Striking Levers & Chime lever cleaning question

[twoess]

Hi, have a couple questions for anybody that knows. First do you bush strike levers say like on an american movement or other’s, german, cuckoo, english, french etc. for that matter. And how about winding arbor rebushing in the plates when should they be bushed. Also on chime levers (Grandfather etc.) do you take them off and clean and how. Thanks

[willofiam]

Hey twoess, couldnt say for sure if I know anything but this is what I do 🙄 . Strike levers / lifting levers get a bushing if they are worn enough to hinder function, I find that a little wear in your average American time and strike movement (greater than the tolerance for wheel/ gear pivots) is acceptable but too much more and you can have some issues depending on the clock movement, for instance ships bell clock movements need to be just right or the chime sequence can malfunction, as far as winding arbors treat them similar to the other wheel pivots, sometime you can spin the winding arbor bushing to put the unworn area to the side of force but I think only after careful consideration. When I clean a Grandfather clock the lifting levers ect… are all taken off, not only does that help in seeing worn pivots and doing bushings in the plates but it also allows you to clean the green gummy junk out of all the moving areas, I am open to suggestions myself about cleaning these 20 – 30 year old mostly Hermele thinly lacquered movements, I do a preliminary cleaning at the bench with pegwood, toothpicks and rags (wishing Arutha and Jim1228 were here to do it and I wouldnt even charge them for the fun they would be having ) and get most of the gunk off, then a short bath in the ultrasonic cleaning solution. (short because too long will start to break down the lacquer) after a hot water, alcohol rinse, dried in the dryer box I go thru each part again. Using shammy strips or some leather strips I pull the small strips thru all the lever pivots and usually all other holes making sure any gunk is removed. my thinking is if there was any oil in these areas they too would be sticky and the more I address before putting all together the less I have to worry about it being a issue…It is tedious and time consuming but I think it is worth is … William

[arutha]

Very good answer from William there, by the way if you want to pay mine and Jims air fare William we would gladly come and peg out the pivot holes for you
One thing I would say is if you don’t want to remove the levers etc as you might be worried about where they all go, just make plenty of notes as you disassemble them and use a digital camera too, a picture always helps when you cant figure out how things go back together. Another small tip is before taking these movements apart I mark the top of each wheel in place in the movement, that way the strike and chime should all work correctly and be in sync when the movement is back together.
Paul

[jim1228]

Hey all,
Sounds like a plan. I can’t afford a plane ticket so I will be using a row boat. If you don’t mind waiting 6 months William.
JIm

[willofiam]

sounds good Jim, I can wait 6 months, I have waited this long……and with all that rowing you should be in good shape for cleaning these grimey things and pegging out pivot holes. Paul, do they have planes over there? 😆 William

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