The University of Toyama Advanced Aluminum International Research Center, Sankyo Tateyama and ハヤシ製作所 completed a wall clock using recycled aluminum, bringing together Toyama’s manufacturing technologies for its unveiling.
The University of Toyama Advanced Aluminum International Research Center, Sankyo Tateyama and ハヤシ製作所 collaborated to complete a wall clock made from recycled aluminum. Combining a mirror finish made from aluminum scrap with woodworking techniques, they aim to develop products suited to a resource-circulating society.
The clock comes in 2 types, one with a mirror finish and the other with a tiger-stripe woodgrain pattern, each using different materials and processing methods. For the mirror finish, aluminum sash scrap is melted and resolidified, then molded to prevent impurities and air bubbles from appearing on the surface and to create a lustrous finish. The tiger-stripe woodgrain type uses maple grown in Toyama Prefecture and is coated to bring out the wood grain.
The hands are made from waste aluminum sashes. A 4 mm-thick sheet is machined down to a thickness of 0.4 mm. The hands on the tiger-stripe woodgrain type have grooves cut by laser at the nanometer level, creating a mechanism that makes them shine in rainbow colors depending on the angle of the light.
The products will be displayed on the 24th and 25th at the Takaoka Chuo Parking Lot next to Takaoka Station as part of the “Tsuginote” Craft Fair. They are also scheduled for exhibition at Nihonbashi Toyama-kan in Tokyo next January, with commercialization under consideration.