to connect it all together you can see that some of this wood is a little bit warped it worked out fine but I think in the future I would probably be a little more selective on the wood that I used I had to take out the power wire so that I could feed it up through the hole and then feed the button wires down through the hole here you can see that it's really important to get the cut out the right depth so that the clock will sit flush with the face of the wood next I started on the veneer and I cut some pieces that were oversized and only cut them two at a time the veneer is a multi-stage process you can really only do two sides at a time so I did one side laid the clock in place and then did the top then you have to wait it down and wait for it to dry before you can do the other sides I used a utility knife to trim off the excess and here is a place where you could definitely be more careful than I was I got a little too close to the edge and it probably would have been best to leave a little bit more overhang and then come back with a plane or a sander or something just to knock it down that would help stop with the gaps that end up between two pieces of veneer I did all of the sides leaving the front of the clock for last I wanted to make sure that the edges were as close as possible since it'll be the one that you're really looking at on the front face I got rid of as much extra glue and veneer as I could with a knife and with the sanding block because I want the veneer on the front to sit as flush as it possibly can I set veneer on the front of the clock and the lightly traced where the clock was so that I wouldn't put wood glue in that area instead I use some spray adhesive in that area and then block off the electronics and put spray adhesive on the display itself after that drive I came back and trimmed off the excess leaving a little bit more so that I could sand it off this time I had to open up the holes that I had drilled on the back panel through the veneer the buttons that go in here have a little bezel around them so I had to put them in after the veneer run on each button has a nut the screws on the back of it so I added that to the wires and then fed the wires up to the hole make sure you get the correct pair of wires and solder them on to the button then you just push the button down into the hole I had to drill one last hole so the power cord could come through the box so I measured the center of the box and just did a 3/8 inch hole then making sure that it was not plugged in I cut the power wire in half and then stripped all four individual wires I took the two wires from the adapter fed them through the hole and then tie them in a knot so that they couldn't pull back out then making sure to get the correct pair I used some wire nuts just to twist them together it would probably be a good idea to come back and wrap each one of these in some electrical tape as well so as a proof of concept I think it worked all right but if I were to do another one of these there are several things I would do differently that I think would make it a lot better one I would spend more time on the veneer I would be more careful with how I cut it because I had to go back and fill these tiny little gaps with wood filler and it just didn't quite look right second I would get a veneer that didn't have figuring so that it wouldn't obscure the numbers anymore than it had to and three I would probably get a different clock for a few reasons one the display is not really bright enough for what I'm trying to do here I would prefer for it to be a lot brighter and show through the veneer more and also this seems to be a 24 hour clock which isn't very useful for me personally because the instruction is in a different language I don't know if I can change the setting to turn it into a 12-hour clock or not so when you look for a clock you might want to look for one that has instructions in English now if there's somebody out there that has more experience doing veneers and you have some recommendations some tips or something please leave those in the comments both for me and for anybody that wants to make something like this if you liked this project be sure to hit the like down there and share it around that helps me out quite a bit if you want to see some more project videos I've got some there and don't forget on September 9th at 9:30 p.m. I have a new episode of brain pick coming up with Jay Bates it's gonna be awesome come hang out with this live there and ask some questions we can talk about projects or whatever and get in touch with me on social media and all the different networks and show me some stuff that you're working on have a conversation I'd love to hang out with you and talk with you there thanks for watching guys see you next time\n"