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The NAWCC Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Mr. Rory McEvoy has been named Executive Director of the NAWCC. Rory is an internationally renowned horological scholar and comes to the NAWCC with strong credentials that solidly align with our education, fundraising, and membership growth objectives. He has a postgraduate degree in the conservation and restoration of antique clocks from West Dean College, and throughout his career, he has had the opportunity to handle some of the world’s most important horological artifacts, including longitude timekeepers by Harrison, Kendall, and Mudge.
Rory formerly worked as Curator of Horology at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, where his role included day-to-day management of research and digitization projects, writing, public speaking, conservation, convening conferences, exhibition work, and development of acquisition/disposal and collection care policies. In addition, he has worked as a horological specialist at Bonhams in London, where he cataloged and handled many rare timepieces and built important relationships with collectors, buyers, and sellers. Most recently, Rory has used his talents to share his love of horology at the university level by teaching horological theory, history, and the practical repair and making of clocks and watches at Birmingham City University.
Rory is a British citizen and currently resides in the UK. Pre-COVID-19, Rory and his wife, Kaai, visited HQ in Columbia, Pennsylvania, where they met with staff, spent time in the Museum and Library & Research Center, and toured the area. Rory and Kaai will be relocating to the area as soon as the immigration challenges and travel restrictions due to COVID-19 permit.
Some of you may already be familiar with Rory as he is also a well-known author and lecturer. His recent publications include the book Harrison Decoded: Towards a Perfect Pendulum Clock, which he edited with Jonathan Betts, and the article “George Graham and the Orrery” in the journal Nuncius.
Until Rory’s relocation to the United States is complete, he will be working closely with an on-boarding team assembled by the NAWCC Board of Directors to introduce him to the opportunities and challenges before us and to ensure a smooth transition. Rory will be participating in strategic and financial planning immediately, which will allow him to hit the ground running when he arrives in Columbia
You can read more about Rory McEvoy and this exciting announcement in the upcoming March/April issue of the Watch & Clock Bulletin.
Please join the entire Board and staff in welcoming Rory to the NAWCC community.Very interesting, Bang! I can test twice as many with your set-up as I can with mine
Timesavers has something for that purpose. They're white plastic. Not sure what they're called.I am working on a mantel clock that I changed the movement on.
Just thought of it, I should get pics for the hall of shame, I'll do that tonight.
Back on topic,
So I put the newer movement in the case only to have the winding arbors not lined up?
Here is the question, do you guys have a trick for centering the arbors to the dial? I thought about making a tapered sleeve (two of each) that be used as centers?
For some reason I remember someone talking about wire nuts (maybe I'm nuts)![]()
OK, I can see how the gadgets work for a front-mounted movement. What's your alignment procedure for a back-mounted movement? (Just had that problem a while back.)Installing an identical replacement movement for a modern German movement can be quite difficult without the "winding arbor locators" Shutt refers to. (Timesavers Part No. 23153, pg. 68, catalog no. 35) These hard plastic locators slip over the wind arbor or center shaft and help keep everything aligned while the movement feet are manipulated to line up with the original screw holes.
They turn a 20 minute job into a 2 minute job.
That's perfect, Scottie. Great idea!You may have noticed recently that there are now two, "Useful" threads running: One here for everyone and the sticky atop the page - a condensed version containing only the "meat" with no chit chat. As hints are brought here, we can transfer them there where there's no clutter so easier to find what you seek!
Price seems very reasonable, Kevin. For a minute until I saw the $$ I thought it was our Lee Valley (NE of London)!Here is a handy item to check some of the threads we encounter.Price is not too bad either.
http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.aspx?c=1&p=64800&cat=3,41306
Good idea, Scottie. We do similar on a forum I moderate, but lock and archive the thread after a few months, clearing out the dross and making it readable.You may have noticed recently that there are now two, "Useful" threads running: One here for everyone and the sticky atop the page - a condensed version containing only the "meat" with no chit chat. As hints are brought here, we can transfer them there where there's no clutter so easier to find what you seek!
In wood? No, thanks - too easy for your homemade wooden gauge to become rounded out to an inaccurate size, especially with the very fine drill bits. Easier to simply buy a metal drill bit sizing stand and store your bits in it. IMHO, it's essential for precision work.Gauges I've made. Gauges come in a myriad of types and are very useful for quickly ascertaining a value of sort. Here's two I've made - a simple thread gauge making it easy to quickly identify a thread in question - nut or bolt. I made another for metric. The other is a drill bit size gauge nos. 1 to 60 - handy when you may be seeking a "go"/"no-go" reference.
Or one of these. The big advantage to this particular plate is it is hardened.I buy American machine screws by the gross in 1" lengths. That way, I can simply runthe length of screw I need though the plate, shear the excess length off with a cold chisel, and back the screw out, thus cleaning up the last thread, and it is good to ready to install. No messing about withclamping the screw in something, sawing it off and filing the end, all of which eats up time. And there is no need to stock a gzillion different lengths of screws of each size. So I just have six bins for each size screw: round head, flat head and cheese head, in brass and stainless. And buying them in bulk is a heck of a sight cheaper than buying in little shrink packs of anywhere from four to a dozen.Easier to simply buy a metal drill bit sizing stand and store your bits in it. IMHO, it's essential for precision work.
But this won't help in sizing the drill bits.Or one of these. The big advantage to this particular plate is it is hardened.I buy American machine screws by the gross in 1" lengths. That way, I can simply runthe length of screw I need though the plate, shear the excess length off with a cold chisel, and back the screw out, thus cleaning up the last thread, and it is good to ready to install. No messing about withclamping the screw in something, sawing it off and filing the end, all of which eats up time. And there is no need to stock a gzillion different lengths of screws of each size. So I just have six bins for each size screw: round head, flat head and cheese head, in brass and stainless. And buying them in bulk is a heck of a sight cheaper than buying in little shrink packs of anywhere from four to a dozen.
Yea verily, thou saith pearls of wisdom!Incidentally, I know most of you guys don't own a checkering file; that is the advantage of having worked as a gunsmith for a few years.![]()
For Newbies like me, be very careful when using the spread method. I'm sure I'm not the only one that has done this; if you have to remove a gear, be sure that the pivot is clear of the hole before removing the gear.Here is another super-handy tool when you get the movement back together and discover the durned strike wheel with the locking pin is a tooth or two out of sync. As we all know, sometimes it can be an excercise in frustration to spread the plates enough to disengage and turn that wheel, without losing a whole slew of pivots all down the line. With these pliers, you can remove the nut on the corner pillar nearest the wheel, and loosen a couple of others. Then it is just a matter of spreading the plates and relocating the one wheel (and usually the fly, because its pivot falls out of the upper plate, and it flops around.) I originally bought these when I was doing automotive engine building. They are designed for spreading piston rings, and are available from nearly all the automotive parts houses. With the long handles, you have lots of control over how far you spread the plates.
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Thanks for the post, Dave! Pic reminded me that I used to own a pair of those. Looked in a toolbox I hadn't used for decades, and there they were, right on top next to the brakeshoe pliers & stuff. Been wishing for a cheap way to spread plates a bit, and this is it.Here is another super-handy tool when you get the movement back together and discover the durned strike wheel with the locking pin is a tooth or two out of sync. As we all know, sometimes it can be an excercise in frustration to spread the plates enough to disengage and turn that wheel, without losing a whole slew of pivots all down the line. With these pliers, you can remove the nut on the corner pillar nearest the wheel, and loosen a couple of others. Then it is just a matter of spreading the plates and relocating the one wheel (and usually the fly, because its pivot falls out of the upper plate, and it flops around.) I originally bought these when I was doing automotive engine building. They are designed for spreading piston rings, and are available from nearly all the automotive parts houses. With the long handles, you have lots of control over how far you spread the plates.
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Yes, and don't be trying to spread the plates on a French roulet, either!Some pivots can take more bending than others.American made 8 day clocks are forgiving, while German made are not.
Lessons are quickly learned.![]()