Advice on servicing an Atmos clock

[tomh207]

3 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

No, that was in April.

Sorry Hector, I thought it was around autumn time.

 

Tom

[HectorLooi]

Hi @Dell, I understand that you work on torsion clocks predominantly. Have you worked on an Atmos before?

[Dell]

11 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

Hi @Dell, I understand that you work on torsion clocks predominantly. Have you worked on an Atmos before?

Hi Hector

sorry no never been rich enough to buy an Atmos but there is someone on YouTube that does and if memory serves he even does livestream so questions can be asked during the video , I think it may be this chap.

Dell

 

[HectorLooi]

Thanks @Dell. I've watched all his videos and then some. They are quite good but there's a even more detailed one, made probably in the 70's.

I wouldn't have bought this clock had my mentor not asked me to service one of his customer's Atmos. I could probably offset some of the cost by charging a fee. 

What's disturbing about all the videos I've watched is nobody seems to wear gloves when handling a clock of this calibre.

[Dell]

I wear gloves or finger cotts when the clock is going together after cleaning.

[HectorLooi]

I modified a cheap gear puller from AliExpress and made a hand remover for the Atmos clock. It worked perfectly and removed the minute hand easily. 

The hour hand a little stubborn and took a bit of persuasion to loosen it. After the hand was removed, I found scratch marks on the hour wheel. So, someone has been in this clock before.

I also made a movement holder from bits I had around the house. I'll probably remove the movement tonight.

 

[HectorLooi]

Just an update on my Atmos project.

I've disassembled the clock, cleaned and only oiled the mainspring, mainspring pivots and 2nd wheel pivots.

Checked poise and beat error of pendulum. Straightened bends in the pallet fork and poised it. Checked and adjusted clearance of pallet fork and guard pin.

But the clock still refuses to run. The only thing I haven't addressed is a bent banking pin. There have been so many discussions on this forum advising to leave banking pins alone that I was hesitant to straighten it.

I spent almost an hour observing the escapement last night and have come to the conclusion that the bent banking pin is preventing the unlocking of the entry pallet.

It is unlikely that a high-end movement like this JLC would need the banking pins to be bent. So I went for it and straightened it. The entry pallet now unlocks properly.

I have left it to see if it would run overnight.

That banking pin couldn't have bent on its own. ( I know I have gremlins in my house, as @oldhippy says...)  But I think this was a deliberate sabotage by an unscrupulous clockmaker who probably wanted to charge an arm and a leg for servicing the clock and when the owner refused, he bent the banking pin to give the next clockmaker a hard time.

What do you guys think?

[HectorLooi]

It has been 24 hrs and the clock has been running with around 400° rotations.

I have put back the dial and hands and will begin the long process of regulating it.