Seth Thomas chime clock

[mclark3617]

Ok, gear wheels and pinions everywere,,,yea im sweating. It was dry oil, i even had to flake it of the rollers on the pallet fork. However im down to two shafts left in the plate,,one is held on by the gathering pallet and the other is the center shaft,,,it has a four lobed gear on the front and what looks like a spacer on the back,,,do i leave these together? If not whats the best way to remove them without bending the shafts. I tried a light smack with a wooden mallet but the center shaft didnt budge,

[willofiam]

Bernie, I think we posted at the same time, sounds like we are doing the same service to these movements, I use the #859 synthetic clock oil.

For taking off the gathering pallet I use paint can openers that I modifies a bit, put a thin piece of material between the plates and the tool to avoid scratching the plate. pry up slowly and evenly and it will pop right off. alot of times this plate hole will need a bushing. This is the last piece I install when rebuilding and setting up the movement (as long as it will go on with nothing else is in the way). As for the lift star cam under the cannon I have used numerous ways of getting it off, it can be a real bugger sometimes. do a search on ebay for a clock cannon pinion puller and look for a blue colored one made from a place in Michigan, I made one similar that I call “the beast” as it was my very first attempt at making a tool. It works well for pulling these things off evenly, If I ever get some time I will be making my own version. When reinstalling this lift cam, test it with the cannon to make sure it is far enough on or your hands will bind (just below the square shoulder), but also be careful not to put it back on too far either and hinder the function of the minute hand arbor.

In attempting anything with clocks of watches always make sure you wont do any damage to whats there or you will have a big headache.

Sounds like your moving right along, give us some pics along the way….It will really help out others too. thank you
William

[mclark3617]

Do i have to by an expensive burnishing tool and polishing stone,,or do you old guys have some tricks up your sleeves you may like to share on polishing the pivots

This could be a very long thread, but i will keep posting pics and updates for future referance

I did buy this stuff called Liberty clock oil, says its synthetic, anybody have any experiance with this stuff

[willofiam]

Mclark3617, do not use a abrasive and you do not have to “burnish”. These have a plated finish for hardness and you do not want to remove it. use a soft piece of wood and some metal polish. I use simichrome or something similar. chuck up the arbor in a pinvise, find a block of wood and make a small notch. spin the pivise with one hand, opposite pivot in the notch, and push/pull the stick of wood with the polish on it over the pivot, kind of tricky at first. if the pivots are smooth checking with the fingernail, they do not have to be messed with. Be very careful as those pivots are easy to bend. and by all means have a mellow song on the radio, when your done you can sing and dance to Jim Croce “dont mess around with Jim” Hope that all makes sense
William

[mclark3617]

Ok, got the polish on order, but you say push and pull, which i understand as going cross grain, but what would be wrong with setting it in the notch, holding it down with pithwood and rotating the pinvise, and slightly push and pull while spinning it.

[willofiam]

thats what I meant. just as if you were using a lathe with a bow except your the lathe.

[mclark3617]

Yea,,,i read your post again and got it, all i seen at first is push pull,,must be like that selective hearing my wife is always complaining about..lol

Also, this clock has a plastic minut gear on the outside that runs the snail i think,,,it was very snug, it slipped on and off but doesnt spin freely and it seems when i took it off the balance started,,,slow like 1/4 to 1/2 rotation, but it just kept going. Should i open that up a bit so it spins free?
Plastic and petrolium dont mix well, if someone oiled it it could have swelled up.

[bernie weishapl]

I doubt it would have swollen but probably full of the green gunk. I spray those with like 409 or a orange degreaser and let sit. I run a pipe cleaner thru it to clean it out then rinse it in warm water. After you clock is cleaned I put a small amount of synthetic oil in it because it does turn. A lot of times I find them with a crack in them so I keep 3 or 4 in stock from Black Forest Imports. I have been getting brass wheels which is what I would rather have.

[willofiam]

@Bernie Weishapl wrote:

I run a pipe cleaner thru it to clean it out

Good idea Bernie. I use narrow strips of shammy or leather, I will pull these thru all things that sit on posts in case there has been oil previously applied or sprayed? and or just for good measure. @Mclark3617 wrote:

must be like that selective hearing my wife is always complaining about

your wife been talking to my wife?
William

[bernie weishapl]

I just finished a 340-020 today with it back in the case. 5 hrs of repairs mainly 4 bushings, stripped down, cleaned, pegged holes, pivots polished on lathe, cleaned chime assembly, changed the wire in the floating balance and the floating balance is giving me about 370 deg of total rotation. It is running well and seems to be keeping good time. According to the microset and computer it says 8999.78 avg and it should be 9000. So I am a happy camper. So be careful, do your due diligence, have patience, study the unit and it will all come together for you.

[mclark3617]

So far it looks like i need one bushing, i used a set of pin guages to measure all the holes in the two plates, the one that need a bushing measures abut .072 thats 1.83mm. The pivot measures .07 or 1.78mm. The bushing chart says i need a bushing with a 1.9mm hole, thats bigger than the original hole. The hole that need bushed is slotted thats how i can get the .072 dia and its the same dia in both plates and only one hole need bushing. Its the wheel right next to the gong mainspring.

[mclark3617]

Also, if my math is correct, on a 1.56 thick plate i would need .005 or.136mm clearance for a 5 deg tilt, so with a .07 pin i would want a .075 hole, that would be 1.778 pivot in a 1.905 hole equals a 5 deg tilt. But my current pivot hole is 1.84 mm without the bushing.

[mclark3617]

Well ive bushed the plate, cleaned and polished all the gears and shafts, one at a time due to my tiny ultrasonic, but it showed me the value of pegwood and a brush. Now its time to clean and lube the springs. This one has a mainspring with a removable arbor, i tried removing it by hand but was not succesful. Mainspring winders are rediculously priced, so i found a fellow that was sharing his winder plans and am now biulding me a mainspring winder, so far with all the parts i have about 30 bucks in it. With the mainsprings cleaned and lubed ill be ready to put it back together.

[mclark3617]

Here is a link to the process i used to bush the plate

http://www.clockrepairtips.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1252

[arutha]

@Mclark3617 wrote:

Well ive bushed the plate, cleaned and polished all the gears and shafts, one at a time due to my tiny ultrasonic, but it showed me the value of pegwood and a brush.

It don’t matter how much time it spends in the ultrasonic, you should always peg it out as you have seen
As a rule of thumb you do want a lean of around 5 degrees but maybe not quite so much on the escape wheel. Anything less than 5 degrees is good here. Check the degree of lean all around the hole as they do wear oval.
Mainspring winders are expensive, I would be interested to know who’s plans you are building from. I had a Joe Collins Winder which was available as just a set of plans, as a kit or as a ready built item.
Keep up the good work, enjoying this thread
Paul.

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