Loose hands on a New Haven Triple plate

[J LaMaster]

Hello all,
I am not new to clocks, but not a professional either.
I have a Tambour New Haven triple plate with loose hands.
I cleaned, bushed and reassembled

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no problem. Used Steve's book to line up the chime train gears and it works perfectly.
My issue is with the hands. The minute arbor moves, but the hands do not. I never saw a tension spring like typical on minute arbors to allow slip, but there must be something I am missing. If i wedge cup washers and drive the pin in, it binds the clock and it stops running.
I am very new to the taper pin method of hand mounting.

Here is a short video... New video by Elmer LaMaster

Disregard the piece of wire in the photo, I broke the one I was using and wanted to just show how the hands do not move with the minute arbor.

 

[dickstorer]

Your video shows hands that appear to be spring loaded to go counter wise. You did not indicate whether it will tick. The video was far to short and it may need to show more of the movement. I think you may have something assembled wrong.

 

[J LaMaster]

The spring action you see is the 1/4 hour lever hitting the pin on the back of the minute wheel. Yes - the clock runs great. My concern is whether or not I lost a piece that goes between the minute arbor and the minute wheel, like on most other clocks. The minute arbor runs fine and keeps good time, but the barrel shaft that the minute hand mounts to does not move unless I put tension by means of cup washers and the taper pin at just the right amount of pressure to move the hands but not wedge it against the hour barrel, causing it to stop running.
Hope that all makes sense, as I may not use the proper terminology sometimes.

 

[R. Croswell]

Remove this part and gently pinch the sides of the minute pipe together at the slot shown until you have enough tension to drive the minute hand.

RC

 

[J LaMaster]

Copy that - I will let you know. So this is their substitute for the 3-fingered spring washer I am more familiar with?
Thanks!

 

[R. Croswell]

Copy that - I will let you know. So this is their substitute for the 3-fingered spring washer I am more familiar with?
Thanks!

Yes, but this arrangement is pretty common among other makers of smallish movements, especially some French movements. New Haven didn't invent this but, in this case, it was a logical choice. The "bottom side" of this part has the 4 pins that trigger the quarter chimes: there simply isn't enough room there for a typical 3-finger spider spring or a 2-finger banana spring that is more common on American designs. It does seem sort of crude but usually works quite well and has been used for over 100 years. Understandable why it may need adjustment now to compensate for wear. Oil is not you friend here.

RC

EDIT: Someone here a while back suggested inserting a tapered smooth broach in the opening to prevent pinching too much. I think that's a good idea but don't know who to thank - ( if you speak up, that thread was about the same problem on a different clock.)

 

[J LaMaster]

RC you are awesome! That worked like a dream.
Now all that is left is to set the beat and adjust the speed. It is running great now!
Thanks!