55 Ford T-Bird Headlight Clock

I have been wanting to make a car themed clock for my garage for a few years now. While wandering around Carlisle fairgrounds during the Carlisle Ford Nationals weekend, I stumbled upon a pair of Headlight Bezels for a 1955 T-Bird (I believe the 55-57 T-Bird use the same Bezel as several other model Fords in that time frame). While playing around with designs, I came up with 3 options for a clock face. Since I had 2 bezels I decided to make 2 clocks, I also made them using 3 different materials which I will discuss in the Instructable.

Headlight Bezel from 55 T-Bird or Fairlane (ebay or car swap meet)

Grinder

Silicon Carbide paint stripping disc

Colored Plywood Sheets (Amazon)

1/2" MDF

Clock Movement (Amazon)

Saw Tooth Hanger (optional)

Computer

CNC Router

Carbide Create software or equivalent CNC software

Carbide Motion software software or equivalent machine control software

Inkscape software of equivalent

E600 Glue

Primer Spray Paint

Spray Paint (various colors)

Spray Shellac

The Bezels that I bought were used and the paint was faded and peeling.

1. Using a grinder fitted with a paint stripping disc remove all the old paint from the Bezels.
2. Primer the Bezels using a spray Primer.
3. Paint the Bezels with a color of your choice.

1. Design the image of your choice using inkscape.
2. Export the graphics file in a SVG format
3. Using Carbide Create import the graphics and clean it up as required.
4. Create a circle in the center of the clock face slightly larger than the diameter of the shaft on the clock movement
5. Don't forget to create Tabs on the outer circle.

I have included PNG files as well as SVG for the 3 clock faces I made.

1. Using Carbide Create, select the appropriate vectors and chose the V-carve toolpath.
2. When the toolpath window opens, select the "Enable area pocket tool". This will allow you to cut a pocket V-carve.
3. For the pocket tool, select an 1/8" down cut bit and set the stepover to .025". This small stepover will result in a very smooth cut with no visible lines.
4. For the Vee Tool, select a 90 degree Vee Bit.
5. For max depth, select a value that is approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the thickness of the material you will be using
6. Select OK
7. Select the circle in the middle of the clock face and use the Pocket toolpath to create a hole for the clock movement.
8. Select an 1/8" downcut bit and set the Max Depth to the thickness of your material.
9. Select the outer circle on the clock face and use the Contour toolpath.
10. Using the 1/8" bit, set the Max Depth to the thickness of your material.
11. Set the Offset Direction to outside the click OK.
12. After all the toolpaths have been created run a Simulation to verify your cuts are done correctly.
13. If everything looks OK, save the file.

For this Instructable I experimented with 3 different materials to see how they looked.

1. The first material was 1/2" Oak Plywood.
2. Start with a plain piece of Plywood.
3. After cutting it, spray it with Shellac to seal it.
4. Paint the background and foreground contrasting colors .

Note: Results looked good until it was painted. Turned out sloppy looking.

1. The second attempt was a piece of MDF.
2. Seal the MDF using shellac.
3. Paint the MDF using spray paint of you choice.

Note: These result turned out better, however the background was still bare wood.

1. The third attempt was colored plywood sheets. No special prep or finishing was required.

1. Secure the material to the waste board.
2. Load the file in Carbide Motion.
3. Set the zeros point for the stock (in this case the zero point chosen was the center of the stock).
4. Commence cutting, changing the bits as required
5. When cutting is complete, remove the material from the waste board and cut off any tabs that may have been used.

When cutting is complete, seal the bare wood with shellac and paint if desired.

Note: The colored plywood required no finishing

1. Using E6000 glue or equivalent apply glue to the back sied of the headlight bezel.
2. Some clock movements come with a hanger attached. If no hanger is attached, attach a saw tooth hanger to the back side of the clock face.
3. Place the clock face in the bezel, centering it and allow it to thouroughly dry.
4. Carefully put the shaft of the clock movement thru ther hole in the cemnter of the face. Make sure it is snug but not forced.
5. Fastyen the movement to the face utilizing the hex nut suipplied and carefully tighten it Do not over tighten
6. Align the hour hand to the 12 0'clock posiotion and press it onto the shaft untill it is fixed in place.
7. Repeat step 5 with the minute hand and second hand (if desired).
8. Insert batteries in the clock movement and set the time with the set knob.