My Cuckoo Clock practice piece #2!

[peggy332014]

Hi everyone!

Today I received an awesome gift from one of our forum members! If he wishes to reveal his name–fine with me!

Anyway, I received this older West Germany Cuckoo Clock, and two books! YAY! Now I’ve got some books I can use!
If I can’t get it working, it will be a nice supply of spare parts! 😆

I did take the movement out of the clock, and examined it. Being that it has not been used for some time, it did show to be super dirty from non-use, and had what appeared to be a couple of spider webs on one or two pivots. I’m looking forward to learning this one, It is a rack and snail movement. There are several parts missing, such as the pendulum and weights, the chime bell, the hands ,and the back of clock door–and I may need to get some new chain depending how well these clean up. The bellows work good! I don’t mind, it’s a practice clock. There’s no hurry on this one, and like I said–I could just use it for parts. The movement is excellent for learning!

[bernie weishapl]

That will make a great practice piece. If something goes haywire with it if it is a Herbert Herr movement or a Regula they are available from most suppliers. I have overhauled a lot of those and are fairly easy to do. Just make sure you run it thru it’s paces a few times watching the levers in front and back also inbetween the plates. Once you see how they are positioned when it has finished it cycle then it is pretty easy. Have fun.

[peggy332014]

Good Morning Bernie!

Thank you! I sure will! Thanks for the heads-up!

I did go look at Ebay, and I did find one movement that is so very close to this one. I did price some of the missing parts, a little pricey right now, but I’m determined to make this a complete and running cuckoo!

I’m really looking forward to learning the rack and snail system, for sure!

[peggy332014]

Well, I got brave and took my cuckoo movement apart the other day, just now posting the pics.

I do have a question on it, since I don’t have a book on cuckoo’s yet… how do I remove the center arbor and the other gear (shown in the bottom two pics) from the movement plates? 🙄 : It appears the center arbor is in two sections together, but I don’t see any pin or screw to remove the pinion drive from the bottom, and the other gear has that 3/4 circle hook on it.

[willofiam]

Hey Peggy, those are press fit onto the arbors, I believe it is essential to learn how to take these pieces off and put back on properly because in my experience if there is any wear it is usually on the wheel that carries the gathering pallet, on Westminster chime clocks the most wear is usually under the chime cam and the chime lock wheel. for the gathering pallet I use paint can openers with a thin piece of wood underneath so as not to mar the brass plate, I had thinned them in thickness so as to get under things, using even pressure on opposite sides carefully prying it off the arbor, be careful not to bend or break the arbor. For the 1/2 hour cam and motion works pinion I made a tool that will pull this off, they are sold on ebay for $100 and called cannon pinion/ star cam puller, they can be buggers to get off and when putting them back on you have to make sure they are on far enough otherwise the minute hand will bind on the cannon tube, but not too far on or it will bind against the plates. GOOD thing you have a practice movement, If I can suggest something, use this one for practice in completely taking apart and setting up again, do it several times over successfully, read and re-read the book you have on rack and snail chime systems, then invest your hard earned money into a complete clock that needs some attention, youll be skilled enough and far ahead of the crowd in repair technique to tackle it…..this one can be used for parts if needed, just some thoughts for you, have fun, William

[peggy332014]

Okie Dokie! William! Will do! Thanks! I’m enjoying the clock and the books!

[peggy332014]

Can somebody tell me if they think this would be a good buy for me? What are all the tools? Click the link for the pics.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Big-Lot-of-Watch-Tools-Watchmaker-Other-Watch-Tools-Pliers-/291136054885?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276

What about these? What are the heart-shape tools?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Huge-Lot-of-Vintage-Watch-Repair-Tools-Parts-Edick-Williams1519A-Peer-more-/281321956041?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41801862c9

Is this a good bushing tool?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clock-or-Watch-Tool-/281321426068?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4180104c94

[willofiam]

Peggy, to me the first two links have “stuff” the first one has watch tools, a sleeve wrench? blueing pan, some other tools for heating items for shellacking, the second one doesnt appear to have much either, if it were me I would not pay what the bid is at. The “bushing tool” looks more like a case opener for watches, not a bushing tool in my opinion. Be patient, and careful, sometimes it looks good, but alot of stuff does not mean a good value. Maybe some others will have a different opinion, lets wait and see. William

[bernie weishapl]

Peggy the last one you listed is not a bushing tool. I agree with William and am pretty sure it is to remove backs on watches. The first link you listed wouldn’t be to bad but is a little pricey. Second one I wouldn’t even look at.

[peggy332014]

Okay! Thanks guys! I was thinking the same, but seeing they had vintage stuff, I was wondering about it.

[peggy332014]

Just a quick update:

Today, I worked on my cuckoo clock some more and did get it re-assembled. I’m going to need to study the rack and snail assembly some more so I can see where the warning stops need to set. I have 4 spring clamps left over ❗ ❗ 😆 😆 🙄 🙄 I was not able to pull the center arbor, so I just cleaned the pinion gear and tried cleaning the pivots the best I could. The clock was fairly dirty from sitting. I will have to buy the weights, the pendulum and clock hands, and it should be ready to go when I can get those.

I know some of the spring clamps goes on the 2 bellow’s pivots and on the chime arm and one goes on the secondary gear in the time train… the rack and snail posts should have a spring clamp too, but there’s no groove for the clamp, so I still have the 4 spring clamps that go somewhere 🙄 🙄 I’ll probably wait now until I can get me a cuckoo repair book…hopefully soon

Here’s a few close-up pics I took a couple of weeks ago before I dis-assembled the movement.

Here’s some pics of the gear positioning before I put on the top plate and the other posts and bellow pivots. I do have the rack and snail assembled also but it is out of time. I’ll have re-do it later.

[peggy332014]

I need to correct a ‘wordage’ here.. it says I cant edit my previous post so…

I should have said ‘snap clips’…. not spring clamps! 🙄 🙄 😆 😆

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