Barrel hook repair.

Hi
You named the two methods I would use. I wouldn't put the new rivet in the same hold as the old one. I suggest that you put the new hook on the other side of the barrel 180 deg away from the old one.

T.J. Kloss

 

Veri,

Make sure that the hole is chamfered from the outside. This way the riveted hook will not actually require a protruding head. It can be filled flush with the outside of the barred.

Best descriptions I know of are by Don DeCarlo, Huckabee, and Plewes.

Everyone has their own twist on this repair but if you study English and German clocks made in the early 1900s you will see how it's done.

Willie X

 

If you mean putting the head of the rivet inside the barrel, and shaping that .... yeah, that's what I'd do.

 

I start out to make mine from 1/4 inch cold roll round stock. I never chamfer the outside for peening because it weakens the brass and gives less material for holding the hook. I use a radius tool bit to make the hook and then cut the end to size to fit through the hole in the barrel with a small shoulder. From the inside edge of the barrel to the radius cut, give me about .040 for the spring to pass and hook. Looks sort of like a mushroom with a flat top. I just made three like this for a Becker. Big spring on the chime side and no problem thus far. When peening I use a blunt center punch at first then gradually work my way up to a round ended punch 2/3 the size of my material. Then finish it off with a flat punch around the edges I get these close enough that you don't have to file and the part sticking out looks reassembly small. Not an eye sore..

H/C

 

H/C, the method you describe will surely produce a sound repair, but I’m not sure how you figure that chamfering the outside of the hole will weaken the brass and give less material for holding the hook. The chamfer doesn’t actually make the barrel any thinner; it just changes the shape of the contact area. It seems like a chamfer would actually increase the surface area in contact with the expanded rivet. The main load on the hook should be tangent to the curve of the barrel, so the objective here would seem to be to just keep the hook from falling out and/or loosening as the spring loading tries to pull it away from the perpendicular. It just seems like a chamfered outer end of the hole might actually hold the expanded “rivet” against this load better than a peened over head in the outside of the barrel because the peened area would be completely surrounded by the brass inside the hole where there would be no support the rim of an external “head”.

Either way, making a new hole for the replacement hook will make a stronger repair but leave an unsightly hole to be filled. In reality, one of the decision makers in a repair like this is whether the barrel is exposed and how “invisible” the repair needs to be.

RC

 

If I understand HC's repair I agree except the hole should have a taper. This will solidly anchor the hook after peening and the peened end can be smoothed down flush with the barrel for a clean looking repair.

Checking te hook for looseness during cleaning/repair should always be done.

 

Most barrels are to thin to put a chamfer. And I have had them pull out on me in the past with a chamfer. So I go with my experiences.

H/C

 

Yeah, there can be some heavy pulling on that rivet. I think it's important to match the rivet to the size of the hole, and leave it long enough to really spread out for a good tight fit when peened.

 

veri,

That will probably work OK.

A bigger 'head' on the hook would be good and the step allows you to peen the hook in tight. Use a small 2 to 4 ounce ball peen hammer. Rest the hook against a solid piece of steel bar (about 1 1/8" diameter) held in a good bench vice. I don't think the lock-tight will help much in this area. It's mainly the tightness of the riveted head and the shape of the hook that counts.

Willie X

 

I use a hammer head of suitable diameter to fit in the barrel to hold the inside while peening the outside. Clamp the hammer in a vice. This helps to prevent any barrel distortion.

 

My take: I disagree on both chamfer and taper, and I especially disagree on filing down the peened head flush with the surface of the barrel. I'd never trust that little angled leftover rim inside the chamfer/taper not to let go at some inopportune moment.

I prefer strength over aesthetics, and I like a good strong head that extends well beyond the hole, over the full thickness of the barrel wall. If it sticks up a bit, that's good; better than hiding in a countersunk hole just waiting to pull through.

 

Then why were they not made that way originally?

RC

 

Maybe if they had done it this way originally we wouldn't have to be replacing them. And I have replaced allot of them on older clocks.

H/C