Happy First Clock

[Cynthia]

Hi everybody -

Hey - I cleaned, polished and fiddled with the movement for my 1-day, 2-weight cuckoo. I got helpful movement diagram from tymfxr that give me some idea about the dial-side levers and so-on. I came to what I thought was the logical conclusion to putting it back together. It is nicely oiled with a microdrop here and there.

I shoved it all back in the cuckoo clock case.

Well - blimey!! It's ticking. I'm as surprised as anyone.

Only one problem. I think it's either 15 minutes off or 45 minutes off. It does not cuckoo. It only clunks at 15 past and 45 past.

I assummed I'd have to figure out what time the movement was actually on. But seeing as how it's not cuckooing and is clunking at the wrong times, I think I have a problem.

So, any suggestions??

Thanx in advance :biggrin:

[Cynthia]

Hi everybody -

Hey - I cleaned, polished and fiddled with the movement for my 1-day, 2-weight cuckoo. I got helpful movement diagram from tymfxr that give me some idea about the dial-side levers and so-on. I came to what I thought was the logical conclusion to putting it back together. It is nicely oiled with a microdrop here and there.

I shoved it all back in the cuckoo clock case.

Well - blimey!! It's ticking. I'm as surprised as anyone.

Only one problem. I think it's either 15 minutes off or 45 minutes off. It does not cuckoo. It only clunks at 15 past and 45 past.

I assummed I'd have to figure out what time the movement was actually on. But seeing as how it's not cuckooing and is clunking at the wrong times, I think I have a problem.

So, any suggestions??

Thanx in advance :biggrin:

[Jeremy Woodoff]

Cynthia,

The minute hand on cuckoos usually has a square hole, so just remove the hand and rotate it 90 degrees. Then it will clunk on the hour and half hour. Did you have it running outside the case? If not, you'll have to rig up some sort of stand so you can test it and watch the movement. Hopefully the strike problem will then be obvious.

Jeremy

[Cynthia]

Jeremy - Thanx

That is too obvious and I must have been really too tired to think to figure that out. :rolleyes:

I'm looking into the striking problem as we speak. Everything was moving well before I put it back into the case. Ah well :biggrin:

[chasbaz]

Hello Cyn,

Cuckoos are not like other clocks, in the that the real problems start when you try to make it work in the case. Just try connecting each bit in turn - e.g., connect the door and see if that works properly, then one bellow etc. That way you will have a fighting chance of spotting the problem, rather than bunging it all together at once. I hope it doesn't have musical work as well :biggrin:

[Cynthia]

Happy New Year chaz!

That's good advice. I'll approach it that way.

My 3-yr-old granddaughter has been helping by making the bellows coo. I'll get back on tonight.

[Scottie-TX]

I'm supposing perhaps the KLUNK is the sound of failed bellows. When I set up a cuckoo - now you DO need three hands - I SLOWLY run the bellows into a cycle by pulling lightly on the chain. The bellow must be lifted high enough to cuckoo but not so high that it rips the paper or stops the strike mech. That MAY be a start for you. Also manually lift and drop the bellows to ensure they chirp before attaching activating wires. You may have a chirp problem also.

[Cynthia]

Hey Parvo!

Well - the clunk is the sound it makes around 25 and 55 past the hour, as it sets up to cuckoo. It did cuckoo before cleaned, and clunked then too. At the bottom of the minute and hour arbor, there is a small 2-sided cam that initiates this.

The bellows are fine, my granddaughter even got some wonderful coo's out of them.

You're right, I need at least 3 hands to do this. I took everything back down to the basics - stripped the lifting wires off the back and the levers off the front. The gears move well. The problem seems to be in the setup of the levers and such on the dial-side of the movement. One keeps catching on the little pin a the strike-side gear.

Tonight I'll start putting things back on to see if there is anything wrong besides that.

Thanx -

[shutterbug]

I think Phil has something there. Your clock is setting up for the run, but for some reason it is not being activated on the hour or half. The lever that stops the pin from moving should drop out of the way when the minute hand hits 12 or 6. Watch to see what happens. If it does not clear, you can bend it a little. If it is not moving at all there is another problem. Watch all of the lift levers inside the motion works and let us know what you observe during the 10 minutes before the hour and on the hour. That will help narrow it down.