A couple of Items

[bernie weishapl]

Well picked up a couple of items of ebay yesterday for about $70. One was a 400 day clock which my wife liked and a case for my finished 16s 15j Elgin. Also made a jig to assembly 400 day suspension springs from a design of a friend on NAWCC. So all in all a good couple of days.

[bernie weishapl]

Forgot to add the jig. I will lay out how it works tomorrow. Just put the last coat of finish on it. What??? Had to make it pretty. 😳

[chris mabbott]

Nice pick ups Bernie, that case will look brand new after your treatment I’m certain

I almost picked up one of those clocks a few months back, but I couldn’t make up my mind. I know that somewhere, floating around in the back of my head, that there is a definition of 400 day clock, but it’s eluding me 🙄
Is the clock currently running or does it need attention?

[bernie weishapl]

95% of them I buy need a suspension spring Chris. Most are broke either at the top block or bottom block. Generally I put a new mainspring in also as most have set totally wound up and the springs are set. This clock he told me needs the pendulum rehung so that tells me the suspension spring is broke. They are easily broke as the thickness is rather thin. Most common run from .002″ to .004″. After studying these clocks for several years I finally figured out what was important as far as the running of these clocks. I have a friend of mine who is a expert in these clocks (read 50 yrs + repairing and collecting) go thru one with me and the light bulb came on. I have a couple including a Haller (they can be a pain) that I never could keep running. After he explained his procedure to me and I understood why/what/how it opened my eyes. I made the slight adjustment per his guidance and walla the clock works and has been for several days now. I have always been fascinated with 400 days which will generally run one year per winding. I have a couple that will run 1000 days on a winding. Anyway I like collecting them.

[bernie weishapl]

Ok the finish is dry and I am going to put a rule on it for measurements of the pieces. I drilled one small hole to put the pin in the bottom block in. You get the idea of how this thing will work. I get a little shaky at times put the spring in the blocks, etc so this will help. To hold the blocks I use a set of parallel jaw pliers. Keeps things square. Anyway I think it will do what I need it to do.

[chris mabbott]

im not quite sure how it works Bernie, but i”m sure it will. Oh, if I had a hammer

I’ll look forward to seeing it in action, I might need one, one of these days..

[bernie weishapl]

Chris the top block will be pinned down with a taper pin to hold it in place. Most bottom blocks have a pin in them so I just drill a undersized hole and stick that pin in it. It holds it pretty well. The main thing is I have a stable area in which to assembly these. My problem is I have benign femeral tremor in my thumb and at the most inopportune times it will flair up and mainly if I am trying to grip something. So I will sometimes bend or kink a spring. 👿 This just adds stability. I have a measurement device I am adding to it so I can get the measurements down and once setup I will post another picture and I think then you will see what is happening.

[cazclocker]

Nicely done, Bernie!
…Doug in Arizona

[arutha]

Nice job Bernie,
these things should be called the devils clocks! I have had hours of aggravation with these in the past but the bulb came on for me with the last one I did and its a funny thing, once you understand them you wonder why you found it all so difficult? Thats not to say you won’t still get the odd one that will be a pain in the butt
Paul.

[bernie weishapl]

Exactly my thoughts Paul. Once I understood that the supplementary-arc of at minimum of 1/2″ and that the beat had to work together as simple/dumb as it sounds it finally made sense. Supplementary-arc is most important in keeping the clock going along with the beat. I have adjusted 5 of my clocks which seem to be running rather nicely now. The odd one I have is a S. Haller which I cannot for some reason no matter how I adjust it about a 1/4″ of arc is all I can get but it has been running a week now so will as my grandmother used to say, “leave a sleeping dog lie.” 😆

[Bob Tascione]

That’s a really cool tool Bernie!
I can see where that could make life a lot easier.

Bob

[bernie weishapl]

Thanks Bob. I have used it for a couple of my own clocks already and I like it. I haven’t received my measuring device yet but once that is in I can then make accurate measurements of the spring to transfer to the jig.

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