Meet the Hall of Shame's Newest Inductee

[Zu-Astarti]

Found myself a nice little Seth Thomas at a sale. Has a couple of nicks and cracks here and there, but looked to be in pretty good original condition. Looked in the back door and couldn't see any sign of tampering. No punched pivot holes or other obvious signs of abuse. A big fingerprint on S4 was the only visible sign that anyone had been inside. So far so good. Pulled the movement out, turned it over and...what the?

Got a worn pivot hole? We can fix that. Just cut off a random piece of brass, drill a hole in it and booger solder it onto the plate. No problem! I thought it WAS going to be a problem getting rid of these, but they were so poorly soldered on that they just picked off with a pair of tweezers. :cyclops:

 

[wow]

Well, Oren, How does one guy get so lucky? But.., with all the experience you gained on your last one, this one should be a breeze. Let us know.

Will

 

[bangster]

"Poor Man's Rathbun."

 

[Bruce Alexander]

Wow! That was ugly, and so well hidden. Oh well, much better days ahead for this one.

 

[hookster]

At least the damage is quite easy to fix.

 

[Bruce Alexander]

I agree with wow, you sure seem to be able to pick ones that need help. This poor little fellow is probably scarred for life. I'm going to think of you as our local clock therapist. Makes you wonder what the repairer in question did when he had to work on a visible plate instead of one hidden from the owner's view...assuming that no owner would do this to their clock.

 

[shutterbug]

That's a good example of what solder does when the parts are not cleaned first

 

[Zu-Astarti]

Quick trip through the ultrasonic and you almost wouldn't know they had been there. Now that the the goobers are gone, it really needs lots of bushings. That is one seriously worn hole at the top.

 

[moe1942]

Are you going to remove all the solder residue?

 

[Bill Stuntz]

Looks to me like he did. I think those are scratches on the plates. Maybe they can be polished off?

 

[Zu-Astarti]

Are you going to remove all the solder residue?

What's the best way to go about that?

 

[Bill Stuntz]

Darned it I know. I haven't been very happy with the looks of my inept attempts to polish things like that off.

 

[hookster]

Progressively fine grades of wet sand sandpaper starting at 300, then 600, then 1200 then 2000 grit, followed by polishing compound. I polished out the scatches on the aluminum steering wheel insert on my 1968 AMX and it came out looking brand new. A have used this procedure on clocks, as well, just to bring back a shinier look on badly tarnished plates. Takes a bit of time and patience though. Plus a trip to the hardware store to get all the stuff.

 

[Bill Stuntz]

Is there some secret to working around the permanently attached stuff that prevents long smooth strokes on the plates?

 

[Zu-Astarti]

Actually, I was asking how to get rid of the solder residue. There are a couple of silvery spots left behind. The plate seems completely smooth. I can't feel anything when I drag a fingernail across it.

 

[Bill Stuntz]

Sorry - it looks like you did a pretty good job already, and I thought what was left looked like scratches. Maybe polishing as Hookster suggests would remove the traces of solder and leave clean brass?

 

[wow]

I use a buffing wheel with fine rouge to polish out such scratches.

Will

 

[hookster]

Hi again Bil,

When I wet sanded and polished my newly painted antique car, to get rid of all the orange peel in the clear coat, it was recommended to use circular strokes not straight strokes. Once you get down to 2000 grit wet, and use the polishing paste, you would need a high power microscope to see any scratches, regardless of what direction you sanded. And automotive clear coat is obviously a lot softer than the brass on clock plates. Having said all that, it is, as you say, still tough to get around the obstacles on the clock plates. No secret, just many small pieces of sand paper, lots of water, and patience. I am sure that others, more knowledgeable than I, can comment on other, better methods of bringing tarnished clock plates back to their original lustre. Cheers

 

[moe1942]

I would put a pencil torch under the solder and wipe as much off as I can with a damp cloth.. Then use muriatic acid and a very stiff tooth brush. Apply with Q tip..

There is more solder left than you might think or it wouldn't show in the picture.

 

[Zu-Astarti]

Some new bushings, a little simichrome and some elbow grease, another trip through the ultrasonic, and things are looking much better.

 

[hookster]

Wow great work Oren!! Amazing transformation.

 

[Bruce Alexander]

Some new bushings, a little simichrome and some elbow grease, another trip through the ultrasonic, and things are looking much better.

Very nice! It looks like two totally different movements.

 

[moe1942]

Much better.

 

[Bill Stuntz]

GREAT job. Looks much better than what I did on the ones I've posted recently.

 

[Zu-Astarti]

Just a little more before and after...

 

[richiec]

Hookster, an AMX? haven't seen one of those since the '70s. 343, 390 or 401?

 

[hookster]

Hi Richie C. 390 cubic inches. Has all of the 'Go Pak' options. It's a 68. Yeah they are pretty rare. AMC only made a total of 18000 of them over the 3 year period before they discontinued the lovely little two seater coupe.

 

[Len Lataille]

Progressively fine grades of wet sand... followed by polishing compound.

Hookster

Could you be more specific when you say polishing compound. Many kinds of that product from Brasso to automotive types.

Thanks.

 

[hookster]

Hi Len. I use the automotive type that you can buy up here at Canadian Tire. There are two types of grit. One is called Rubbing Compound and the other is called Polishing Compound, the latter being much finer. Both are made by Turtle Wax. They both work best by thinning with water, rather than just using straight out of the plastic tubs. I have never been all that impressed with Brasso, except maybe as a final wipe. Also, the stuff stinks. Hope that helps.

 

[moe1942]

I use red rouge.

 

[hookster]

Yes red jewelers rouge is the best, if one wants to be real fussy. Certainly worth it on a high end movement. You can even use it to get small scratches out of your car's windshield. But don't let the buffer get too hot or 'bam' the tempered glass may just shatter into small little chunks.