Designing your own Clock Case
Case design is not such a formidable task as you may think; it can be done with a little research and the basic skills in technical drawing. If you covered this at school you’re already halfway there.
Although there are advanced drawing programs you can use on computers today, we still use the old method we were taught in college i.e. using a drawing board, clips, and T-square. You may laugh but it the cheapest and fastest way, and works very well for us, working on the principle of keep it simple. Â
A good book that covers clock drawing and construction that I can recommend is Making and Repairing Wooden clock cases  By V.J. Taylor & H.A.Babb. Â
Take some time out to look at styles and construction of cases for the period that matches your movement and dial. If you are not lucky enough to be able to get access to any and to have hands on and get a close look, you will have to scan as many books as possible.
It goes with out saying a good source of pictures can be found at your local library. Â Museums and stately homes give a great opportunity to get close up and have a good scan.
A friend of mine once asked a stately home permission to photograph and take the dimensions from a table they had so he could make a copy, and believe it or not they said yes. I’ve never tried it but it might work for a clock case. Â
Lets not forget the old auction houses these can be a great source forresearch. Get the catalogue for any photographs, and then get yourself down to the auction on viewing day and you can then get a close look at the style with its veneering, stringing and all its decorative features, and also look inside to see how the case was constructed. Â
Once you have drawn up the case you are going to make, with as much detail as you can put on it, you can then compile your cutting list. Listing all the parts you will have to make to finished size, you can then calculate the exact amount of timber you will need to buy from the timber merchant and order the veneers and stringing or inlay if necessary.
 It’s also a good time to source and purchase the fittings you will use on the case i.e. hinges, finials, patera and column caps.
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I’ve just done my first long case clock – see Barry’s Blog. This was developed from photos, some ours, some from the net. Unless professionally taken, photos distort the proportions of the case. I scaled a full-size drawing from the photos, but found that I had to make many changes, both to the drawing and during construction, before the clock looked right. If you can possibly measure a similar case, I’d recommend it – even basic measurements of overall height, width and depth of elements are very useful.
One little point that nearly caught me out: make sure that you have enough clearance for the weights to travel to the bottom of the clock! Mine have only about 5mm clearance at one point, and if I hadn’t thought about the issue when framing up, they may not have had that. Select your movement with this in mind, as well as all the other factors.
I read the recommended book after building the case. I wish I’d read it before.