Corvette Z06 Tire Clock

I wore out my first set of track tires on my Z06 and decided it would be really cool to make something out of one of the rear tires from the car. I had seen some pretty cool car clocks in garages but after looking at them closely, all I saw was some pricey and expensive clocks that were rather small for a garage. So I struck upon the idea to make my own from a real tire, instead of a plastic replica tire that was way to small to fool even a child! So onward and upward and let's make this happen!

I realized I could make two clocks from one tire, so I used the first as a prototype to gain my learnings and give that clock away as a door prize to my car club, but then my clock would be so much better! In short, I pretty much stuck with the process from the first with minor learnings so I am well pleased how it turned out.

Read on for a project that took quite a bit to engineer, but was fun to build from beginning to the end. I get a lot of compliments and comments about where I got it and the answer is it is just one of two!

1. Access to Fusion 360 Software to layout the project parts and dimensions to make everything fit.
2. A really cool tire from a sports car preferably very WIDE and well used!
3. 2 mm thick acrylic sheet for the window pane. (dimensions determined by the diameter of the tire you use).
4. 1/8" thick 55% Translucent White Acrylic sheet (dimensions determined by the diameter of the tire you use).
5. 3/4" Plywood Backing Board (dimensions determined by the diameter of the tire you use).
6. 3/4 x 3/4" Stand off Support blocks (approx 16 and 90 mm long).
7. Access to a 3D Printer or 3D Printed parts found online (go here for ideas BADJERMAKER - Etsy)
8. 32' LED strip of lights with a controller used for behind big screen tvs or under cabinets found on Amazon Amazon.com: DAYBETTER Led Strip Lights 32.8ft Kit with Remote and Power Supply Color Changing : Tools & Home Improvement
9. HIGH TORQUE clock movement
10. Drywall screws 1-1/4" long
11. Sheet Metal screws #8 x 3/4" long
12. Super GLue CA
13. Rustoleum Spray Paints - Sandable Auto Primer, Colors of your choice for finish coat.
14. 3M Automotive Spot Putty
15. Painter's tape
16. White Paint Pen - Make Race track marks on sidewall of tire
17. Testors Model Paints - Enamel for the flag logo detail colors
18. Epoxy glue - JB weld or equivalent.

This step is going to be critical to know how much DEPTH you need to have from the tire bead down to the cut line. This dimension has to allow for the 3/4" plywood backboard, PLUS the distance to the acrylic plate dial face, PLUS the clearance of the chevy bow tie thickness, plus distance the clock hands sweep above the bow tie and still not interfere with the window pane. See diamgram.

For a 345mm Z06 tire, cut exactly in half (to make two clocks) these dimensions allowed for a gap between the backboard (led light strip to the acrylic to be 90 mm. This could have been reduced probably down to 60 mm but any tighter gap may not diffuse the led lights enough to be a uniform lighting and you may see spot lighting per LED coming throught he acrylic. I would test the MINIMUM distance befroe that happens before you cut your tire.

If your tire is not 345 mm wide, then determine the dimension of the cut wall to the tire bead, and then adjust the cut height to match. To get this clearly understood and correct BEFORE I cut my tire, I laid the tire down on the pavement and holding it upright actually flexed the sidewalls and distorted the true dimension measurements. I then laid a straight edge across the tire and measured from it to the INNER edge of the tire bead and measured from the straight edge down to the pavement. Subtracting TWICE the distance of the straight edge to the inner bead from the pavement number gave me the inside bead to bead dimension to work with. ALL WAS GOOD for enough room so I cut it directly in half as shown in the photos. I measured from the straight edge to the pavement, divided by 2 and then rigged up a paint pen at that height and spun the tire around for a cutting line.

The next part was by far the toughest thing to do... cutting through kevlar and steel cords with my dewalk grinder with steel cutting disks was a challenge. Besides holding one's breath to not inhale burning rubber fumes and the particles of black rubber dust flying everywhere... after THREE new disks, I finally cut around the circumference and split the tire into two halves. DO THIS OUTSIDE on a nice windy day and you can thank me later!

The backboard was made by glueing two sheets of OSB board I had to get the thickness for the future drywall screws to affix the edge of the cut tire onto the board, but looking back at the additional steps this took, I probably would just go and buy a new 3/4" plywood and that would be thick enough and yet save some weight vs the two layers of osb.

Anyway, I carefully measured the diameter of the now floppy cut tread which was difficult to get a good measurement so I cut it larger and then made multiple smaller diameter cuts until the tire fit over the backboard. I wanted this fit to be tight and not pucker along the perimeter when I screwed the edge into the backboard. I then cut a service hole in the center for access to set the clock and change the battery, then painted one side silver to refelct the light and the exterior of it flat black. The service hole was later covered up with a sheet metal cover held in place by sheet metal screws to keep bugs out of the clock.

I use Fusion 360 CAD software because it is quite powerful, easy to use once you get the hang of it, and is very flexible for making changes and then exporting to the STL file extension one needs to get it prepped for slicing software that a 3d printer can use.

The fonts are already loaded in Fusion, so that didn't require drawing, but the logos needed to be traced by way of the import Canvass feature (a photo of the badging for example) and then traced out (drawn by hand). Once drawn, then I could turn those sketches into real 3d bodys by extrusion and then exporting as STL files.

Each letter or body object has its own stl file unless exported as a group, but by doing them each separately, one can just reprint the fails vs an entire word of Corvette for example when all I need is the letter V for example. Another cool thing is that you can extrude or even 3d print them as adjusted to a scale to fit the project. I drew the bow tie first and then checked it against the actual tire to verify my drawing in Fusion as it looked on screen would be realized and accurate.

I use ABS filament because it is very stable in a wide range of temperatures and is way better at triming , filing, and sandability than PLA. BUT, it takes a lot to keep the print adhered to the print bed, ESPECIALLY long and thin parts like the replica wheel rim or window frame and inside ring windo clamp. So I used painter's tape and painted a thin layer of ABS dissolved in acetone solution (glue) onto the tape and it worked great! The tape then also makes it much easiler to remove from the bed.

Once the parts come off the bed, they need to be cleaned up of stray edges and other defects. These prints are not perfect and need to be trimmed, filed, and sanded to look good. To hide layer lines, especially on large surfaces like the bowtie, I give those parts a skim coat of 3M spot glazing putty and sand smooth. I did this even for the lettering which probably was overkill.

After spot glazing, I sand like there is no tomorrow, then prime with sandable auto primer, until I am satisfied with the surface. I then give each part two coats of Rustoleum paint and we are good to go.

I did use a paint for the exteriorrim to mimic the forged aluminum wheel's baked on powder coat, by using a black hammered paint finish made by Behr / Home Depot. A hammered finish paint really does a great job hiding surface defects and 3d printed layer lines.

Paint the interior of the backboard either white or silver to aid in the light transmittance through to the front of the dial face.

I did paint the inner tire with silver spray paint that seem to want to rub off but after a clear coat over it (Rustoleum) is stopped doing that.

I measured out the standoffs to be 90 mm long to get me the right heights for the stackable dimensions for the clock components to not interfere with the window. I then glued and screwed them around the perimeter of the backboard evenly spaced to support the acrylic clock dial. Next, it was time to tape down the LED strips to the backboard and with some very rough calculations on concentric circles spaced 1 - 1.5" apart, I figured I needed the 32 ft strands of LEDs 16 ft each so with a few pencil lines to follow, I was able to get the tape down fairly evenly across the backboard.

Use care in folding the foil tape as to not break any of the foil traces of continuity for the LED string.

Plug the LEDs in and check to make sure you didn't cut the foil tape or damage the lights in any way before we assemble it.

Note the standoffs across the mid section to support the bowtie and clock movement.

Cut the acrylic like you cut the backboard, a bit larger and then use a disk sander or other method to get to a perfect circle as possible to match the diameter of the backboard.

Locate the acrylic disk directly over the backboard as supported by the standoffs. To check for concentricity, use a square and butt it up against the backboard edge and check the distance of the acrylic to the square's edge move the square around the backboard edge checking as you go until it is centered.

Mark on the acrylic where you will need to drill holes through the acrylic and into the standoffs. Use a smaller diameter drill bit first and then drill to a clearance hole through the acrylic keeping the standoff as a pilot hole so the sheet metal screws grab into the wood.

Drill holes in the acrylic for the bowtie to be fastened through the acrylic from underneath. Use sheet metal screws here too.

I fabricated a tool (see pic to draw a layout line for the locating of the lettering around the circumference of the disk. I use an eraseable marker and laid out the lettering by eye first, then measured to ensure I was dead on. It is amazing how your eye can pick up larger gaps and diffrences in spacing but check it anyway.

Use CA glue and work from left to right if right handed so you do not bump letters that are in the process of the glue setting up. Once all the dial features are glued down, clean the dial face and install the clock drive from below and put on the hands.

The Window pane outer wheel rim, sandwiches the 2 mm acrylic window to an inner wheel frame. That assembly is then secured to the tire with a segmented inner clips as screwed together with sheet metal screws.

The Wheel rim frame and inner wheel rim frame requires a flat assembly as possible so that the appearance looks really good, meaning uniform and the seams are not visible on the exterior but the inner frme completely holds the 2mm window in the groove all along the perimeter.

So I spent a ton of time making sure the pieces joined up well and I processed the joints to be very smooth by first epoxy gluing them together and the filing the joints smooth. I followed that with auto body filler, sanding smooth again and priming, sanding and finish painting.

To ensure I didn't get the E6000 glue oozing out of the frame and onto the 2 mm acrylic, I used it sparingly and kept the protective film on the plastic for as long as possible.

Once the outer wheel frame was done, I then fastened it to the tire with segmented inner fram clips with sheet metal screws.

Now to take this project across the finish line, carefully lower the tire onto the acrylic dial assembly until the backboard fits within the circumference of the tire all along the perimeter. I then used drywall screws drilled right through the tire along its cut edge around the perimeter and into the edge of the backboard.

For an added flair, I put some markings on the tire that they use in racing; tire pressure, balance point and where it came off the car.

I then added a heavy braide wire (#14 stranded wire) across the back for a hanger. Lastly, to ensure it won't fall off the wall I made a bracket out of some bar stock and screwed it to the wall of may garage and into some wall studs!

Now I know what time it is to get to the race track!