Member postings for Sam Stones

Hello again Dick,

I began to cringe when I thought of your clock being washed in the sink. That’s taking damping to extremes.

In my case, my dear wife has been following my clock’s progress and has seen much of the effort being put into this latest (and final) sprucing. That’s hardly surprising since much of the work was carried out on the dining table, suitably protected of course.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

"The time has come," the clock-man said,
"To talk of many tings:
Of screws and nuts and Araldite,
Of fusees and of springs
And while the clock is running hot
And whether nuts have wings."

As I slide more into retirement, considering as alternatives my preference for photography and genealogy, I must say to everyone who has contributed towards resolving my many clock issues - THANK YOU!

I shall of course, keep a watchful eye on the very entertaining ME forums, and will certainly aim to respond to any personal messages.

Regards to all,

Sam

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your comments.

Since I’m amongst men accustomed to getting their hands dirty, I thought it wise to clarify the point about the chemist’s shop.

I didn’t actually go there for the purpose of buying engineering tools. It was less embarrassing to wait for the dispensary to put together my prescription by standing near the dental displays, rather than where they keep their suppositories and rubber gloves.

Have fun

Hi Phil,

I’m pleased to know someone else can find a use for them.

Although I haven’t determined what material the bristles are made from, I suspect that they are Nylon.

There’s a fair degree of (relative) stiffness in the twisted wire, but clearly, it would be wise to take care to avoid breaking any in your oil holes.

Good luck,

Sam

Approaching completion of my clock, I have at times resorted to using toothpicks, BBQ skewers, cotton buds, and various other `household’ implements.

I found these at the local chemist.

They are called Interdental Brushes, and have proved most useful in poking out dirt from the smaller pivot holes in my clock frames.

A `mixed pack’ of six cost about AU$8, and their size range is noted as 0.4mm to 0.8mm. However, that appears to be the size over the twisted wire, since the largest (0.8mm), is 5mm overall diameter measured over the bristles.

The inset shows their full shape, and a handy little extension piece.

Regards to all,

Sam

This is great information, some of which confirms my doubts. I trust too, that having gone down part of this track before, I haven’t bored the socks off any of you gentlemen.

Put simply, I have of necessity, become a skinflint.

Although there have been a couple of reasons why the main spring needs cleaning, I no longer have the correct means of removing it from the barrel. In fact, I never have.

NB - IT'S TOO DANGEROUS WITHOUT THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT!

It has been suggested elsewhere, that I wouldn’t need to remove the spring from the barrel if I washed it in petrol, and then applied grease. If greasing is the better approach, it should be possible to apply a tiny `drop’ between each layer as I wind it. In view of the above, that will have to wait until after the clock is fully assembled

Gordon, I considered Vaseline, but it melts at about body temperature. Watching the clock dripping stuff could be embarrassing in a Melbourne summer. Then again there wouldn’t be much of it. With my limited knowledge in chemistry, I have to ask - Why should a grease based upon silicone or lithium cause concern?

Thanks for your comments about Vaseline, KWIL. Spraying on a lubricant is not an option for me, having spent time testing and applying shellac lacquer to the brass in the past few weeks. I could of course decant some onto a wooden toothpick, and poke that where needed. (And nowhere else!)

The pivots, pallets, and impulse bits require the absolute minimum of oil but, on this clock at least, they are always accessible. Advice from several quarters has shown me the way to lubricate the clock, and that using a minimal amount of clock oil is very important.

In my CAD package (Keycreator), zero is also at 3 o’clock, and also counts ACW. This seems to gel with my memory of trigonometry.

The first gear wheel I made for the skeleton clock back in the 70's was the Great Wheel. This brass wheel transfers the torque from the fusee upwards into the main gear train. At that time, I had a Myford ML7 and a home-made 40:1 dividing attachment with three dividing plates. DRO’s were a thing of the future.

Whoops! What’s this ‘ere.

The first tooth disappeared before my very eyes, which should have been better trained for such serious work. Further investigations showed that I didn’t actually have the right number of holes in the dividing plate to `do’ 96 teeth, and had in fact chosen the wrong combination. My luck was `in’ however, because, of all the gears in the clock this, and its mating lantern pinion, were the only two gears where the tooth count didn’t really matter.

Andrew,

That’s very impressive.

When you told us you would probably use the DRO, was that X and Y?

If so, then what was your coordinate source.

Regards,

Sam

Hi Pat,

Your comments are most informative and would be applicable if I were making the glass cover myself. Unlike my rather slow progress recently, it appears that I moved too quickly with regards to making the glass case.

I handed the glass part of the project to a local glazier who told me the job would be ready this coming Monday or Tuesday. However, I will certainly keep your details in mind, and trust that your comments will also be of use to others. When I suggested a smell of ammonia, perhaps I was wrong, and maybe it was acetic acid.

I have added three more pictures to my album of thirty which shows various parts in the construction of John Stevens’ skeleton clock with lever escapement.

I’m also left wondering about the surface stress, and the possibility of fatigue failure. I have only come across shot peening (academically) as a process applied to helicopter blades. As for this tiny spring of mine at 0.2mm diameter, I can understand that if the surface is in compression, it will contribute less to the spring’s performance, but is also less likely to facture in use. Since peening would have to be down to a micro scale, the only option (should I proceed) would be heat treatment. All I would be comfortable with would be to stick the spring in the kitchen mini-oven for an hour or two, but at what temperature?

Instead, I’ll take a chance and trust that the spring in the clock will outlive me. There’ll be less embarrassment that way round.

I also take your point about preparing the end connections. Not that I’ll be able to do much more then carefully curl the ends into line with the top (balance-wheel stud), and the bottom (balance-wheel collet) anchor points. This has led me to make a cylindrical template, such that one end was turned down a fraction to lineup with the stud hole, and the other end to match the hole in the collet.