Find the distance between|your longitude and the center of your time zone. You can find your own longitude by looking it up online or with a GPS device. Then, calculate the distance from your longitude to the central longitude of your time zone, and note whether you’re to the east or west of it.

Pocket Sundial : 12 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables Pocket Sundial : 12 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables

Make sure your sundial will be in direct sunlight all day. This may seem obvious, but it’s crucial! If you want to be able to read your sundial from dawn to dusk, keep it out in an open, unshaded area where sunlight can reach it for as long as possible.While figuring out how I would finish the dial plate I thought it would be kind of neat to burn the surface of the wood instead of staining it. So after quite a few passes with the propane torch and after hitting it with some sandpaper, it was time to add the finish. As the Earth rotates on its axis, so the Sun appears to move uniformly across the sky and if a rod is placed parallel to the Earth's axis its shadow will naturally move uniformly around itself. In other words, as the Sun moves through an arc of 15° in the sky in one hour so will the shadow move at the same rate. This is the principle on which most (but not all) sundials are based. My method for making and attaching the gnomon is to design it to have two small pegs that will line up with slots in the dial face to keep it in place and properly aligned. With this method it is also possible, and easy, so make several gnomon that can be used interchangeably for either a different look or incase one breaks Point the gnomon north if you’re in the northern hemisphere. Use a compass or look for the North Star at night to find true north. Then, rotate the face of your sundial until the gnomon, or the pin of the sundial, is pointing straight north. [2] X Research source

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For most of human history, the day was all you needed to organise your activity, with the Sun itself giving an imprecise sense of how much time was left before nightfall. Stonehenge’s function is unclear, but almost all archaeologists agree it was meant to align with the Sun at the summer and winter solstices.Now next, the direction shown is not calibrating. I have been comparing it with the phone's compass, to see it. But it is still not calibrating properly. Making a sundial is something we've wanted to do for a long time. As with any project we do, we wanted to make it a bit different. Rather than making it with a standard round dial plate we went with a leaf for the plate. We learned a lot along the way and we were pretty happy with the end result.

Telling the time with the Sun | Science Museum Telling the time with the Sun | Science Museum

The gnomon can be made from just about any sturdy material, however many metals will screw up the compass reading and should not be used in any part of the sundial. I used a stiff piece of plastic (polypropylene actually) that I cut from the lid to a large plastic jar. Whatever material you use, make sure that it will not break or bend too easily, and be sure that it is flat. Print the design and tape it to the piece of material (I like to use double sided tape), and the cut the shape out of the material. Be very sure that the "latitude corner" is at the right angle, and be sure you know which corner it is. iii) Scaphe dials: the hour lines are inscribed on the inner surface of a spherical or a conical cup. Your latitude will also be important in making the gnomon (the piece that stands vertically and casts the shadow on the sundial's face). The top edge of the gnomon will be the part of the shadow which will line up with the time lines. The angle between this edge and the face of the sundial must be equal to your latitude. Other than that, the gnomon can be as simple as a right triangle, or a complicated as you want.Add or subtract 4 minutes for every degree away from the center. Now, use your calculation to get a more accurate estimation of the time from your sundial. Multiply the difference between your longitude and the central longitude by 4. If you live west of the central longitude, add your answer to the time; if you live east, subtract it. [7] X Research source It was not until the 13th century that Abul–Hassan introduced the idea of making all hours of equal length and by the 15th century these equal hours were in general use. Renaissance sundials and the French railways The compass and sundial are both mathematical instruments providing an accurate means of ascertaining time and location. Sundials