Desk Clock Stand With 50-Year Perpetual Calendar

The purpose of this Instructable is to show how to make a stand for a desk clock that includes a 50-year standalone perpetual calendar. Using the stand eliminates the need for extra space on the desk for a calendar. The stand also has some space to store pens or pencils behind the calendar and under the clock. The emphasis is on showing concepts rather than on making a fine finished product.

The standalone perpetual calendar is similar to the moving slider type in my Fifty Year Pocket Perpetual Calendar. (See https://www.instructables.com/Fifty-Year-Pocket-Perpetual-Calendar/ ) In the pocket calendar, the slider has a table that covers 50 years on one side and is blank on the other side. To reduce the overall height, the slider in the stand for a desk calendar is double-sided with a table that covers 25 years on each side. The tables in this design cover the years 2000 to 2050, and the instructions show how to make tables to cover any time period. The standalone perpetual calendar uses unique concepts that are described in my book “Practical Perpetual Calendars – Innovative, Convenient and Green” by James R. Saltvold. (A pdf copy of my book can be viewed on https://archive.org/details/9781532021367PdfOfBook/mode/2up )

For the Standalone Perpetual Calendar

A sheet of 8.5 x 11-inch 65 lb card stock

A sheet of Avery 76293 or equivalent self-adhesive laminating sheet

For the Stand

All of the parts for my stand were cut from a spare half-inch thick particle board that was 6.75 inches wide by 17.5 inches long. The minimum size required is 5 inches by 15 inches and the thickness can be half to three quarter inches. Particle board, plywood or solid board can be used.

The minimum thickness of the top and bottom to enable cutting 0.25-inch-deep grooves for the slider tracks is half inch. Thinner material can be used for the top and bottom if 0.25-inch square dowels are used to make the slider tracks, and the posts are made from thicker material or round dowels. The pdf document that has details of parts shows how to use thick or thin material.

The following supplies are needed to assemble the stand:

Mod Podge or white glue

8 Screws or round dowels (optional)

Calendar and Stand Details

Standalone Perpetual Calendar Description

The first document is a template that can be printed to make an exact duplicate of my perpetual calendar. This is a refined design that needs little, if any, improvement. The two parts are a moving window and a fixed piece. The calendar is set by moving the window to put the year of interest under the month of interest. This document also shows how to cut out the parts for the stand.

The second document provides enough information to make an Excel spreadsheet for printing the calendar. An Excel spreadsheet is only needed if you want to make modifications to the template in the first pdf document.

The above image shows the two parts of the 50-year standalone perpetual calendar. They are the stationary tables which are glued to the stand, and the moving window which slides in a track. The stationary tables are the day-of-month table (numbers 1 to 31) and the month table. On the moving slider there is the day-of-week table (SMTWTFS) and the year table. The image shows both sides of the slider.

My Fifty Year Pocket Perpetual Calendar Instructable has details on how all of the tables are constructed. How the year table is constructed is of interest if the calendar is to be modified to have a different range of years. If you imagine that the columns in the year table are labeled Sunday to Saturday from left to right, common years are under the day of the week that January 1 falls on and leap years are under the day of the week after the day that January 1 falls on.

The above image shows the parts for the stand, which are the top, the bottom and four posts. They are made from half-inch thick particle board. The top and bottom are 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches and each has a 0.25-inch-deep groove cut 0.5 inches from one end. Each post is 1.0 inches wide by 2.0 inches high. The top and the bottom have to be the same size within 1/64 to 1/32 inch and the heights of the posts have to be within the same tolerance.

The “Calendar and Stand Details” pdf document shows the sequence for cutting out the parts using a table saw. The tolerances are achieved by using the same rip fence setting for parts that have to be the same dimensions. The pdf document also shows how to make the stand from one eight or one quarter inch thick material instead of half inch thick material. In this case, round posts cut from a dowel may be used instead rectangular posts ripped from thick material. To make round posts uniform height, I suggest using a C-clamp to clamp an end stop in a miter box.

If the stand is to be finished with paint or varnish, do this before assembly and do a touch up after assembly if necessary. Immediately clean up any paint or varnish that gets into the track. The first step in assembly is to attach the four posts to the bottom of the stand. To do this, I put a drop of glue on the bottom in the centre of each location where there was to be a post. Then I set each post in their location and gently pushed down to spread out the glue. I did not have any way to clamp the posts while the glue setting, so having a thick layer of glue over part of the contact area was more important than having a thin layer over the entire area. After the glue was set on the bottom, I repeated the process for the top.

Since I was interested only in showing concepts, I relied on glue to hold my stand together. For a permanent stand, consideration can be given to putting a screw or a round dowel at the top and bottom of each post for a stronger joint. Holes can be drilled for them after the posts are glued in place. However, I found that joints with only glue were strong enough.

1. Use a laser or ink jet printer set to its highest dot density (most common is 1200 dots per inch) to print the pdf document “Calendar and Stand Details” on 65 lb card stock.
2. Cut off the top part, which has the calendar, leaving at least half an inch of border on the bottom.
3. As noted on the pdf document, both the moving window and the stationary tables have to be cut to a height equal to the distance between the tracks. Before covering with laminate, measure the height and draw a line at the tops of these pieces. Do this because a visible line cannot be drawn on laminate with a pencil. To slide freely, the height of the window has to be slightly less than the distance between the tracks. The top of the window can be trimmed after the first cutting if necessary.
4. Draw lines at each end of the stationary tables for cutting to length. The locations of the lines are determined by dividing the length of the track by two and measuring out from the centre marks.
5. After drawing the lines, cover the sheet with a sheet of Avery 76293 or equivalent self-adhesive laminating sheet. This is a delicate operation. Peel backing off the laminating sheet and lay the laminating sheet sticky side up on a flat surface. Then lay the stiffer card stock on top of it. Covering the card stock with a laminating sheet is essential to give it more rigidity, more resistance to wear and to have a smooth surface on the stationary tables for the moving window to slide on
6. Using a utility knife and a metal straight edge cut out the piece with the stationary tables. Use an old magazine as a cutting surface. As the pages get cut up, tear them off and throw them away. Self healing cutting surfaces can be purchased from craft stores, but I have found that an old magazine works well.
7. Cut out the moving window along the dashed lines and along the line that is between the two sides.
8. Glue the two sides of the moving window together using Mod Podge or an equivalent white glue.
9. After the glue is set, cut the moving window to size and cut out the opening. As the window has two sides glued together, two layers of card stock and two layers of laminating sheet have to cut through. Two passes with the knife may be required. Alternatively, the windows on each can be cut out before gluing. However, the edges will not line up unless each side is precisely cut.
10. Glue the stationary tables to the posts at each end of the tracks. If the height has to be trimmed to fit, using a scissors may be easier than using a utility knife. Trim the top and not the bottom.
11. Slide the moving window into the tracks. Trim the top if necessary to make it slide easily.

This clock stand is a useful addition to your office if you always have a small clock on your desk or on a shelf. The stand gives you a perpetual calendar without taking up anymore desk or shelf space. It also provides you a limited size pen holder. If you do not usually have a small clock in your office, a better perpetual calendar to use is the tent desk calendar described in https://www.instructables.com/Perpetual-Calendar-Breakthrough/ .The calendar in the clock stand that I built is vertical and is a bit difficult to read if it is below eye level. An improvement would be to have the calendar at an angle of 80 degrees from horizontal instead of 90 degrees. The figure above shows how my design can be modified to achieve this. The front edges of the front posts are cut at an angle of 80 degrees from horizontal and the grooves in the top and bottom are slightly different. With the front tilted off vertical, the top and bottom are no longer the same size. These changes would make construction more difficult, but they are worthwhile if you want a clock stand that you will use for a long time.

At the beginning of the design process, a decision was made to limit the height to three inches. This resulted in the calendar having small font and a double-sided window. A low height can be regarded as enhancing the appearance. However, a greater height, which would enable having larger font would not necessarily have a poor appearance. With a greater height, the moving window can be one-sided to cover 50 years or two-sided to cover 100 years.