Wooden Movement test Stand

[Marty Matisoff]

Does anyone have drawings or plans for making a wood regulator test stand? I'd like to avoid reinventing the wheel. Thx.

 

[Ed O'Brien]

You may find plans, or you can see what is offered by clock part suppliers and copy it. I think most people design as they see fit. I am just about to build a new one as my original was built from scrap wood from wooden shipping crates. It still works okay, but I want to make modifications based on shortcomings I have found. There seems little in common among the stands I have seen, except the need for accommodating pendulum length, pendulum bob swing, weight of clock (if you work on old English GF movements with 75-pounds or more in weights) and sideways stability to help avoid sympathetic vibration as the weights wind down and align with the pendulum bob (this will cause a frustrating failure of the clock to run when nothing appears wrong, and you cannot usually detect it). I have seen stands that accommodate chime and strike rods on an adjustable board, and know of stands permanently attached to a wall. My crude and simple stand has served me well, and after many years I am only now contemplating building a new one to incorporate new ideas.

 

[harold bain]

If you do a message board search for test stands, you will find lots of different designs. I don't know if any are specifically made for wooden movements, though.

 

[Ed O'Brien]

Different take on this subject by Harold. My assumption was that Marty wanted to build a test stand made of wood - not necessarily for testing of wooden movements. Marty, can you clarify, please.

 

[Dick C]

Perhaps this is what you may be looking for:
http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2013/02/test-stand-video.html

 

[Marty Matisoff]

Ed, you are correct. I have a monster test stand that I built out of wood. It's very functional, but it's also very big. I was hoping to build something with a much smaller footprint. Something can sit on a small desk and run for days on end while I'm testing it.

 

[Ed O'Brien]

If you are looking for something small like that, one that can sit on a desk, I thing we are all going in the wrong direction. You'd be better off with one of the small metal stands that clamps the movement at the top and bottom of one of the plates. Another option is the movement stands that have screw clamps to attach to corners of a plate so you can work on the bench with the movement not directly on the bench. These usually are available with a pivoting top piece that allows adjusting to the width for different plates and can also be hung on a screw or a holder attached to the wall. I use several of these and find them very handy, then when not in use they fit in a drawer.