Sonora advice

[cmhjms]

Just purchased my first Sonora, a large mahogany tambour with a silvered dial. It is similar to the Chime No. 59 but without the trim ledge on the sides. The Sonora movement chimes properly, but the hour chime won't chime. If released manually, it chimes but often doesn't want to stop. If I prop the left side up 1/2 inch, it runs wonderfully. Looking inside, its clear the 89 movement is installed with a definite list to one side.

I've removed many movements, but I've never taken a Sonora movement out of the case before. Is there anything I need to aware of before taking the two movements out?

Ant guidance at all would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Richard T.]

The first thing that I would do would be to set the beat with the movement installed as it is.

Is the problem with the 4th quarter chime or with the hour strike?

Below is a photo of a Sonora chime movement . (It has a broken suspension spring).

As to removal from the case....shouldn't be a problem. If you have to separate the movements pay close attention to the linkage between the chime unit and the time and strike movement.

By the way, I am not an expert on these either.

Best,

Richard t.

 

[shutterbug]

Treat that Sonora mainspring with lots of respect. It's a monster, and you'll need a sturdy spring winder to remove it, if it comes to that. If you have to take it out of the case anyway, it would be a good time for servicing it. Congrats on getting one!

 

[doc_fields]

The last one I worked on, featured in another thread I did on gear cutting, taught me a lot of respect for that spring (the one in the chime unit). I could not work one of my round spring clamps around it, so I used wire to release the power into instead of the clamp. I used TWO wires, mind you! The one I did was a little different than yours, just different linkages to the quarter chimes and the strike. The large wheel seen from the back in the chime unit had really had large bites out of it from the lantern trundles, so I had to make a new wheel for it.....................doc

 

[cmhjms]

Thanks for the quick replies, gentlemen!

The clock is now in beat and keeping good, steady time. The quarter chimes from the Sonora unit are working properly and sound wonderful. The hour does not chime, however. The springs are all good, and a few drop od oil seems to have everything moving well, but it refuses to strike. There was a good bit of packing material wedged into the movement, so I'm wondering if something was moved out of alignment.

I have a good amount of respect for those springs, so if I can do without taking the works out of the case it would be fine with me. They appear to be clean (not so the case, which had 90 years of nicotine covering the mahogany) so I'm inclined to let them stay put for now. If I do need to remove them, are they attached in any way, or simply meshing together?

Jim

 

[shutterbug]

Are you seeing any movement when it should be striking?

 

[cmhjms]

Yes, it is now striking, but only once...no matter the hour. The count wheel is advancing, but it always strikes one.

 

[Richard T.]

Sounds as if it is striking one and locking immmediately. I would think that it is a matter of adjusting the lever(s).

Best,

Richard T.

 

[shutterbug]

It's been awhile since I worked on one, but if memory serves the hours are struck on the Sonora unit too. If that's the case, the inner count wheel doesn't serve much of a purpose even though it's advancing as expected. Play with the levers on the Sonora unit until you see how the hour count is activated. If it won't activate the unit will proably have to be looked at by a pro. If it will activate manually, then it's just a matter of finding out why the clock movement is not activating it. It may be activated within the Sonora unit too - can't remember

 

[Gary Leck]

The hours strike is activated by a lever on the chime movement. There is no j hook on the minute shaft as is on a regular time and strike movement. Other than that, the hours strike operates the same. If it only strikes once for every hour strike, then the count wheel lever may need to be adjusted.
-> posts merged by system <-
Sorry, but I should say that the hours strike operates the same as any "89" movement that does not have the Sonora chime. The only difference being that the hours is activated by the upper left lever on the time movement when looking from the back.

 

[shutterbug]

That just don't sound right Your first sentence seemed right to me, then you meandered back to the main unit's count wheel. I'm almost positive that the hours are struck on one or more of the Sonora bells. I suppose it's possible that the main movement interfaces with the bell strike mechanism, but I don't remember it that way. Anyone have one they can look at?

 

[Richard T.]

The hours are struck on one or more bells, rods or whatever the clock has.

The No. 89AM movement activates the chime movement at each quarter. On the hour the chime movement activates the strike by the strike unlocking lever seen at the upper left rear of the No. 89 movement

Conover has a chapter in his Chime Clock Repair book.

Best,

Richard T.

 

[shutterbug]

Yeah, I get that, Richard But after activation, the chime unit handles the striking - correct? So the movement's count wheel is only going through the motions while the Sonora movement is doing the strike. No?

 

[Richard T.]

No......The way that I understand it is that the chime movement unlocks the No. 89AM movement and it functions the way that a normal time and strike movement does. The No. 119 chime movement just chimes the quarters and activates the strike movement on the hour.

Richard T.

 

[doc_fields]

Richard is right, that is exactly the way it worked on the one I recently repaired...........................doc

 

[shutterbug]

Alrighty then I'd like to see one again.

 

[Bryan Prindle]

No......The way that I understand it is that the chime movement unlocks the No. 89AM movement and it functions the way that a normal time and strike movement does. The No. 119 chime movement just chimes the quarters and activates the strike movement on the hour....

Richard T.

And continuing... which thru the count wheel operates a lever over to the bell hammers lifting them which then causes them to strike the hours.

On the picture provided you can see the lifting lever(s) on the bell hammers in the center of the picture. These control the hour striking.

Bryan

 

[shutterbug]

So, if I'm envisioning this correctly, the count wheel is advancing correctly, but there is no corresponding strike unless it's tilted? Gotta be interference that you can see somewhere. The single striking could be a lift problem, but it's puzzling that it would lift once then stop.