Fusee

[Willow]

While i am trying to find the 2 screws for my kundo clock  i am going to have a go a dismantling my first Tameside time only fusee clock so can anyone advise me about the best way to go about it without damaging the clock or me thanks in advance

[oldhippy]

I see the clock has run down so you don't need to think of running it down. You need to remove the escapement first then all the other bits before taking the movement apart. It is a simple process. I hope you have a mainspring winder to remove that large spring. You will need to replace that line. Check all the teeth, pivots, pinons for wear and the pallet faces. The suspension spring looks in good condition so no problems there. When you ave checked all that let me know. 

[wls1971]

Also watch for the slight pretension on the spring that holds the gut taut in most fusee clocks this is held by a large ratchet wheel and click in the case of this clock the barrel harbour is held captive by the brass lozenge shape bridge secured with a screw right next to the barrel do yo have a let down tool ? a lot of these fusee barrel arbors are too large for most let down tools so a small spanner will do to hold the arbor as you release the screw. There should not be a great deal of pretension but you never know how many turns the previous repairer of the clock has put on the spring.

[Willow]

Yes I have a mainspring winder if I unhook the line from the mainspring will that be ok or will I have to hold the Arbor with letdown tool 

[Willow]

Sorry was19717 I was typing when you're reply came through thanks

[oldhippy]

9 minutes ago, wls1971 said:

Also watch for the slight pretension on the spring that holds the gut taut in most fusee clocks this is held by a large ratchet wheel and click in the case of this clock the barrel harbour is held captive by the brass lozenge shape bridge secured with a screw right next to the barrel do yo have a let down tool ? a lot of these fusee barrel arbors are too large for most let down tools so a small spanner will do to hold the arbor as you release the screw. There should not be a great deal of pretension but you never know how many turns the previous repairer of the clock has put on the spring.

I can't see anywhere that has the pretension ratchet. that is why I didn't say anything.  

[wls1971]

I was going to bid on one of these on Ebay the other week but as usual I forgot and it sold for £50.00 a good price they are interesting clocks built with economy of manufacture being the main criteria of design, all the pressed out brass holes on the plates are what goes to make up the other parts of the movement, so the backcock is made from the piece stamped out of the front plate, etc even with all the economy of manufacture the company still went bust.

[Willow]

Sorry wls1971 that might have been me i wouldn't of bid if I knew it was you, then again I might have, with them being made near me I am interested in these I hope that doesn't put you off helping me out  if I need advice

[rodabod]

There is no “set up” click on the mainspring, but I guess there will be some tension to at least hold the line taut. 

[wls1971]

12 minutes ago, Willow said:

Sorry wls1971 that might have been me i wouldn't of bid if I knew it was you, then again I might have, with them being made near me I am interested in these I hope that doesn't put you off helping me out  if I need advice

I didn't bid I put it in my watch list and totally forgot to bid £50 is a good price it should be a good performer when serviced.

 

[wls1971]

10 minutes ago, rodabod said:

There is no “set up” click on the mainspring, but I guess there will be some tension to at least hold the line taut. 

It doesn't have a click because the barrel arbor is held captive by a brass bar held with a screw, there will be pre tension on the spring to release it the screw is removed to free the bar whilst holding the arbour end with a let down tool or small spanner. The same arrangement was used on later Williamson fusee clocks.

[oldhippy]

30 minutes ago, rodabod said:

There is no “set up” click on the mainspring, but I guess there will be some tension to at least hold the line taut. 

There would have to be otherwise when unwound the line would be lose. I'm more familiar with the Victorian wall clock type of movement. I can see this is a low quality movement.    

[rodabod]

So, can you just rotate the brass plate to provide the setup before screwing it down?

Brass plate circled in attached photo. 

[wls1971]

15 minutes ago, rodabod said:

So, can you just rotate the brass plate to provide the setup before screwing it down?

Brass plate circled in attached photo. 

Yes once the screw is out it is free to move, its not the best set up but these clock where not about finesse just cheapness of manufacture, care must be taken when removing the screw and the arbor held firm otherwise the plates can be easily marked by the screw or bar. I usually do these type of clock by releasing the screw a little and prising the brass bar up a little from the plate surface before total removal of the screw, its also preferable to use a let down tool on the arbor but the Williamson clocks have a very large arbor end so I use a small spanner again care has to taken that you do not foul the centre wheel arbor in doing so.

[Tmuir]

Also check the barrel for cracks, it is just pressed out of sheet brass and they have a tendency to split and if it has you will need to see to this before putting the spring back in.

[oldhippy]

2 hours ago, Tmuir said:

Also check the barrel for cracks, it is just pressed out of sheet brass and they have a tendency to split and if it has you will need to see to this before putting the spring back in.

It's funny you have said that I was just looking at this. To me it looks like a hairline fracture 

[Willow]

Hi regarding those cracks have stripped down the clock haven't took the spring out of the barrel yet there are two lines running parallel with each other about half inch apart as if they have been done intentionally for what reason i don't know

[oldhippy]

More likely to have appeared due to poor quality brass. The fixture of the line also looks to be a bad design, which might have caused the problem as you can see it's all around that part of the barrel.  

[Willow]

should i remove these two parts on the fusee for cleaning or leave them on 

[Willow]

3 hours ago, oldhippy said:

More likely to have appeared due to poor quality brass. The fixture of the line also looks to be a bad design, which might have caused the problem as you can see it's all around that part of the barrel.  

When you say bad design bad design in what way what are the purpose of the lines

[wls1971]

Remove the screw and push the brass disk across this will seperate the fusee cone from the wheel and give you access to the ratchet wheel click spring and click all these parts need cleaning and inspecting.

[oldhippy]

Unscrew those parts and clean them all. 

The holes are open so the gut when slack might work out. 

Look at this one I know it is fitted with a chain but you see the hole is set away from the edge. Most of the better type movements will have the holes drilled away from the edge

[wls1971]

These Tameside Fusee clocks where designed so that the fusee wire could be changed without fully dismantling the clock, the original wires supplied where copper coated steel and had a steel terminal at the end so fitting from the side of the barrel could be achieved.

[oldhippy]

Still a poor design. 

[Willow]

oldhippy you are not doing much for my ego clock all stripped down including the fusee oil everywhere and in the fusee the rachet and clip spring looked like oil and grease do you normally put grease anywhere in this type of clock