More Advice Required

I've got a serious problem with a grandfather clock, and it's ruining my life. I've tried to get it repaired 3 times, but the repair bloke has now started ignoring appointments and he's not returning calls.

The problem is this. It keeps time perfectly, but the chimes are wrong for part of the day. At 9am it chimes 9 times, then 10 chimes at 10am and so on, until 1pm. At 1pm it chimes once, then at 2pm it erroneously also chimes once, then it subsequently chimes 1 chime less then the time all afternoon. At 8pm it chimes 7 times, but then at 9pm it chimes 9 times again until 2am, when it goes wrong again.

I've tried my multimeter on it, to no avail. It's ruining my life, any suggestions as to what to do?

 

Coca cola

 

Sentimental value.

 

Even a broken clock is correct 10 times a day!

 

Next time it chimes on the hour, move the hour hand to the time it is chiming. Then, using the minute hand, set the clock to the correct time.

 

When do we plug the multimeter in JD?

 

Poor thing, stuck in the house all day, life ticking away, going through the same routine day after day. I reckon it needs a change of scenery. Take it for a holiday on the moors.

 

I tried that, at 2pm when it chimed once I set the time to 2pm. But then when it got to 9pm it chimed 10 times, until 2am when it corrected itself again

 

It won't fit in my rucksack.

 

Have you tried Bygone Times at the Elsecar Heritage centre?

 

Apologies, I saw the word "grandfather" but missed the word "clock". I did think it was odd, having a chiming grandfather, but who am I to judge?

 

Yep, that's the bloke who's tried and failed...so far. I'm going to pester him again on Monday.

 

So you didn't clock the "clock"?

 

When it gets to 9pm...shoot one of the cuckoos.

 

The only other thing I can suggest is to try and get it onto the Repair Shop. Stevie Fletcher can fix anything

 

Does this help?

‘Strike Quantity Issues

This has to do with the mechanics in the front part of the movement, behind the dial. The best way to learn the mechanics of these components is to simply watch them in action.

When getting to the front of the movement by removing the dial, observe the racks motion during the strike. The rack is the saw like thing that drops down onto the snail looking thing that is part of the hour hand tube. If the rack is not connecting to the snail in a proper way, the strike will not strike the proper amount of times.

If the clock is striking the wrong number of hours some hours and not all, the snail (hour tube) must be turned slightly so the rack will fall on the snail’s humps correctly. The C clip comes off the gear it meshes with, so the hour tube can come up some and over the teeth of the other gear. The goal is to have the snail fall in the center of the hump instead of off to the side of it. If the clock strikes 12 and 1 oclock ok, then the rest will be fine.

If the rack is getting stuck on anything or if it falls behind the hour tubes “snail”, then the clock will strike the same amount of times every time, forever or some number beyond 12 times. It can fall behind the snail by changing hands, since the hour tube has the snail on it, it moves forward upon removing the hour hand. This can cause the rack to fall behind the snail and therefore does no good for counting strikes like it’s supposed to. The fix is to lift this rack with your finger and push the hour hand tube back so the rack falls on it.’

 

Wow, thank you so much. You'll never know how much I've searched for something like that, and you find it "just like that"!

I'll play with it in the morning, thank you again. Wow!

 

Wait and see if it works first If not, I’ll keep Googling, it’s a weird skill I have.

 

Somehow I need to expose the snail, rack and hump in the morning, then watch them in action. I'll let you know...

 

It might be a slow process - cancel everything else.