First off it has been awhile since I have posted on the forum. Hello to all and my apologizes for not updating my other posts/progress…Not that you were on pins and needles waiting….I digress.
I have a lovely eight day cuckoo clock that has a metal pendulum rod.Clock would run normal then as the weights descended it would pickup speed resulting in a time gain. I thought I was nuts and was on my way to becoming so when one day I noticed one of the weights moving slightly…I videoed this as it was strange to see…
“What the hells going on here?” I thought…Pendulum making too much breeze whilst whizzing by the weight? Ghost blowing on the weight? Mind you these are 1500 gram weights…
No, it was the dread MAGNETIZED weight!! Dangit!! To double check that theory, I placed a small 1 inch (25mm for my UK friends) liquid filled compass on the edge of my bench. I then passed the weight past the compass at a distance of up to 2.5 to 3 inches (say 50 to 75mm) and the compass deflected rather swiftly…
Next step is obvious, use a De-magnetizer, which I attempted and thus far I have been unsuccessful. Perhaps I am pulling the weight the wrong way away from the demagnetizer?? or?? This is driving me MADDDDDDDD.
I have also tried orientating the weights in an east-west direction and hitting with a hammer 50 to 100 times in the hope of getting them to loose their charge. While that helped a bit the field is still present in both weights and stops the clock dead after a few minutes. If I hang the time side with a weight the clock has run for over an hour so I know between the two weights the field is way to strong and the pendulum just can not sustain it self in that intense of a magnetic field.
I have also tried using a heavy pickup magnet to rub one direction trying to magnetize the weight then reverse direction for a few strokes in the hope of demagnetizing that way but no luck. I am at my wits end….
Please, if you have a way to demagnetize large weights, please share it with me so that I can get this clock done…
Thank you all
Jim
Grass Valley CA.
and dont lose too much hair, William
