Timing of Cuckoo and Music for Baduf Clock

[James Logan]

[FONT=&quot]Question for the cuckoo gurus: is the music box activation for a clock with Badische Uhrenfabrik movement intended to be nearly simultaneous with the cuckoo whistle, or is it missing hardware that would delay the music activation? The simultaneous whistle and music makes for an annoying overlap of sounds. This contrasts to the Regula style movement where music starts after the cuckoo whistles. The mechanisms controlling the cuckoo and music box appear in the photos. The Baduf movement is similar to the Regula movement in nearly all respects except for the activation of the bird perch and music box. The BaDuf movement can be understood in detail by reading US patent 2574704. [/FONT]

 

[Bill Stuntz]

I hope someone who actually KNOWS cuckoos jumps in here soon. I have to agree with you that I don't see anything that could delay the music until after the cuckoos. It looks like the cuckoo perch activates the MB as the bird appears. I've seen other posts that talk about a (another?) wire that is supposed to restrain the MB til the end, but I sure don't see anything like that in your photos. If it's simply missing, I don't see where it would go. When I read those posts, I assumed I'd be able to figure it out if I ever saw one.

I've only worked on one musical+dancers cuckoo, and it had a Regula 3-train movement (with a simple drum & comb MB) that wasn't supposed to unlock until the cuckoo train locks up at the end. Kinda like a backwards version of the strike train being released by the end of the chime in my ST124. Thinking of cuckoo=strike, music=chime. The Regula WAS releasing the music & dancing with the cuckoo, but I fixed it. I didn't even realize it was alternating 2 different tunes until I got the cuckoo to stop drowning out the music. It seems like yours should strike first, then start the music, too.

 

[tom427cid]

Hi,
The sleeve on the actuating arm might have to be longer to hold the gov fan ( or the fan blade is to short) during the strike,or there is the possibility that there might have been a whisker on the wire that holds the perch wire that holds the fan during strike and when the door closes it allows the MB to operate.
HTH

tom

 

[Randy Beckett]

It looks like when the perch swings forward and presses this linkage to the music box it should 1. release the drum to turn. and 2. move the circled linkage in position to catch and hold the fly. When the perch retracted, it would then release the fly to run. Something looks funny about the spring above this piece, but I can't tell what it is supposed to do, as the bottom spring appears to be the return spring.

 

[Tinker Dwight]

There was probably a short piece of rubber or plastic tubing
on the end of that piece to hold the fly until the cuckoo
completed.
I'd guess one could use a small piece of shrink tubing,
used in electronics and wiring.
The piece would be long enough to catch the fly while the
cuckoo was out and then release the fly when the cuckoo returned.
Tinker Dwight

 

[shutterbug]

The circled wire should stop the fan from turning until the cuckoo finishes calling and retreats into the case. Then it moves out of the way to allow the music to play. As Tinker said, often there is a plastic piece on that wire.

 

[James Logan]

Thanks for your responses. As suggested by several members, placing a small piece of tubing over the bent wire does delay the music until after the cuckoo whistles. This overcomes a problem caused by wear on the fan edges as also suggested.

For completeness in describing the music box action another photo is attached of the spring at the whip end of the music box lever. The free end of the spring (circled in red) is shown in contact with the fan at the end of the music cycle. Since a search of the NAWCC web site did not reveal a description for the Baduf music box action, the sequence of events to start and stop the music box are listed as best I can.


The cuckoo perch is moved on the hour and half hour at about the same time the bellows activate.

The perch moves and holds the music box whip/lever.

The lever rotation causes a) the tang to move out of the hole in the end of the pin drum, b) the spring at the whip end of the lever to disengage from the fan, permitting the drum to rotate, and c) the bent wire with plastic insulation to engage the fan before the pins on the rotating drum tickle the comb.

After the whistle completes, the perch moves back to its initial position, releasing the lever. The lever motion causes a) the tang to rest on the drum end, b) the spring at the whip end of the lever to move toward the fan but not engage it, and c) the bent wire to release the fan, permitting the pin drum to play the melody.

[FONT=&amp]After the last note sounds, the tang falls into the leading edge of the drum hole, allowing the lever to rotate further and bring the spring at the whip end into intermittent contact with the fan which slows it down to prevent excessive force on the tang before it engages the following edge of the drum hole to stop drum rotation.[/FONT]

 

[shutterbug]

That's close. The tang in the hole should pull the fan stop into the fan, stopping it. You don't want the pressure from trying to move it further stopping it.

 

[bangster]

THIS ARTICLE may help.