How To Repair Older Gilbert Clocks

I repaired another old antiquarian clock today. This ane is a 1909 William Gilbert curtain clock. Information technology has an 8 day movement and has a gong strike for the hour and a bell strike for every half hour. My male parent in-law bought this clock last summertime at a flea market in boondocks for $50. It did not function of course then I got to have it home and try to repair it.

Its a rather ugly clock in my stance. It withal is mechanical and old which makes information technology cool then I volition go it running again.   Currently it will run for almost 5 minutes and cease which could be anything really but I have a hunch its dirty and probably has some worn out pin holes merely like every other move I mess around with.
The first thing to do is to get the movement out of the clock.   I had to remove the wood back and expose the motility.    There are four forest screws that hold the motility to the clock and that'south it. Remove the four screws and remove the clock face hands and the movement just falls out the dorsum.

Its an old 1 and has the 1909 date postage stamp on it.

I removed the move.

I constitute some worn out pin holes and marked them with a marker.   Brand sure to mark the side that is worn. You can put some force on the primary leap cycle and notice the pivots moving around. It volition motility towards the worn area of the hole and if there is besides much wear the clock will terminate. Some guys utilize pencil but I discover information technology hard to meet so just clean off the marker later.

I take many pictures of the clock movement before I have information technology apart. Movements all are very similar just I still forget where some wheels become and some have actress levers or dissimilar mechanisms.   Pictures work perfect and I always have to go back and expect!!!   Make sure to secure the main springs with strong zip ties or wire before you lot unwind them. Springs are nasty business and you don't want ane of them uncoiling in an explosion which commonly breaks gear teeth and could hurt you.   When its all apart, I clean everything with mineral spirits and a tooth brush. Remove all the old oil and crud around the pin holes. Clean all the clock wheels.

Worn pivots tin be repaired with bushings. I drilled out the old pivot hole with a 1/viii″ end mill and pressed in an new bushing that I fabricated on my lathe. I have washed this before and take a good explanation in some other repair page I wrote. Two pivots shown above are repaired with new bushings (shiny expanse is new). I even tried to cut the oil groove like the original only I was slightly off heart…..still works however.

Another repaired pin hole.   Oil groove is centered this time.
Reassemble the movement and test information technology out before releasing the main springs. Make certain everything moves and functions as it should. Also oil the movement with real clock oil. Don't use WD-twoscore or car motor oil.   iii in one oil is barely acceptable but wont last long since its too thin and runs all over.   Get a expert constructed clock oil which will stick to the pivots for a long fourth dimension. I bought a small bottle for less than $20 and information technology volition last my lifetime.
Repairing iii worn pivots and a practiced cleaning and oiling was all this 1909 clock motion needed to office again. Its been running for 20 hrs at present and I suspect it will run fine for a week before it needs to exist wound up again.

Here is a video of it running. Information technology is hit the hr.

Hither is another video of the clock running and volition strike the i/two hr bell towards the end of the video.

Beneath are some photos of making the bushings on the lathe:

Above showing how it drill the small 0.050″ hole.

In a higher place I am parting off one of the bushings.