Barbera Baxters Vienna Regulator

Nice and easy for a change.
It was very strange how clean the whole movement was as I recieved it. It looked like it had just recently been serviced. It appears it had been serviced last in 1996 as a small inscription tells in the rear plate. Whoever it was over oiled it as the dribble stains were obvious. I am convinced it was the last repairer as the dribbles were still tacky.

The plates also seemed 'scrubbed' clean. Like with wire wool or something. Another inscription says 1906. So if 90 years had passed between services maybe scrubbing was needed??

The tips of the scape wheel are looking slighly worn/tired, I am considering giving them a little polish. ?

Terry & Dawns clock

It really does take a full day to strip, clean & reassemble a three train clock.
It took 1 hour to strip into component parts. It then took a couple of hours soaking in horolene. It then took 4 hours! to wash, rinse, dry, peg holes, reassemble, lubricate, check it all, plant the escapement and have it ticking.

Then there is an hour or two of keeping a beady eye on it, making sure it behaves properley.

A bit of a clock update.

Well I have had a fairly constructive weekend. Not massive leaps and bounds but progress non the less.

I have finally made the bell stand for my longcase clock;


It just needs a clean up.

I have also made the crutch for little clock;



I have had two mantle clocks off eBay;



They will be happily tick-tocking soon.

And my bhi materials pack has arrived;



Oh, and I can now sight read, slowly but surely Bach's BWV 1004 for classical guitar.

Another mantle clock to repair.

Well the cuckoo clock customer was so happy they have given me another clock to repair. This time a mantle clock. This clock was the grandma's wedding anniversary present or something.. well anyway it holds a very high sentimental value. The clock is very heavy for its looks. The movement appears large in its case. Customer says it is over-wound? Well i'll look at it at the weekend. I just dont like the idea of the springs sitting there fully wound held fast in a clock for ages. I could do with releasing the tension for a while.
The customer also has an 18th C longcase clock, countwheel strike, chain drive, in grubby, tired, (but not bad) condition. The case also has woodworm. I think the project is in my pipeline and coming my way soon.

Clock tweaks.

You see here is the new sprocket I made for Little Clock.
I made it up as I went along as I had no plans on how to make one and stripping and measuring an old one seemed too complicated. I dont like the look of the antique ones. I think they are a bit ugly. Mine is nice and sharp and simple.







Well the Cuckoo clock goes back tomorrow. You can see the last tweak to this clock - a small casting I made to add to the pendulum.





This was from a few weeks back I thought I'd post it for the sake of it.

Little Clock

Little Clock

So far, this clock has taken about seven full days work, not including the theory and design stage. It started off as simply being escapement practice. I was going to make a recoil escapement in a little frame all on its own with a weight hanging on to keep it ticking, for the purpose of seeing easily and being able to explain to non-clockies about how the heart of a timepiece works.
Well, then I couldn't resist it, the thought had to cross my mind of - What is the simplest, easiest gear train to bring me to an hour hand? It could then be a single hander and have a happier purpose in life. To my surprise a very nice gear ratio worked out to actually include a minute arbor along the way, so without motionwork I will have both hands telling the time correctly. The odd thing is (obviously) if I have the minute wheel turning the hour wheel immediately, one of them will be going backwards. So to keep in the 'strictly simple' theme I opted to have the hour wheel AS the hour dial - going in reverse with a fixed pointer.
Well like I say this has taken seven days but those days have been spread over most of the year. I was struggling finding a name for this clock, which started out as The valentine clock because thats the day I started construction. But it has settled on being called Little Clock. Because I have a big clock and this is smaller in lots of ways. It kind of reminds me of the Galileo clock, his first design using a pendulum.
Also as this clock first started as a practise exercise I decided to include other techniques that I am rusty on; I had not before made lantern pinions, I had not made regulator style wheels and I had not made or dealt with chain drive before. I have not thought yet of what base or pedestal it will sit on. I think there will be a phase two after its complete sometime in the future. I may put a deadbeat escapement in (just for practice) I may put on a little brass bell with a passing strike. And for now I'm not going to fit in a ratchet. The weight will have to be lifted off with its hook.

Cuckoo clock

Well I have two clocks on test, they seem happy. I have my longcase clock still to finish and my experimental clock still to finish. I have two watches with easy repairs to do. I have a difficult watch repair coming in and yesterday I picked up a cuckoo clock for repair. I have not looked at it yet but even though it's low priority I may tackle it this afternoon.

Family heirloom clock

A 1940's german mantle clock.
My dad gave this to me recently. It was completely black inside, dust, cobwebs, the lot. I have given it a proper service. I took my time examining the pivot holes, side-shake, escapement, etc. It has polished up lovely apart from the barrels as I have not checked the springs yet. But I will. It is now (as you see) on test, out of its case.
It is quite a good little movement. The anchor is the solid polished type. Everything on it works good and uncomplicated.
I have oiled it correctly and synchronised the chiming side correctly.
Theres still a little hiccup with the strike... maybe its not warning right. But its too late in the day now to investigate.

Cheap little job to do.

It's a clock that's come back from a previous service that I did. It may be my fault for giving it the quick horolene bath treatment. The thing is, it is the cheapest, feeblest mass produced clock I have ever seen. It came to me with not much wrong with it. It just struggled going. But as the movement sat there for a week or two on my dresser table various other things kept sneaking up on me, some were quite perplexing. Well whats happening now is the chiming side does not want to go. I think (I hope) it is just the levers catching on each other. They are so thin and flimsy. So the movement is coming out of its case for the umpteenth time.
The big question: do I replace the three springs? In a clock not worth £10.

Rear of dial

Complete Dial

Complete Dial