Welcome to SDU!.  You will find a lot of great sundial projects here that can be completed by anyone - young and younger.

You can easily make any of these sundials but to make them work you will have to set them up correctly. Depending upon whether you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, the gnomon must always point to the North or South Celestial Pole. This means that you must know the direction of True North or South. Visit the "Finding True North (or South) page at The Sundial Primer. There you will learn how to complete this important step.

The Sundial Primer has a lot of information on the design of many sundials. If you want more details on the sundials presented here please visit The Sundial Primer. 

Now let's find out what we have for you.

Sundial Kits

If you can get your hands on a pair of scissors and some glue then you're ready to make one of these sundials. Just print out the sundial and follow the instructions provided with the kit. The paper sundial kits are free and we hope that you have fun making them.

"Easy Make" Sundials

If you have PowerPoint installed on your computer, Dr. Robert Kellogg and the North American Sundial Society have provided a number of presentations that will generate a variety of sundials. These too are in kit form and easy to make. 

"Long Hand" Sundials

Ever wonder how diallists drew their sundials long ago. They did it "long hand". Sharpen your pencil and get ready to learn how to draw your very own sundial.

"Correct-A-Dial"

Many of the sundials at SDU indicate local apparent time. That's solar time. This is true of sundials in many other places.  To find clock time solar time must be corrected for the Equation of Time and longitude. Here is a calculator that you can use to come up with the correction for any sundial. Make it and try it out.

There is also available the "Correct-A-Dial II". This is a modified graph of the Equation of Time that incorporates longitude correction for a single location. If you have a solar time sundial then you need a "Correct-A-Dial II".

"Dialling Buddy"

Do you need a little help getting information for your sundial project? Depending upon the type of sundial you are making and where it is located, the number of hours to display on the dial plate must be determined. Or maybe you need some information about the sun on a particular day and at a certain time. How are you going to this? You need a "Dialling Buddy"! And here it is.

"Dialling Guides"

So you would really like to build a sundial but there's a problem. You just don't want to use software or spreadsheets or mathematics. What can you do? That's easy......Get a "Dialling Guide"!

"Wall Declinometer"

You really want to build a vertical sundial but that wall doesn't face directly south and you are wondering just which way does it go.  No problem if you have Solar Noon Window "Wall Declinometer"!

"Check-A-Dial"

If you are a serious sundial shopper then you will probably not be interested in a "wanna-be" or novelty sundial. But how do you know if a sundial will actually tell the time correctly? You need a "Check-A-Dial"!

"SNOURTH-ometer"

Your sundial is complete but you need to find true north or south to set up correctly. This device will help you do just that! It's easy to make and even easier to use. 

"Inclinometer"

If you want to build an inclining sundial you will need to find the slope of the surface that it will be placed on. This is the device you need!

Virtual Sundials

This section will feature sundials with a bit of a twist. These are virtual sundials. They will not necessarily be real but could be. Perhaps you may have a sundial that belongs here!

Extreme Dialling

Check out some unusual sundials.

Are you interested in creating 3-D images? How about animations? But you don't want to spend a fortune on software. In fact you would like a software package that is free. Well there is a very interesting 3-D animation package available for exactly that amount...free!

Along with the software you can download an extensive user's manual. There are also tutorials and numerous examples of 3-D images created by users. There are many links to other sites supporting "Anim8or".

Create a sundial related image and you can have it posted here if you wish. Use your imagination and come up with something unique.  But make sure to create a sundial that could actually work if it was built. Remember....FORM and FUNCTION. You can create the most fabulous sundial anyone has ever seen but if it will not function correctly it is not really a sundial. Have fun with your creations!