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General Category => General Scroll Saw Talk => Topic started by: Becky on February 11, 2014, 09:48:48 pm
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Well, I have said all the cuss words I know so there is nothing left to do but share.
I have been working on this cuckoo clock for almost forever. I cut it out late last summer, assembled it in late fall and did the finishing this winter. It was to be a gift for my brother's birthday later this month. I went to put the hardware in last night and ran into a problem. There's a switch on the side where you can adjust the volume or just turn the cuckoo sound off all together. When I went to put the switch in, it butted up against the battery holder thing and wouldn't go in.
Today I thought I had worked out a solution and went to play around with it when I discovered the REAL problem. The reason it won't go in is because I assembled it backwards or inside out or something. Simply put, when I assembled the basic box, it put the right side wall on the left side and vice versa. If I had done it right, it wouldn't have been anywhere near the battery holder.
I might be able to cut a hole in the battery holder but I'm not sure even that would give me enough room. The battery has to go in there after all. And, I am making heirloom-type clocks for all of my family members and I don't want to give him some kludged up thing. That'd be a crummy heirloom. So I have ordered new wood. I am so disgusted with myself! Such a stupid mistake. I won't throw it away just yet. I might think of a clever way to work around it in the future but for now, I will start over.
It would have been a gorgeous clock. The picture isn't great but I didn't think it was worth taking a lot of trouble with it.
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I have a quick suggestion that MIGHT work.
Can you make the hole for the switch higher or lower than the battery holder and then make a large switch cover to go over the outside to cover the first hole as well as making it look like it is suppose to be there?
Rog
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I think I would be upset as well. That looks great.
Does anybody know how to dissolve the glue without effecting the finish so it can be re-assembled in the correct fashon??
Just a thought for recovery efforts. . .
Jim. . .
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If you used white woodworking glue it can often be softened for dissassembly with a heat gun, however it can also damage the finish. Give yourself a little time and you may find your solution. Most of the things I build wind up with an "unexpected design modification: of some kind.
Beautiful clock. You will find a way to make it work.
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So sorry Becky, but, I would not give up just yet. Just a thought.......is it possible to install a remote system in the clock? If so, you could repair the hole for the switch you have already cut.
Tony,aka,Toneman
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Could you move the battery box, it is just 2 wires? :)
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Hi Becky,
HOW DARE YOU !!!
I thought I was the only person that ever put something together wrong. Beautiful clock Lady. With your talent, I'm confident that you will find a solution and no one else will even notice it.
jerry1939
:'(
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You could look for a different clock mechanism.
Maybe not a cuckoo version, just a normal type. then make a bird to glue into the cuckoo hole. It wouldn't be quite the heirloom that a real cuckoo clock would be, but it would still show off your awesome craftsmanship.
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Well, I have explained the situation to my brother. He knows my plan about the clocks so it isn't like I spoiled anything. He doesn't know what sort of clock I am making so that part will still be a surprise.
I'm pretty sure I won't just throw it out. I'll just put it somewhere out of the way right now. There are some ideas in here that I might be able to utilize as part of a salvage job but this will not be the clock I give to my brother. He understands and says he will be happy to wait for me to make him a new one (which is what I really want to do even if it is a bit anal, lol).
Got a shipping notification from Occooch today so the wood is coming and temps are set to rise into the 50's next week! I might be working on the new one by next weekend or at least out in the shop getting back to the feel of things after all these months inside. As I recall, it wasn't that difficult to cut. The hard part was making the cuckoo go in and out of the doors correctly and I can reuse the doors and door frame so that will be easy this time.
BTW, I should have given credit for the pattern. I got it from The Art Factory. The screw-up was my fault, not their pattern's. I love their patterns and would recommend them to anyone interested in trying a clock. They have a wide range of difficulty levels too which is nice.
After all of this, I will definitely be posting a pic in the brag forum when I get the new one made.
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Here is my suggestion. Print off everyones suggestions. Put your clock away. Then when you are feeing less stressed, read the reply's again and then figure out what you are going to do.
Marg
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That's pretty much the plan. I'll let ideas percolate for a while.
Bill: I put it together with yellow Grizzly glue. Not sure it would come apart but gave another gluing mistake to a co-worker who is also a woodworker (though with a different focus). He said he would "experiment" with different solvents. Actually, he offered that with my cuckoo clock but I don't want to risk it to random experimentation when there might be a simpler solution. Meanwhile, my co-worker can play with a much less labor intensive piece. I won't care if it gets destroyed.
Rog: There is an ornamental piece that comes right down the center of the side wall of the clock. One each of the "halves" there are upper and lower ornamental cut outs so any solution will have to deal with them as well. But I admit I am a proponent of making corrective things big and obvious so they look planned!
TVman: The battery box is combined with the clock mechanism, including the gizmo that sticks through the hole for the hands and the pendulum. It pretty much has to stay put.
Tony: I don't have a clue about a remote system. The switch I have now is mechanical with settings for HI LOW and OFF. It wires into the main clock mechanism. Would a remote work with that? If so, do you have a link?
MrsN: Call me stubborn but I would rather try and make it be a real cuckoo clock if I can. I'd have to buy a new hardware set but I would have a real cuckoo clock when it is done. Making it into a different sort of clock would probably be a last resort because it would just always remind me of the failure. Yes, I tend to beat on myself over things like this.
One thing it will always be is a solid reminder to be extra careful during assembly.It certainly isn't the only mistake I've ever made but it was so easily preventable. Whatever else I might get out of it, I definitely got a lesson.
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That should have been yellow Gorilla glue. Not sure where Grizzly came from, lol.
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Seriously, don't beat yourself up about it! Happens all the time. I am in the process of building a box for my Grandaughter using contrasting glued up boards made by running pieces against a raised panel door router bit, and then gluing them together with the contrasting strip in the center. The bottom came out fine. I went to make a framed in raised panel top and forgot that I had attached an auxiliary board to my tablesaw fence, so I wound up cutting the raised panel 1 1/2 inches too narrow for the frame.
My last name is Murphy, so Murphy's law applies double!
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Becky, how will we learn if we don't make mistakes. I always keep my mistakes and put them up on the wall of my workshop. Nobody will know they are mistakes unless I tell them. So it becomes a visual reminder to me that I must always be careful. Also they sometimes become great conversation pieces.
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Well, in late-breaking and OMG news, it turns out that acetone, delivered by eyedropper makes gorilla glue come apart! Yesterday I gave that old messed-up project to my co-worker as reported and today he asked me to stop by his desk when I had the chance. He had successfully removed the badly glued pieces. Sanding or perhaps a little more acetone would remove the remaining glue and I have to say the wood looked none the worse for wear. It'll take off finish too but this was unfinished. He did say it takes patience. I don't know exactly what the process is yet.
Anyway, I think I am going to try this route. We'll have to take off the gable ornament and half the roof to get to the offending side wall but if that comes off OK, I'll just need to remake that one piece - at least if the ornamental pieces come off OK too. Then it is just reassembly of those pieces and refinishing. At the end of the day, if it doesn't work, I am still no worse off than starting over.
A word of warning (from my co-worker - who is obviously brilliant!). Don't use finger nail polish remover without checking ingredients. That often has moisturizer included because of the drying effects of acetone. That would probably do something funky to the wood. Also, he said that the fumes or whatever from acetone are heavier than air and highly flammable. You need to be sure to be in a very well ventilated area.
This won't be happening for at least a few days but I'll let you know how it goes.
FWIW, I do understand that mistakes happen. I just get really frustrated with myself when it is a major project that gets screwed up because I did something dramatically stupid. But, as several of you have said, it is how we learn. Likely I will get a rescue on this though possibly not. Either way, I think it is definitely a "teachable moment." If I didn't think so, I wouldn't have shared the story to begin with.
Anyway, with luck I will have a follow up on how things are going by sometime next week.
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I got my clock back today. The gable ornament has been removed as has half of the roof. Both had to go to get to the did panel. It is gone as well. I've got to remove some of the glue remnants (I figure some combination of razor blade and sanding. Today got above 60* so I went straight out into the shop after work and cut a new side. Well, two new sides as I am DEFINITELY rusty and cut the first one too short, lol. I'll save the fine tuning until I get rid of the excess glue. The acetone definitely damaged the finish but I think I can sand that down and it'll be OK. It'll take some more elbow grease but I think this thing might just work. Time will tell.
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Good luck Becky!! Can't wait to see it.
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Wonder if this will work for any glue, like wood glue if once you glue it up and dries and discover a mistake before you finish it. I always try to look things over as I am putting it together before glueing up to make sure everything is in its place before I glue to make sure its all correct. I have found myself like this a few times working on something and haveing to tear it down or start over is a pain.
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Wonder if this will work for any glue, like wood glue if once you glue it up and dries and discover a mistake before you finish it. I always try to look things over as I am putting it together before glueing up to make sure everything is in its place before I glue to make sure its all correct. I have found myself like this a few times working on something and haveing to tear it down or start over is a pain.
I use Titebond wood glue and in the past, I have found that heat sometimes works to dismantle mistakes in gluing.
If you catch it soon enough (within 6 hours), you can heat the joint with a heat gun (old hair dryer in my case) and the glue will release fairly easy. If it has set longer like overnight, FORGET IT!! The wood will break before the glue lets go.
I've never tried acetone (to be honest, I have never heard of this method before) but, it might be worth a try but, I kinda doubt that it will work.
Any port in a storm though!
Rog
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FWIW, the piece I gave him to practice on had been sitting around for over six months. It was also glued with yellow Gorilla wood glue. I like the Gorilla glue because the set time just seems to work well with my pace. The clock had been assembled and finished and sitting around for a good month before I realized I had put it together wrong. The basic box was finished well before that because I tinkered for about forever (OK, three or four weeks) before getting the cuckoo to work the way I wanted it to. Only then did I add the gingerbread and proceed with the oiling and lacquering process.
I don't know about how acetone would work on Titebond. The key is patience. Let the acetone soak into the joint multiple times and then slowly work at inserting a razor blade into the joint. Then add more acetone so it can get to the newly exposed areas of glue. If you have a lot of glue in there, you can actually see it sort of bubble out.
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I wanted to give you an update. I have replaced the side piece and was able to reuse all the other parts. There was a fair bit of sanding required to get rid of the old glue residue but I did that last week and just tonight finished putting the gable ornament back on. The wood elements of the clock are all now reassembled. So far, so good. I'll let the glue dry through tomorrow and then get the (re)finishing going. So far, so good.
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Good deal, glad your able to fix the mistake and keep it. I know what its like to make a mistake and start over but thats part of woodworking.
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WAY TO GO LADY!!! :) :) :)
"I have been told" (Ahem) what a great feeling it is to be nearing a solution to something that I screwed up.
However, this is not to be considered an admission of guilt in the past.
jerry
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It *is* a relief, I can tell you that. I put Danish oil on it (just in the places I had to sand on on the new side wall) tonight.
I also had a brilliant, if I say so myself, idea. Even as the finishing process progresses, I know I will still have tweaking to do when it is done. There are eye screws that go on the back side of each of the doors. They hold thin wires that pull the doors closed when the cuckoo retreats. They have to be set just right or the doors will either not close completely or will close on the bird. I am going to take a scrap of plywood and cut the shape of the door hole in it. I can mount the housing on that temporarily while the real clock is going through finishing and at least a little curing. Then I can used that wait time to get everything working just so. That way, when it is ready to assemble, the tweaking will already be done.
Pretty stoked about how well this is all working out. I just hope there aren't any other surprises waiting to bite me in the butt.