Sundial

[madwelder]

Hi all,

Was speaking to my mum last night about what to get my dad for xmas/birthday this year (only 6 days apart) and she reminded me how he has always wanted a sundial but hasn't yet seen anything he really likes, they've all been a bit too fancy apparently. So me being me, I've laid down the gauntlet to make one

So the first thing was to to work out how to get the correct angles. A quick Google search threw this up - http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/kids/summer_activities/make_sundial.shtml which has given me a paper copy to start off with. Further research on YouTube found this useful video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14GOFiJSElI and his suggested link for an angle calculator for a sundial - http://www.anycalculator.com/horizontalsundial.htm

Now to the drawing board to work out a design for the sundial

 

[Buter]

Cool.

I look forward to this.

Cheers

Buter

 

[Shedendman]

You might also find these useful for your calculations
http://www.mysundial.ca/sdu/graphical_vertical_sundial.html
http://sundial.damia.net/vertical/sundial.html
that 2nd one i tried works pretty damn good

 

[madwelder]

So I thought I'd better do an update before revealing the finished product.

After no reply from a local engraving company regarding a sundial design I chickened out of making the sundial itself and bought a slate one off of eBay.

In the meantime I have cut a 5mm thick disc for the base and a 2mm disc for the top on the guillotine (roughly first then ground the discs round). I have also salvaged a couple of bits of 10mm box section that had been rolled into an arc, then chopped them up to make 4 legs for the plinth.

You might just be able to make out a scribed line on the discs 25mm in from the edge to line up the legs, also quartered the base disc after the photo.

The dividers in the photo are one of the first tools that I made myself when I started my apprenticeship and have come in use quite a few times in the past.