I have been trying to teach myself clock repair for some time now but one thing the books and videos have not helped with is how much movement in the escape wheel is too much. Case in point I have just cleaned and repaired an E.N. Welch which runs strong with out the crutch installed but will not run with the crutch I now their is movement in the bushing of the escape wheel and wonder if I should re bush the movement . is their a rule of thumb on when to replace these bushings? Thanks Carl.
close up photos of the escape wheel bushings, crutch and pendulum assembly, etc. would be informative, but video of what's going on would really show what's going on. when you cleaned and repaired, part of that process involves inspecting pivot holes to make sure they're round and not worn... did you do that? you can also insert the gears/arbors into the pivot holes while disassembled and see if there's too much tilt... implying the hole is worn, meaning bushing needed. there are multiple threads on the message board (MB) about how much tilt you want. it could be the suspension spring, bushings, pivots... video would be awesome. fyi, the way to do that is to take video with your phone... good, clear, well-lit video... and then upload to youtube. they'll process and give you a url, which you can paste here... the url will automagically embed the video in this thread. looking forward to seeing what's going on!
A couple of possibilities: >The crutch is in backwards which, depending on the clock, isn't all that hard to do. >The original crutch was lost in 1937 and someone installed the one you've got. When they found out that the clock still didn't run they put it in a box, put the box in the attic, and eventually went to sit at the right hand of the Lord while the clock waited for you to find it. >The pallets are worn to the point where they won't deliver an impulse, in which case the easiest solution is a new crutch/verge from Timesavers or someone. >The escapement is misadjusted such that the verge is too close to the escape wheel. Escapement pivots often must be bushed, but it's unusual for worn escapement parts to stop a clock. It's run poorly, but it'll run, at least for a while. As the man suggested, take and post some pictures of the clock. M Kinsler
Tracker, in response to your question, the best way to check for bushing wear is to let down the springs till they are almost all the way down. Just a little power left. Then watch each bushing on each side of the movement as you rock the train back and forth using the great wheel. If a pivot moves back and forth very much (oblong hole) while doing this, it needs a bushing. Mark the direction of the wear and bush the plate so the new bushing ends up in its original spot.if the EW bushing is loose(wobbling), it needs a bushing also.
I'd like to know what the escape wheel does when you move the crutch back and forth. It should release a tooth with every wag. Does it do that?
when I move the crutch by hand the escape wheel will move one tooth at a time as it should. And without the verge and crutch installed the movement will run down uncontrolled as i believe it should. I forgot to test the movement by tilting one way or the other to see if it would run in that fashion will try that now. since I was given this movement without a case I don't know its history or if it was working correctly before I started.
Ah. The movement is out of beat. The pendulum rod should point about straight down when one or the other escape wheel tooth is released. That'll give you a rough adjustment. M Kinsler
Trac, You might want to attach your movement to a board, or scrap plywood, so it can be in its normal position. If it's a front mount movement you will need to bore a 1" hole to admit the handshaft too. Then you can better assess the situation. Willie X
The pivots will wear an oval into the bushing in the direction of the load vector on the pivot. So depending on the Wheel arrangement of your Clock the engagement depth between EW and pallets could either be increased, so that a greater lift angle is introduced, or decreased, so that the escapement may skip teeth on the EW. Wear in the pallet arbor bushings will look different though, seeing as the arbor doesn't make full rotations and the load vector Changes several times during a full cycle of the escapement. I agree with that it sounds like your escapement is out of beat. The easiest way to check for that is to listen to the Clock, you can get pretty Close just by ear. If the Clock sounds anything like tick-tock-----tick-tock-----tick-tock---- instead of an even tick--tock--tick--tock, that's your problem right there. That being said, I Think you should check the entire going train and escapement for wear. If you get slop in the pallet bushings you'll get strange situations where the escapement will lock properly but on impulse you'll get lateral movement initially instead of circular, and that will throw the angles off introducing big Power losses. Best regards Karl
