How far and often should I wind chime spring?

[expeditionhiker]

I have an electric (electric assisted?) clock movement that has a manual winding knob for the chimes, hourly and Westminster. How often and how far should I be winding this? Can it be over wound? There is one knob for both springs. I believe this movement to be from a 1931 New Haven Mantel clock, but it is now being used for a grandfather clock. I can't find any markings on the movement, but I have an old letter from the clock builder explaining that he built this grandfather clock and used this movement. In the picture I circled the winding knob.

thanks

 

[glenhead]

Wind it until it won't wind anymore. Just don't force it - when it stops winding, stop winding. There really isn't any such thing as "overwound", except when you use brute force and break the mainspring. If it's wound up and the chimes won't run, then the movement is either dirty (most likely) or has a problem. I don't know about the run time on that movement. If it's a one day (or 30 hour, or whatever other term they might have used), wind it once a day. If it's an 8-day, wind it once a week.

Hope this helps.

Glen

 

[expeditionhiker]

thanks Glen, I have cleaned and adjusted the clock and got it working. I found a really old paper inside the cabinet that said turn 6 times, but that is all it says. What you said about it being a one day or 30 hour makes more sense. Now that I have it working I will have to let it run down, rewind and see how long it lasts. Since it has an electric motor I would hope that the chimes and strike would last at least 7 days...but the spring is so tiny compared to a normal key operated winding, I'm not sure what to expect, I'm not a huge collector but I love fixing these old clocks and I have never seen a movement like this.

 

[ridaco]

Wind it until it won't wind anymore. Just don't force it - when it stops winding, stop winding. There really isn't any such thing as "overwound", except when you use brute force and break the mainspring. If it's wound up and the chimes won't run, then the movement is either dirty (most likely) or has a problem. I don't know about the run time on that movement. If it's a one day (or 30 hour, or whatever other term they might have used), wind it once a day. If it's an 8-day, wind it once a week.

Hope this helps.

Glen Hello, I could not find the answer to this question while searching so if this was covered before, my apologies. When it says in the book that I need a windchime that is at least 2 ft long source, does it mean that it has to be 2 ft long from the top to the bottom or do the rods themselves have to be at least 2 ft long? Many thanks,

Hello, I could not find the answer to this question while searching so if this was covered before, my apologies. When it says in the book that I need a windchime that is at least 2 ft long, does it mean that it has to be 2 ft long from the top to the bottom, or do the rods themselves have to be at least 2 ft long? Many thanks,

 

[EscapeWheel]

Hi ridaco,

I don't quite understand your question. Are you talking about chiming rods? Or like this thread, are you talking about the chime spring?

A picture would help quite a bit.

 

[JTD]

I need a windchime that is at least 2 ft long,

A windchime ? I'm not sure what we're talking about. Can you explain?

JTD