Hey guys, I’m having a problem with the strike train on a 1920s vintage Sessions tambour clock movement. This one was especially feisty, but once I got the strike train timed correctly, another problem emerged, and I’m at a loss on this one. It moves through the count cycle smoothly for most of the count; strike lever drops in the center of the slot, and the train advances smoothly and evenly through most of the cycle, with 3 exceptions: 7:00, 11:00 and 12:00. On these cycles, the main and count wheel move in a herky-jerky fashion instead of a nice smooth advance, and the count lever seems to “smack” the bottom of the slots, and it almost looks as though that’s what is causing the jerky movement, although I can’t rationalize the count lever dropping with enough force to actually overpower the mainspring, even if only for a split second. There is an anomaly on the 11:00 strike that doesn’t happen on the other cycles as well. It “smacks” the bottom of the deep slot, takes a high double-bounce, and then the train advances. I’m fairly certain it’s not an issue with the timing, as it has been my experience that these problems usually manifest themselves most prominently in the short cycles, 1:00 and 2:00. I have run it through dozen or so cycles, and whatever the problem is, it’s consistent; smooth, even strike and stop on all but these 3 hour cycles. EDIT: meant to mention that the count skips and does not stop on these 3 hours.
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