Smiths Sandiville Mantel Clock

[watchweasol]

Hi Hector  I too are foremost a clock man, enjoy the variety of movements and types and as you have noticed they take a bit more care and attention  if you are to retain all fingers injury free,  See if you can get a cuckoo clock  they are fun, they have musical boxex and carousels and cone in a variety of styles you could fill the house.

[oldhippy]

When you get something like this in your workshop, you will know working on clocks makes it all worth while. I loved these types of movements and Longcase clocks. 

[watchweasol]

Thats a brilliant clock, would like a movement like that  just to look at in a glass case  never to be touched,         great .

[oldhippy]

Glad you liked it. In my time I have been lucky enough to restore many movements like that that and even more complicated ones.   

[watchweasol]

  Old Hippy you were a very lucky man having spent your life time working with clocks like these,  Judging by the look of the movement there was a lot of hand made parts. They were truly a work of art and engineering and well worth preserving for the future in this throw away era we live in.  The amount of pleasure in restoring one of these clocks to good health, one can only imagine.

[Nucejoe]

3 hours ago, oldhippy said:

When you get something like this in your workshop, you will know working on clocks makes it all worth while. I loved these types of movements and Longcase clocks. 

Hi OH,

A million years from now, folks will study this dinasour-caliber and wonder if it ate its own kind.

 

[watchweasol]

They will study it and wonder at the skill of the maker, as by then it will all be plastic and electronics.

[Nucejoe]

1 hour ago, watchweasol said:

They will study it and wonder at the skill of the maker, as by then it will all be plastic and electronics.

The question they will have still remains unanswered. 

What did it feast on to grow so big?  

[oldhippy]

I have had the privilege of handling such wonderful movements. People in say 500 years’ time will only be able to read about them or see such wonders in museums.  

[Nucejoe]

Hi OH, some already are munseum piece.

This a present from Queen victoria to the palace of the king in Tehran,  was considered to do much better if the public saw what britts built back in those days, so was installed in a bussy square for all to see, received regulare service and was working until just recently when taken down for a major overhaul, thereupon will be put on exhibition in museum I have heard. 

[Nucejoe]

The original clock. 150 years old.

[oldhippy]

150 is not that old for a clock. Yes many are in  museums. Here is a fabulous clock by joint masters its a  William and Mary Quare-Tompion

[watchweasol]

A magnificent specimen and a work of art from a time when quality mattered.

[HectorLooi]

I got my clock all assembled and synced correctly. But when I  put the movement back into the casing, the chime and strike doesn't work properly. It's like the post of another member who says his clock only chimes 3/4 of an hour.

I studied the movement for the past 2 days and came to these conclusions:-

1) The silent lever has something to do with the problem. If I move the lever to "silent" then back up to "chime", the clock starts chiming again for another 3/4 hour.

2) The 2nd detent which engages during auto-correct position is not being lifted high enough by the long spoke of the cannon pinion wheel.

I have to decide how to ensure proper release of the 2nd detent when it engages the locking pin.

Looks like it's going to be another sleepless night. 

[oldhippy]

Sounds like the silent/chime lever is somehow rubbing against something when in the case, make sure it is only touching what it needs to touch and that is all and it sticks out through the slot in the dial with ease. 

[HectorLooi]

I managed to get the clock working and chiming away happily for over a week. I received another Smiths mantel clock on Thursday. I have it stripped down and ready for cleaning already.

I noticed that after soaking in white spirit, the brass looks dull. I have been experimenting with soaking it in a dilute citric acid solution for 15 minutes after the white spirit soak. This brightens the brass significantly. Does citric acid damage clock parts?

[wls1971]

I have used it sparingly on badly stained brass it will remove black spots from brass that Ammonia cleaners wont but you should generally avoid its use it can react with the copper in the brass and produce patchy pink stains on the surface so its not suitable as a general brass cleaner. It is very good at removing rust when parts are soaked in a weak solution.

[Tmuir]

As wls1971 says I would avoid using citric acid in clocks.

Get a scap bit of brass and drop it in some citric acid and leave it in there for 20 minutes and come back and it will be copper colour which then takes significant polishing to remove, it is essentially dezincing the brass, or causing dezincification which is damaging the brass.

I used to restore toy and model steam engines and dezincification was our worst enemy, now don't get me started on the differences between using distilled water and de-ionised water in brass boilers as that is an even hotter topic for toy steam engine collectors than whether to sharpen your screwdrivers with hollow ground or flat edges is to watchmakers.