John Wildings Weight driven Wall Clock

I built this clock about 8 years ago and it has been running perfectly all this time, about a month ago it stopped and I could only get it to run for about ten minutes. I took it into my workshop and set it up on the bench out of its case everything looked OK , in perfect beat still would not run for more than twenty minutes or so. took it apart to check for wear and none was found, oiled it all started it again same result . Any ideas as it's driving me crazy. David

Mark the wheels with felt tip so you can see their position when it stops.
Try tilting it a tad forward or back to see if it is unhappy with some arbors rubbing their shoulders.
Add a little more weight, This is not a cure but a way of assessing how big an influence the problem is creating. (it would be preferable to reduce the weight to find the leeway you have when running but seldom possible by design).

If you have cleaned and oiled it then I would look for wear on the pallets, I built mine over 12 years ago and I have had to strip and it clean twice, on mine the rear pivot on the centre arbor gums up with old oil.

Next time it needs attention I plan to fit bearings and setup the escapement better by adding slips to the pallets it is like a high school student looking at their early primary school work. I know I can get a better action and reduce the weight but as it is it keeps time to 15 seconds a week and runs for 5 years  between servicing.

Edited By Stephen Benson on 25/04/2016 20:32:51

Edited By Stephen Benson on 25/04/2016 20:33:34

What sort of oil does one use? If the answer is "clock oil", what is it please? Also, is there a description somewhere online about how to clean and oil a clock motion?

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Simon,

Years ago, 'Windles Clock Oil' was used, but that's now out of favour, and exotic synthetic oils by Moebius are generally preferred: **LINK**

Unless the movement is really dirty; Cleaning can usually be limited to 'pegging' the holes [using 'pegwood'] ... You should find guidance if you Google those words.

Oiling should normally involve very small quantities at each pivot, and a mere touch on the escapement.

MichaelG.

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P.S. another specialist product is 'epilame' ... which is a sort of resist, to stop oil spreading onto the plates ... it is applied as a 'ring-fence' around the hole.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 25/04/2016 23:13:53

Hi Simon,

Clock oil and clock grease is available via specialist horological suppliers in the UK.

I seem to have rather a lot of both.

For cleaning there are lots of descriptions in books. You can buy 'special' horological clock cleaner, but it isnt really much better than dunking in a bucket of petrol. Everything then needs to be be taken apart and 'pegged', and individual parts re-cleaned especially the pivots. The plates need seperating and all bearing holes cleaned, pegged and checked.

It is quite a time consuming process, and of course putting everything together again after cleaning is a fiddly job. If you have a chiming mechanism it is even more fiddly, and a slight miss-match upsets most chiming mechanisms.

Cheers,

Julian

Edited By julian atkins on 25/04/2016 23:10:17

Simon

Clock oil from Meadows and Passmore see  http://www.m-p.co.uk

A small bottle will last you for ever. Apply just a drop ( from a cocktail stick or similar ) to each end of the pivot.Whilst you are at it do all the other pivots too !

You could try this as a quick fix but, as previously posted, you should really disassemble the movement, clean and polish the plates, thoroughly clean the wheels, clean out all the holes in the plates with peg wood then reassemble and oil. 

Many ( no many,many!) years ago I went to a clock repairing night school class run by a local clockmaker. We were told to bring a clock to repair. His first brief was "OK take it all apart and put the bits in this tray of cleaner." We were all for making drawings of where all the bits went before we started but he said NO NO don't worry about that - it will only go back together one way. He was right! 

Norman

Edited By NJH on 26/04/2016 00:06:29

Thanks all, but way too complicated. This clock has strikes and a choice of chime tunes. Now that I know what an escapement looks like, I could see 3 of them. I took it out of the case years ago to check it out, but just put it aside. The steel bit are probably rusty now. I ought to give it away.

Simon Three escapements in one clock ?

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Sorry, Simon .... I mistakenly presumed that you were asking about cleaning and lubricating a simple clock [like the one mentioned in David's opening post]. Although the cleaning/lubricating principles are similar: You would be very wise to practice on some basic clock movements before attempting to strip and re-build one with striking and chimes.

MichaelG.

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Presumably three trains

MichaelG.

Thank you Michael. OK, three of the gear wheels with the pointy teeth, although having just gone out and looked, only one of them has a pallet. The other two, on the outside of a plate, have pawls.

Finally got it running perfectly, the trouble was congealed oil on the pallets, I polished these with a small arkansas stone and hey presto all is now fine. Thanks for all your replies. David

David There shouldn't be any oil on the pallets

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Roy,

I beg to differ !

There are very few escapements that should be run without any oil on the pallets; and the simple Anchor is not one of them. ... Earlier, I suggested 'a mere touch'.

MichaelG.

MichaelG But not enough to congeal

Roy

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True ... but that's not what you wrote.

Michael

Some usefull information on lubrication here: **LINK**

Russell