Movement Conversion

[imported_mkelly]

I have cleaned this Centurion Clock Movement and converted it from a mainspring to a weighted power. Mechanically everything seems to work fine but the clock keeps losing power and stopping. It has a deadbeat escapement and it drags on the escape wheel as it loses power. I have tried every way I know to attach a video of the movement working so it can be viewed by all the experts out there. But, for whatever reason, I can’t seem to upload the video. If anyone would like to see the video then let me know your email address and I will shoot it to you. I would greatly value anyone’s help. I have only been at this a couple of months. Thanks and God bless.

Michael

[ticktockshoppe]

Duplicate Post in Movement Conversion 2

Hello Michael,
I am not a facebook member so I could not view your video. I know that many forums do not allow video uploads since they can quickly use up allocated memory resources for a board. A link to a video is the normal procedure in most forums. From what you describe though a video probably is not needed.
Dead beat escapements are very sensitive to power fluctuations and losses. This is likely what your movement is experiencing.
Unfortunately there are many factors that result in power loss that might be involved here.

Did you install bushings?
How is the finish on all pivots? If a dead beat then polishing the pivots is very important.
Any bent pivots?
Are all escape teeth perfect? No bent or damaged tips?
Any wear on the pallets?

If you can you put a couple of images up here of the movement and a closeup view of the escapement?

Best Ian

[Anonymous]

Hi Michael et Ian
I have Facebook but didn’t find the video up there.
I agree with Ian.
Many things can drop power moving through a movement.
If this is the Korean clock that you noted in a previous post back on September 4 then you may also be dealing with a lower quality movement. I didn’t respond to your earlier post because I don’t know anything about Korean Centurian Clocks. I’ve worked on Korean movements though and they do tend to wear quickly. That’s of course just my opinion.
Another thing you should check is wear in the trundles. If this movement has trundles instead of solid pinions then I would certainly check them for wear.
I too would be interested in seeing a pic. of the escapement.

Dan

[Bob Tascione]

Hey Michael,
I took a look at the video files you emailed me.

Difficult to say for sure but could be a loss of power as Dan and Ian said or possibly a bent escape wheel tooth or pivot. Although from the amount of arc that pendulum is tracing I would think it’s more over powered than under.

Try marking the escape tooth with a black marker and then run a few more tests to see if it’s stopping at or near the same place each time. If not then move to the next wheel and do the same. This should help narrow down whether you have a normal drop off of power due to dirt or wear or an issue with a bent pivot, arbor or tooth. Also try pulling the weights up off of the table so they they have a free unobstucted fall.

Since you’ve converted this clock to weight driven I would actually hang the movement high enough to allow the weights to be completely unwound without hitting the floor and then just wind them one turn on the spindle and let it run to make sure that the coils are not tangling and interfering with one another.

Dan, this movement turned out to be a newer movement with solid pinions and not caged.

Well Michael looks like you’ve got some fun stuff to mess around with for a few hours!
Enjoy and please let us know what happens.

Adios for now,
Bob
p.s. edit: yeah sorry Mike I should have mentioned to you in our email conversation that you would need to link to a video file. Ian is correct about video files taking up my server storage space.

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