Hands out of alignment

[sunny_birds]

HELP. Does anyone have any ideas how to align the minute hand to strike at the correct time?
The centre cam seams to be in the wrong place.
Robin

[willofiam]

Hi Robin. What type or name of movement are you dealing with?

[sunny_birds]

Not sure of the spelling, but it looks like Kienzle
It’s a large carriage clock with Westminster chime, stands about 300mm high
Robin

[willofiam]

Robing, take a look at the minute hand, does it have a brass collar where it mounts to the shaft?

[sunny_birds]

Hi William
Yes it does, but I was worried about breaking the hand if I tried to turn it.
Robin

[willofiam]

@sunny_birds wrote:

I was worried about breaking the hand if I tried to turn it.

I do too 😯 . Have to be careful. some of them are really tough to turn at the same time you do not want them loose. By adjusting the hand on this collet you can get the collet to sit in its arbor and the hand pointing to the correct number on the dial. Some of them have a hex on the back side you can put a wrench on to aid in turning, with other styles you will want something that will fit snug in the collet hole. I like to use a vise when I can, put the tool in the vise, I then have 2 hands to grab hold of the hand as close to the center as possible, gives me some leverage and a bit of downward pressure to keep the tool in the collet. Do a google search for clock hand adjusting tool.

[sunny_birds]

Thanks for the suggestion. As resetting the centre cam would be very difficult.
I was thinking of filing a square on the end of an appropriate size drill, to hold the centre, but was not sure if it was supposed to move at all.
Will let you know how I get on.
Robin

[willofiam]

Better have someone check me on this, heck I forget my name sometimes 🙄 The center cam is not what would need to be adjusted on a rack and snail movement. It seems like that would be it but all adjustment are made thru other pieces.

[bernie weishapl]

Here is what I use to adjust the hand collets so the minute hand will be on time. http://timesavers.com/i-8947503-clock-hand-bushing-adjustment-tool.html
It works quite well and will put it in a vise at times if the hand is being stubborn. Most times though the hands will turn easily without the vise. I would not as William said do any adjusting on the rack and snail. You could be getting yourself into trouble there. I have never had to make a adjustment on snail except to make sure the count rack tail fails in the proper place on the snail so you get the correct count on the strike.

[willofiam]

Hey Bernie, I just re read my post and it is a bit confusing. What I meant was that the center cam is NOT what is adjusted on a rack and snail chime mechanism movement. Center cam can be mounted anywhere on the center arbor, meaning that would not be a adjustment since Robin was referring to the center cam as if it were. @sunny_birds wrote:

As resetting the centre cam would be very difficult.

Sorry for the confusion.

[sunny_birds]

Hi all
Have not had time to try your suggestions yet, but I’m glad it’s not the centre cam.
Will post with my results soon.
Thanks again
Robin

[sunny_birds]

Hi William& Bernie
Thanks for your comments, I made up a tool and all went as you suggested.
Much easier than my first thoughts.
Thanks again
Robin

[sunny_birds]

Just thought I would add this post script.
After all this, went to fully wind the clock, and the Spring slipped for the hour strike drive. Which was what I was replacing in the first place.
Oh well back to square one.
Robin

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