Grandfather clock repair

Charles in Aus.

Well-known Member
I have a dilemma , my Grandfather clock was made sometime in the 1930's , it has a reasonable German mass produced movement and a locally made long case . Not really worth a lot of money but
I am attached to it , ever since I was diagnosed with cancer I have looked at it and blessed every extra day I have .
It has a worn ' main bearing ' that large one in the centre that actually carries the hands , there is no doubt that it needs renewing .
My problem is finding someone skilled enough to do this , it is an art that seems to have died here and those who do still have it want five times what the clock cost to repair this one bearing / bush .

I can dismantle and put it back together with little trouble so that is not a concern .
Can anyone suggest a trade that might have the precision and skill to renew this bush ?
It is just a brass bush when all said and done , turned to the correct size for the shaft and staked or soldered into the movement plate .
 
Take the bushing out and bring it down to your local machine shop they should be able to turn one for you. Take the shaft the arms are on with you so they can mic it and bore the right size in the bushing.
 
I have a mantel clock that I built over 40 years ago. The movement gave up its soul a few months ago. I tried to get it repaired, but the clock guy said that it was completely worn out and wanted $500+ to replace the movement. I quit worrying about it for the moment, but later discovered this place:http://www.clockworks.com/clock-movement/quartz-specialty-clock-movements.html
They sell replacement quartz movements with electronic chimes. At first, I was skeptical, but for $45 it was worth a try. I have never looked back. The clock keeps perfect time and I have two choices of chimes. They sound just like the original chimes, but, get this, the volume is adjustable. Their customer service is great and you can actually talk to a human if you so desire.Take a look at it!!

Tom
 
If it's important to you I would have a professional repair it even if you had to ship it somewhere. If it has a main bearing going bad no telling how many others are close to going out. You know the saying there are two kinds of people that will work on a watch.
 
The trouble you might find is the shaft also is worn. My 1964 ford
Galaxy has the clock in the dash and when you could go digging around
in a good old junk yard. Vertually every single clock was worn out.
The impulse winder was totally shot and the next was the excapement
wheel. Sad if you wanted a clock. Crying out loud....todays plastic
movement clocks like in a Lincoln or Chrysler dash last the life of
the car, keep time within a couple of seconds per month, and glow
nicely at night. The bil bought the old man a very expensive German
movement in the 3K price range. My dad built the cabinet for it and of
course he couldn't get it through his skull you CANNOT get any saw
dust in a clock movement. Want to guess how much it cost to just clean
it? A quartz movement works great but it isn't traditional. What ever.
 
my thought also TAKE the shaft and the bushing and any other part you can to a local machine shop EVEN!!!!! find a person locally who
does modeling MAKING models that require lath and milling machine work ""SOME OF the model club have such persons"" they are
carful, accurate, detaile, consious, and extremely willing to share their expertise
 
Check with local jewelers or antique malls. They may know of someone.

The trade is getting lesser and lesser though. Normally, clock bushings are worn on one side, due to either the weight of the
weights, or the the tension on the gears put on by the weights/springs. Shafts are normally steel. Sometimes the main plate is
all the bearing material there is. Other times, there is an actual bushing.

Cost of labor these days, it might end up being cheaper to replace the works. It's a big project to tear apart a clock works.

Good luck.....
 
I had a "31 day clock" that hung on the wall. I bought it for my wife for Mothers Day one year. I wound it every month one spring for the movement, and another for the chimes. Ran perfect, and kept exact time for a little better than 20 years. One day while winding it, the mainspring broke. I know a very good clock repairman that I have known all my life. He wouldn't touch it..........said those 31 day clocks are not repairable. It hurt my feelings, but we threw it out.
 
Thanks for the suggestions , I'm in Australia , the land of '' made in China '' very few small workshops left now !

I wouldn't be able to bring myself to replace the mechanism with a quartz one , I think it would be like admitting that I am also worn out and need throwing away :( .
The site link you posted Johndeere is really interesting , I will certainly investigate this if I just cannot get the original repaired . At least it would still be a mechanical mechanism , you could liken it to a heart transplant .

The difficulty is that there is no bush as yet , my poor description sorry . The plate has a hole in it that acts as a bearing , this needs boring out to a larger size to take a purpose made bush to suit the shaft of the gear .
I will see if there are any amateur groups nearby , surely there must be someone left in my state that has a few skills left .
 

A good suggestion , possibly the only common trade still found here that might have equipment fine enough to do such a job .
Thanks Glennster .
 
Hi Charles,
You can send it to Cornwall Clocks In the USA. Jack Cornwall is a master, and his prices are good.


Address: 69 Spring St, Newton, NJ 07860



Phone: (973) 300-1776
 

This is kind of off the subject, but we have a quartz movement 10" high Howard Miller metal and glass mantle clock that I got for 15 years service and the company I worked for. That was in 1993. Below the clock face is a fake escapement wheel about an 1 1/4" in dia. that rotates back and forth 32 times a minute. I has a coil spring just like a regular escapement wheel. I said to the wife, "I wonder how many times that thing has gone back and forth in 24 years. The answer, 403,600,800 times. Yes, that's million. I don't know what kind of bearings are on each of that staff, but they've got to be some really good ones!!! Wow.

Irv :shock:
 

Probably synthetic sapphire Irv .

Thanks for the tip SBogusta , I couldn't trust this mechanism to our postal service though.

I have had someone recommended in South Australia , even with private courier services factored in he is half the cost of anyone in Victoria and has a decent reputation . It seems it will go travelling a little , just not across the Pacific . :)
 

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