clock stops….

[brutusamiga]

Hello friends,

A few months back I serviced a wall clock for a customer. A month ago I got a call from him, complaining that the clock stops intermittently. I took it to my workshop and it run perfectly for about 3 weeks and then stopped.

Yesterday I disassembled the clock and thoroughly checked for bend pivots, arbors, etc and then polished the pivots again after cleaning everything.

This morning it stopped at 03:40. The following observation might point you in the right direction. When I swung the pendulum there was absolutely no effect and I could not hear the clock ticking. I then turned the minute hand to 03:45, with no effect. The clock only started ticking after turning the minute hand to 03:55.

This to me indicates that the clock is binding somewhere causing a power loss.

Any ideas are most welcome.

Thanks

Bernard

[arutha]

Hi Bernard,
when you say a wall clock is it just a timepiece or does it strike the hours too?
Paul.

[willofiam]

Hey Bernard, some quick thoughts, what brand of clock do you have, also is this a striking clock? if so what type of strike mechanism, interesting it would run for 3 weeks then suddenly stop, could there be a bent tooth OR possible a tooth that is almost broke off? could fall in the way and bind the works but at times fall back into place and look o.k., very hard to see. maybe I am stretching it a bit but I would set it to the time it seems to stop and check all things at their meshing points (actually no matter what time your at start checking all things), use some tweezers and grab hold of things to make sure they are all o.k. Also the idea of it stopping as the minute hand is on the up stroke could be a sign there is a lack of power, is this the time it always stops? but as I think you saying it seems more like no power at all than just struggling. All I can think of to look at at this point. keep us updated and have fun, William

[brutusamiga]

Well, I had to look very carefully but I am positive that I have isolated the problem to T1 that needed a bushing. When the clock stopped T1 and T2 binded twice at exactly the same place. I know this from making marks on the wheels. T3 and T4 moved while touching them with tweezers. The worn pivot hole only became visible from the front of the plate. I guess it is very important to inspect pivot holes from different angles!

To answer your question, it is a time and strike movement. It is unmarked.

It is still possible that there might be another problem causing this, but for now it is time to be positive.

Thanks for your quick response.

[arutha]

The best way to inspect pivot holes is by putting the pivot in them and then seeing how much the arbor leans in any position. The general rule is if the arbor leans over more than 5 degrees from vertical it needs bushing. The escape wheel is a little more critical, you want just enough freedom for it to turn freely but still keep almost vertical. If you ever service a clock, get it in beat and then you find as it runs it sounds like it is going in and out of beat you will find the escape wheel pivot holes to be the culprit.
Lets hope you have found the problem
Good luck.
Paul.

[brutusamiga]

So far so good. I also rebushed the EW’s pivot holes. it definitely sounds better now.

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