Cuckoo Novelty "cuckoo" - pendulum?

[AndyDWA]

I picked this up as a bit of a joke - my wife thought it was cute and it was $1 - but I need to know the specs for the missing pendulum and would also like to know what it is. Is it likely to be German, Swiss, Chinese...?

The movement seems fundamentally sound but I can't find any pictures that give any hint to the pendulum issue - and I'm not really familiar with pendulums in general. I'm hoping to just fashion something "temporary" out of a piece of wire and a "button" but need some idea of length and weight, etc.

The movement measures just 4cm from anchor pivot to winding arbor.

Thanks for any info.

 

[Tinker Dwight]

The bob is not too heavy on these as there is not separate
suspension.
You can try different lengths of coat hanger wire and
a large hallow brass button.
Without knowing the beat rate of the clock, we can not
advise you as to the approximate length needed. Start
with about 5 inches beyond the shield and time is.
If we then know the total length and the amount it is off,
we can make an estimate.
It might be a little more complicated with the seesaw
weight on top. It might require a little more experiments.
Tinker Dwight

 

[shutterbug]

I believe you have a small novelty clock. I will take a pendulum like this one.

 

[AndyDWA]

Thank you both. The pic gives me a starting point to begin experimenting.

 

[AndyDWA]

I want to remove the movement so I can give it a bit of a clean and oil - but I'll be darned if I see how to get it out.

It looks like I need to pry the dial off and there might be screws underneath but I'm not sure. Could the movement just be glued in?

There are replacement mini novelty movements available, so I guess there's a way. Any suggestions?

 

[Tinker Dwight]

What does it look like with the hands off?
Can you see anything in the hole of the dial.
Tinker Dwight

 

[AndyDWA]

I can't even get the hands off

When I tried to wiggle the minute hand off with popsticks, the mainspring suddenly released (which is interesting because I don't know how to release this sort of spring with a cam-type click).

For a $1 clock, I can see this one is going to frustrate me. It's no longer about the clock, it's about the principle!

It may end up being sacrificed to my education.

 

[shutterbug]

You can get new movements. Timesavers # 15918. Under twenty bucks. Not worth fussing with.

 

[AndyDWA]

You can get new movements. Timesavers # 15918. Under twenty bucks. Not worth fussing with.

Ahh, but that brings me back to my original question - how do I get the movement out?

I think the movement is fundamentally sound (yesterday's spring release notwithstanding) but I'd like to clean the fluff out of it and see exactly what's going on in there.

The movement looks pretty much like those seen around the net, with four hex-nut looking things on the front, but I'm assuming that if anything screws into those, it must be hidden under the dial.

 

[shutterbug]

I think I'd remove the dial and see what's under it. The movement must mount that way. The dial usually will have three small brads that can be persuaded out by carefully slipping a thin blade or similar devise under the dial and prying it up a little. Do that right by the brads, and keep in mind that the dial won't take a lot of pressure. When the brads are lifted enough to grab with pliers (or even your fingers), pull them out.

 

[harold bain]

It looks like a Jauch movement. I suspect there is a nut somewhere under the hands securing the movement to the wood, or the dial.

 

[J. A. Olson]

Many Cuckoo clock makers pumped these out including Trenkle, Hengster, and possibly Herr. They're popular souvenir clocks and keep decent time if adjusted to suit. Most of these German examples use wooden fronts and plastic frames. Some use complete plastic cases instead. The movement is screwed to the front of case, under the dial. Movements, dials, and pendulums are still made for these clocks.

The hands are press-fit on.

Movement is mounted to front of case under dial. Some models may use a different setup, but they were never meant to be taken apart. They seem to last a while without much in the way of maintenance.

They're sometimes known as pendulettes, however Trenkle GmbH labels them as "miniature pendulum clocks".

 

[AndyDWA]

Thanks all.

It looks like the dial might lever up so I'll investigate that further tomorrow. The minute hand appears to be "rusted" on and nothing I've done even hints at shifting it. I think I might have to look at making a puller of some description. I don't even know if that's in my skill set - but I think I'm about to find out

Better to learn all this on a $1 novelty clock than something more important.

 

[AndyDWA]

UPDATE: It appears to be running!

I had to make a "gear puller" to remove the minute hand. I bashed a tiny piece of aluminium bar into shape then drilled a hole and cut a slot (I should have cut the slot before bending). I inserted a self-tapping screw, with the point slightly blunted, into the hole. The theory was good, but the aluminium was too weak, either from being beaten into shape or from the relentless resistance of the minute hand I was trying to remove. In the end, I used pliers on the puller, and this was enough to get the minute hand off.



The dial was glued but is slightly flexible plastic and levered off easily. There were two screws underneath holding the movement.

After a clean and reassembly, I left it running under its own steam, face down with no pendulum. I rewound it a couple of times to help distribute the mainspring oil.

Tonight I fashioned a makeshift pendulum out of a piece of wire, a washer and a bulldog clip in order to test it properly, and to get some idea of what I need in a proper pendulum. I found one for sale online with a claimed weight of 1oz (28g) but I made something around that weight and it seems far too heavy to me. I think this one is about 8-10g.

Obviously the actual pendulum will need to be adjustable but this one is working well for now. I might see if I can carve a small wooden bob - either a bird or the traditional vine leaf, maybe.

 

[Tinker Dwight]

We should move a picture of the pendulum to the
help pages. This would be for people with no imagination
as to how to come up with a test pendulum.
Tinker Dwight

 

[AndyDWA]

We should move a picture of the pendulum to the
help pages. This would be for people with no imagination
as to how to come up with a test pendulum.

It was handy doing it that way because I could just add or subtract washers.

Pendulum MKII has the washer and clip replaced with a small plastic tiddlywink, held by tape. This looks much better and weighs almost nothing. I've moved the new bob up the wire but the clock runs slow.

I'm working on the assumption that a lighter bob equals a faster clock and a higher bob should also be faster. If I've got that right, is there anything else that would make it faster?

I haven't timed it carefully, but it's probably still losing a couple of minutes an hour.

 

[Tinker Dwight]

Lighter bob will make it run some faster because
it is a recoil with high friction pivot.
The length is still the dominant factor.
Short is faster.
Tinker Dwight

 

[shutterbug]

Those little pendulums are only about 3" long. Keep moving it up

 

[AndyDWA]

Yep, it's pretty short, but the bob is almost up behind the lower part of the case, less than one inch from the hanger. Still, I think it's very close now, so I'll let it run for a while, find a home for it (I've made a timber stand to hang it on, so it will effectively be a wall-mantel clock ) then see how it settles down.