Steampunk Wall Clock

This project turned out to be one of my more successful projects (after an ugly incounter with a laptop) the price for the entire project came out to about $5 USD. This instructable will go over the most important parts of the build but will leave the end up to your own creativity! Have fun creating this unique, one-of-a-kind, work of 'steampunk' art.

There seems to be many materials but a guaranty that you have most of these laying around!

The materials are as followed:

- 1 Clock mechanism
- 1 DVD/CD
- 1 Micro DVD (The kind you use for hand-held video recorders)
- 1 Can of black spray paint
- 1 Can of Copper spray paint
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Knife
- Newspaper (for protection)
- Brass Wire
- Printer
- Coffee/Tea
- Sandpaper
- Hot glue gun with glue sticks
- Thin cardboard (Like the kind from cerial boxes)
- Baking pan
- A nickle
- Miscellaneous gears, springs, nuts, bolts, and other steampunkish dohickies

Take the sandpaper and scratch up both DVDs. This will provide a better surface for the paint to stick to aswell as give a nicer old fashion look to it.

Now it's time to paint! It's summer here in texas and it gets to over 105*F so i'm going to do this inside (This is when the newspaper comes in handy). First, take the large DVD and spray paint it black. While it's drying, spray paint the smaller DVD Copper. when they both dry, paint the larger dvd copper, and the smaller dvd black. when THAT paint job dries, take the sandpaper and gently rub off the top coat of paint from both DVDs. NOT COMPLETLY OFF! This gives an old looking finish to it. It's important to do paint using the opposite color on the DVDs. This makes a better contrast between them when they are mounted onto the finished product.

Because there is no DVD smaller than the camcorder one, I made one out of thin cardboard and a circular object. The object needs to be smaller than the camcorder DVD. I used a tropicana orange juice lid for this. you can use anything about that size. (look at the finished product and judge for youself). I placed the lid on the cardboard and traced and cut it out. Then i placed one of the DVDs (doesn't matter) in the center to trace the central hole and cut it out.

Repeat the exact same painting process as before, starting with copper, then black, and finaly sanding

Now for the numbers! Attached to this step, I included a the Roman numerals I used for the clock. They may require some size changes. You can easily do this on any picture edeting program. The size has to be small enough to fit neatly within a nickle. when it is printed, pour some coffee, or some tea into a baking pan (i just put instant coffee along with some water) and dip the page into it to make it look aged. Let dry and iron it flat (optional)

When the paper is dry, place a nickle centered ontop of the numbers and trace around it. then cut out each number. when done, arange them on the Largest DVD. When you have them perfectly placed, glue them down.

Take the clock mechanism and gently pop off the Hour, Minute, and Second hands. DONT LOSE THEM! Place a ring of glue near the center, and at the edge. Then position down the clock's face (the DVD with the numbers) and press down.

To make the hour hand, take the hour hand you removed from the mechanism, and glue the top of it to the bottom of the smaller DVD, like in the picture bellow. Repeat with the minute hand to the cardboard disk. The minute hand will probably be bigger than the disk, so just trim it to size.

To make the hour and minute discs able to POINT to a number, i used the bronze wire and shaped it into a fun shape that points. this will be how we can tell the time. Do this for both the hour and minute discs.

The second hand is easier. Remove the bronze pin that is attached to the second hand, and glue it to any thin, long, light stick that is 'steampunkish' enough for you!

This part is easy. Take the hour hand, and place it through the rod until you feel it snap into place. then repeat with the minute hand. then finaly place the second hand's pin onto the tip.

Take the bronze wire, and start looping it tightly against a pencil (make sure to leave about an inch of a tale) loop till you have about half an inch of loop in width. then make another inch long tale. then just slip it of the pencil, and glue it to the back of the clock for a hanger!

Steampunk is all about your own personal style! using your own dohickies, gears, bolts, springs, and whatnots, personalize it and make it your own! Remember, it's your own style, not anyone elses.