Meet Doug Paradis.
Recently Doug took on the goal of creating a clock that he could enter into an Instructables contest. For those who don’t know, Instructables is a great DIY website that is free to the public and houses tons of cool project ideas with step by step instructions (hence the great name!) including photographs for added detail to the process. The contest works by people voting up the best project; taking into account the quality of the instructions and the finished product itself. The Dallas Makerspace is really proud to have one of its own members entered into this contest and with such a fine work of craftsmanship.
Doug took some time out for me to answer a few questions I had about the process. At the end of the interview you can find a link to his entry (there are two places to vote!) and I highly recommend that anyone who agrees with me about the beauty of this piece help Doug out and take a moment to vote.
Q: What was your inspiration for the clock?
A: My inspiration for this clock is the Dashtronic watch made by Stauer. I would often see this
watch advertised in the Sky Mall magazine as I travelled. Of all the watches advertised, this was
the only one to tempt me. After some thought, I decided to make a clock based on this watch.
Q: Can you give a brief list of the materials you used to make this?
A: To build the clock I used a standard arts and crafts store quartz movement, inexpensive 5 mm
plywood, glue, and a piece of card stock. I designed the case and clock faces in Inkscape. The
case was cut on the Makerspace’s laser cutter. The design is simple enough that it could be
made with a scroll saw.
A: Instructables is one of the larger venues for makers to display their projects. Its varied and
constantly fresh content is fascinating. The Instructibles format used to document a project could
teach lessons to businesses trying to retain information. Instructibles is also very practical for me.
I do not have a blog. I don’t believe I could post enough fresh content to maintain interest.
Instructibles allows me to share my projects to an already collected community of like
minded people.
Q: Any tips you can impart for aspiring clock makers?
A: The different ways to make a clock are endless. If you have an idea, flesh it out and make it.
Use the people at the space [Dallas Makerspace] as sounding boards. You will get many good suggestions. Remember
the Reasonability triangle. Is it easy? Is it inexpensive? Is it quick?
Q: From your experience making this, how hard would it be for a beginner to construct?
A: This clock is very easy to build. A Makerspace member would need to take the laser cutter class
and use the laser cutter to cut the case pattern. For their own designs, I recommend learning
Inkscape. DPRG [Dallas Personal Robotics Group] has a Inkscape video class on their YouTube channel. If you don’t have access
to a laser cutter, the case pattern can easily be made using a scroll saw and drill.
Q: Where can people vote up this entry on Instructables?
A: I have entered the clock in two Instructables contests. You can help me out by voting for the
clock’s entry. To vote you need to have an Instructibles membership. The memberships are
free. Pro membership is not required. The links to vote are
http://www.instructables.com/contest/clocks/?show=ENTRIES&sort=HITS_TOTAL and
http://www.instructables.com/contest/epilog4/?show=ENTRIES&sort=HITS_TOTAL (you
may need to hit the next button). Unfortunately, the way Instructibles is set up you need
to vote twice.
A big thank you to Doug for sharing his experiences and knowledge on this project. It certainly spurred a Clock Interest group within the DMS and now we can’t wait to start making out own!
