French drum novice

[Plumbs]

Hello

After a lapse of about 50 years, I have started to take clocks apart again - so I have forgotten virtually all of what I learnt.

I have a nice looking French drum clock in a wooden case which I was given by a friend.  I have dismantled it and it seems to be undamaged except that the hourwheel is broken.  I thought all French drum movements were identical but I now know better!  However, I have been able to source a replacement hourwheel which I am very pleased with and which seems to fit well.  I now plan to clean the movement with my newly bought Horolene and before I do so, I would be very grateful for some advice on the following:

1. The springs are, of course, in barrels and I am not sure how best to clean them.  When I unwound them, one of them felt quite sticky.  Is it best to leave them as they are or should they be removed from the barrels and also cleaned with Horolone?  If so, how easy or difficult is that?

2. One of the wheels in the striking train can't be removed because on the front side there is a little pallet which prevents withdrawal of the wheel - or have I got this completely wrong?  it seems to me that it is somehow crimped on and will have to be eased off.  is this possible, and if so how easy might it be?

3. The case is a little bit split and I would like to try to glue it together (but I don't think I can help it to stay together by using pins or screws - the split is too slight). Is Evostik wood glue a good bet for this - obviously I would clamp it for 24 hours or so to help it to set?

4. The case is pretty clean and I have wiped it down with a slightly damp cloth.  It looks quite nice but would benefit from a polish.  Is Stones furniture polish OK for this?

5. Finally - I have had to provide a replacement face since the original enamel face was cracked and poorly painted over.  I have sourced a replacement which is brass or perhaps some similar alloy and is rather faded.  Is e.g. Duraglilt OK for cleaning it, and once it is done should it be lacquered?  Indeed, should the entire movement also be lacquered (which I am reluctant to do because of the likelihood of my making a mess of it)?

Sorry to unload all this but it would be really helpful to have some ideas from the contributors to this excellent website.

Pictures of the case, the face, and the "troublesome" wheel mentioned in 2 above, are attached 

[watchweasol]

Hi  in regard to your questions,   The springs should ideally removed from the barrel but to do this you need a mainspring winder that are quite expensive for a one off. Or you c a make your own see Google “ joes mainspring winder”. I have made two and they work well, you will also have to source some tube for the retainers.

the gathering pallet cann be removed using levers ( mini crow bars) again I made my own no problem.

the case can be glued using evostick wood glue but bind the case together to close the crack. When solid you can use wax sticks (used for furniture) melted and rubbed in to cover any blemish left.

best to clean the case and then use bees wax to polish, a bit of elbow grease needed 

do not clean the dial with anything other than warm water and a couple of drops of mild soap. Try on an inconspicuous part first. There is a product called MILIPUTTY in various colours on eBay that can be used on cracked enamel dials depending on how bad it is .

[Michael20]

Regarding the spring winders, I made my own and used copper pipe reducers as the tubes to retain the spring. You will need to cut out a section for the end of the spring to protrude but if you watch one of the many videos on this subject that will make sense. You can find a selection of sizes on Ebay for very little cost. I'll attach a pic showing one of mine. 

Good luck!

[Plumbs]

Thanks to you both for your helpful replies - and for the very clear photo, Michael20.  Making a winding tool sounds like an interesting challenge but I may pass on that at the moment and leave the mainsprings in the barrels since they certainly are not broken and winding / unwinding them is not difficult with the click springs on the movement.  

The gathering pallet came off easily and a number of the wheels in the strike movement have markings which help the realignment of the wheels. I have also looked at a number of helpful videos and feel ready to start cleaning and doing a trial reassembly.

[Dell]

Be very carful if that is a french movement because the pivots are glass hard.

Dell

[RichardHarris123]

5 minutes ago, Dell said:

Be very carful if that is a french movement because the pivots are glass hard.

Dell

Do you mean that makes them brittle? 

[Dell]

6 minutes ago, RichardHarris123 said:

Do you mean that makes them brittle? 

very 

[watchweasol]

Hi with carefull handling and no undue pressure or trying ti pry the plates to re align wheels you should. Be ok . If you need to re position the wheel alignment remove the plate align the wheels then using a dab of Rodico hold them all in place then shuffle thr back plate on. If the back plate is pinned on just loosely pin the plate to stop it wobbling and to lightly hold the wheels during alignment . Golden rule is DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING.  and you should be ok.

[transporter]

On 4/30/2025 at 11:22 AM, Plumbs said:

Thanks to you both for your helpful replies - and for the very clear photo, Michael20.  Making a winding tool sounds like an interesting challenge but I may pass on that at the moment and leave the mainsprings in the barrels since they certainly are not broken and winding / unwinding them is not difficult with the click springs on the movement.  

The gathering pallet came off easily and a number of the wheels in the strike movement have markings which help the realignment of the wheels. I have also looked at a number of helpful videos and feel ready to start cleaning and doing a trial reassembly.

With reference to the springs, yes you can take them out by hand and insert by hand, that was how I was taught to do it in the beginning.

Now I await the replies of it shouldn't be done that way as you'll cone the springs and damage them etc etc etc, nowadays its preferred to use a spring winder, but as has been said before they are expensive, mine was but it paid for itself in a few weeks.

When removing a spring you pull it out so that you can manually unwind from the barrel, dont pull it so hard that you end up with a tower of spring, KEEP CONTROL of the spring whilst unwinding it, clean it in cleaner then rinse and dry properly.

After that lube it up, there are many views on this i use 8300 grease and then also GT55 PTFF spray and slideway oil.

To return the spring just attach it to the hook in the barrel and wind it in by hand then when fully in place t he arbor in and fir the cap, hold the square of the arbor in a vice and turn the barrel by hand holding a cloth to ensure the ends are caught as they should be.

Then slowly release the power allowing the barrel to run through the cloth, this also cleans fingermaks etc off the barrel.

And if this method is good enough for Steve off the repair shop as seen on camera manually removing and fitting mainsprings then its ok to do it.

 

 

[MikeEll]

Yep, I’ve used both methods.  Using a mainspring winder is definitely the better option in my opinion, but totally possible by hand.

[Plumbs]

Thanks again for your help.  I have cleaned everything, apart from the mainsprings and barrels, and it's all nice and shiny.  I have cleaned the holes with dry peg wood sticks.  I haven't oiled anything yet.  I have temporarily reassembled the going train and am very pleased to say that for the past 2 hours it has been ticking nicely.  The replacement hourwheel which I referred to in my original post fits very loosely but nonetheless seems to engage and travel round perfectly well.  So now I need to reassemble the strike train.  Is there a set of diagrams which I can refer to for this?  The strike wheels have dots marked on them which must be designed to help but I don't know which one aligns with which.

[watchweasol]

Hi. There are dos and donts with these clocks, the alignment dots on the strike train and also on the front work, minute wheel , intermediate wheel and the hour wheel must also align, I have not found any definitive text regarding alignment but reference to them are usual found in books  by Mike Watters, Laurie Penman, and Donald De Carle and iam sure many others. It’s a question of reading up on the subject and making your own notes for future reference.