Clock repair blog

SALEM SHIPS BELL
Setting the sequence on this clock can be frustrating.I suggest starting the
process of setting the sequence at the 1 bell interval (12:30; or 4:30; or 8:30). The
small pan shaped washer that is attached to the back of the centerpost with a nut must
be in the Up or high lift position on the half hour position.The triangular shaped
cam on the 3rd wheel must be attached so that when the gear train is in the shutoff
position , the pin on the shutoff lever rests on one of the 3 flat sides of the cam
precisely in the middle
the side. The star wheel consists of alternating lift teeth in pairs. At the shutoff
point; the second tooth must have just let go when the gear train stops (only 4 or 5 rotations
of the fan); this allows for the hammer end to be in the down position for the pin to
catch the end and hold the hammer up in the air for the half hour thing.Always check
the stetting of the rack indexing lever; i have found that in most cases these have
been forced somehow and they have slipped and are not accurately dropping in the
rack teeth. If you do all the adjusting and don’t check this first you will most
likely drive your self nuts. The index pin must drop exactly in the valley of the rack
tooth.

GONG REPAIR
Coil gongs can be repaired . No need to solder them. Solder will not work unless
you have the skill to work with metals this way.Soft solder will not work. Press a b;ushing
in the old hole , the press-fit the gong back in. Carefully clamp the gong ind in the vise and
tap the black in. This will work if the gong end is properly sized to fit tightly in the
bushing.

MAINSPRING END REPAIR
Often it will be necessary to repair the end or a mainspring because it will be
impossible to find a suitable replacement. This can be done by drawing the temper on
the end of the spring after the bad end has been cut off. Heat the end )before the new
hole is drilled) until it is cherry red and then reduce the heat slowly by slowly .
About ½ inch per second or slower will work until the flame is about a foot or so away.
Be careful. The end will still be hot for a few minutes. Put the spring in a vise with the
length that is to be softened exposed so that it can be worked on safely with the torch.
After the end has been softened and completely cooled; take it out of the vise and
punch a dot (at the center of the spot where the end hook is to be( and drill out the new
hole. I prefer to use a found hole that just fits the hook inside the barrell. be absolutely
sure that there are no sharp edges or cuts where the hook holds the end because that
will cause the end to break again. Be sure to leave enough on the other side of the hole
to protect the end.

THE SETH THOMAS 115D:
The seth thomas 115d is a ships strike round mechanism. It Has a
non-imported balance wheel unit . It uses a cam in the idler gear to make odd count
lifts lever that catches hammer. gravity-spring-counter weight return on rack.
].010in.spring.
spring loaded rack index end pops back in case mechanism runs down this spring ..021in..brass.
Trip lever return:.013in.brass;-.010in.inside plate on this also. Hammer return spring
.016in.;
brass.Be sure there is at least 180 degrees of rotation on the warning wheel after the
warning position; or the odd hour strikes will be erratic because the hammer catch wont
always hook.
In the event that the balance wheel unit on this clock is damaged beyond repair,
an old popular european mechanism PIN lever platform escape unit will work ; the escape wheel will have to be turned over on its shaft because the gear train of the seth
thomas turns the opposite direction of the popular european mechanism mechanism. The pinion
gear tooth count is 8 leaves , the same
is in the orig. seth thomas. The regulator device needs to be modified to fit in the slot
on the dial. A small hole drilled in the regulator arm of the popular european mechanism
unit with a taper pin carefully riveted in will work just fine. The popular european
mechanism
unit will just fit under the dial. The
mounting holes do not fit exactly ; however some careful modifications will allow the
use of the popular european mechanism platform escape unit. It must be a pin lever though
because the unit with the jeweled fork will see the escape wheel backwards unless the jewels
are reversed , which i haven’t tried.

To protect a wheel while heating a shaft; drill a hole in a piece of brass the
size of the shaft that the wheel it on . A piece big enough to cover the wheel.

On the Chelsea; watch the drive gear for the balance wheel unit ; it can be put in
backwards.

Chime bind on large 3/c popular european mechanism /kienninger grandfather clock movements:
check pulleys; hammer
lift alignment ; lift pin burrs; throw out arm must be perfectly straight ; 90deg. to
hammer
lift drum. Check hammer pivot shaft support and spring ten sion and amount of lift.
Some hammer assembly shafts on floor clocks are threaded that will make
the hammers not line up with the hammer lift pins if the shaft is un-threaded slightly;
be sure to check this.

Seth Thomas Time and Strike with strike lift pins on the #2 wheel
Remember that there must be enough spin left at the end of the chime to
allow enough space between the end of the chime melody and the beginning of the
strike count so that they sound separate. The governors must always be Balanced.If the strike or chime binds , it may be that the fans ore out of balance. Always
check the balance on the fans; they must be as close to perfect as possible. This is true
on all mechanisms with mechanical governors that operate primarily in the upright position.

WARNING PIN POSITION:

The warning pin position determines how much spin the strike or chime gear
train has before the hammer load or any load is applied to it. This as absolutely critical on
some mechanisms and on others not so critical.Generally speaking , if there is trouble
with the chime or strike binding it may very well be that there is not enough gear travel
before the load is applied.
Seth thomas 124
seth Thomas 113

chelsea
french clocks
gustave bekker
Hubert Herr cuckoos
Regula cuckoos
Junghans
NOT SO CRITICAL:
One day german count wheel cuckoos
Quail cuckoos

WATERBURY CLOCKS :

Waterbury made a triple plate self correcting lantern pinion mechanism with
time and strike style shutoff wires. On the left side back plate looking at the unit from
the front , the lever on top of the trip lever is the self correct lever. Stamped on the
back of the movement: Patented 5/24/1910 ; 1/23/1917 ; 1/29//1918 ; 5/21/1918 ; 5/27/1919
6/5/1924 ; 4/14/1925.
The best way to approach this mechanism, if an overhaul is planned , is to
treat it as two separate mechanisms with a common middle plate. As far as bushings
are concerned , this is the least confusing, in my opinion, unless you are fortunate
enough to work in an environment where it is possible to work uninterrupted. I prefer
to do the chime mechanism first, because it is often necessary to rebush the gear
system that winds the mainspring. Those gears are hard steel so be careful. they are
usually somewhat loose on the shaft, and that is not usually a problem, Just be sure
the bushings are as tight as possible. Check the #2 wheel chime bushing on the
long end of the shaft; it is very close to the movement post, and if it is worn too
severely, it may be a problem to get a bushing to fit. Be sure to assemble the chime
silent lever before the mechanism is completely assembled. The trip lever is the one
with the flat blued steel arm that extends into the front mechanism (the front
mechanism being the section that carries the centerpost and the hour tube hand end) .
The self correct lever is directly above the trip lever. The lock pin for the self
correct stop on the 4th wheel must go past the self correct stop on all but the hour; so
that when it releases on the hour it will be clear of the lock pin when it starts the
travel for the hour sequence. The short tab on the bottom of the self correct lever
fits in the small hole in the middle plate.

This mechanism has a rack and snail on the front plate. The gathering pallet
has 2 pins. The chime is tripped by the chime trip cam in the front plate mechanism
on the back of the centerpost. There is a high lift on this cam that is meant to trip the
chiming mechanism at the hour on the self correct. Looking at the back plate fromMAINSPRING END REPAIR
Often it will be necessary to repair the end or a mainspring because it will be
impossible to find a suitable replacement. This can be done by drawing the temper on
the end of the spring after the bad end has been cut off. Heat the end )before the new
hole is drilled) until it is cherry red and then reduce the heat slowly by slowly .
About ½ inch per second or slower will work until the flame is about a foot or so away.
Be careful. The end will still be hot for a few minutes. Put the spring in a vise with the
The information contained in this
the back of the clock the self correcting lever is on the upper right hand corner. It
has a 3 pronged tension washer to hold it in place when it is moved by the pin on
the 3rd wheel. The triple plate design allows for the time gear train and the strike
ear train to be positioned at the front and the chime at the back. The warning wheel
(5th wheel)) in the chime gear train has almost one turn before the lock position;
this allows for the self-correct to function properly. the pin on the 4th wheel is theMAINSPRING END REPAIR
Often it will be necessary to repair the end or a mainspring because it will be
impossible to find a suitable replacement. This can be done by drawing the temper on
the end of the spring after the bad end has been cut off. Heat the end )before the new
hole is drilled) until it is cherry red and then reduce the heat slowly by slowly .
About ½ inch per second or slower will work until the flame is about a foot or so away.
Be careful. The end will still be hot for a few minutes. Put the spring in a vise with the
The information contained in this
self correct pin. It works with the self correct lever; the high lift moves the lever to
clear this pin on the hour. the sequence cam is on the 3rd wheel. the 3rd wheel
o has a pin on the front of the wheel to trip the strike and a pin on the back to set
the self correct lever to grab the pin on the 4th wheel.All of the slots on the 3rd
wheel are the same depth because the self correct is done with the levers, This
mechanism has a through the dial regulator at the 12 o’clock position and a chime
silent lever below that . the rack index arm will move: it is riveted on in the
mechanisms i have seen. The setting of the index arm is critical because the
shutoff arm that rides in the grooves must be adjusted so it will work in conjunction
with the gathering pallet. It must shutoff with the last pin on the gathering pallet
having just cleared the last tooth on the rack. The mainspring measurements are as follows:
Time mainspring:.018in. X .750in. X 96in.
Strike mainspring: .014in. X .874in. X 78in.
Chime mainspring: .0225in. X .874in. X 78in.