Hi from Australia. Many thanks for sharing your detailed techniques in clock repair. I myself have been repairing for 30 years and still learn new things such as your removing oxidisation using salt and vinegar. Imagine the same flavour used on potatoes crisps! Great work.
Even a respectfull work on further faults. I like how you restore the bearing witch has been punched smaler in an earlier restoration. You did not distroy these restoration with a new big bearing. You made a new bearing exact siced to the pillot and to the old restoration. That is extraordinary!!
Thanks Frank, This movement had never had bushings installed in it. Wear on the pivot holes was over 100 years old. The bushings I installed if lubricated as needed should last another 100 years. I feel the same as you do on those oversized bushings.
Thankyou James for yet another wonderful looking job, this one where you are cleaning the wheels and plates I missed the other day,thanks for the tip on salt,vinegar and soda, I will give this a go. It's such a delight to see the beautiful sparkle on the plates and wheels, many thanks again. Jim from AUSTRALIA.
Sure, Through the years I have had a lot of people come to me about strange white splotches on clock and watch movements after ultrasonic cleaning. The white splotches is where the gold gilt is missing, its brass that has had the copper removed from it. Ultrasonic cleaning is superior in cleaning articles but is hash on gold gilt parts. The standard to test an ultrasonic machine is to immerse pieces of aluminum foil into the ultrasonic tank. Then the machine is turned on and if its working properly, the aluminum foil will have dents and holes punched through it. Gold gilt has the same hardness as aluminum foil so the same damage will happen to gold gilt if put into that machine. This is why gold gilt jewelry is never cleaned in an ultrasonic.
I use that rubber band on a lot of movements. It reduces assembly time and and prevents pivots from scratching the insides of the plates. Glad you got something of use from it.
Really enjoy your channel.I just got back a Seth Thomas Shasta model mantle clock and a black Sessions mantle clock with the green pillars early 1900s.I think the Seth Thomas has the best sound of the two brands.
No I don't think so,I'm mechanical with all sorts of tools.But i will let my local clockmaker help me maintain these clocks.by the the way i have another Sessions in the shop right now that i have rescued.
You are a fine craftsman. I love your background music. It reminds me of a small screw machine shop that I used to get small parts made. In my house though two clocks ticking away are plenty.
Je vous admire,vous réparer des mouvements sans grande valeur et vous les faites fonctionner pour de nombreuses années encore,ces horloges ont été fabriquées par des ouvriers d une autre époque nous devons entretenir leur travail
Great work!!! The use of the rubber bands is new to me. I will use that technique on my next clock. Thanks you for sharing. I look forward to your next video.
Wow, what a difference. I appreciate you sharing what you use to clean up the oxidation. I’m sure I will be using it in the future. I also like the use of rubber bands until the pivots are in place.
Thanks, A lot of people struggle putting these clocks together using one hand to squeeze the plates together and the other to manipulate the pivots to their correct pivot holes. Using rubber bands frees up both hands and makes the process much easier.
This is by far one of the best videos iv seen so far .great camra work and explaning and showing showing your technics in puting movement back together . Great job.
Another great video. Priceless learning for an amateur such as myself. The use of elastic bands to aid reassembly is a fantastic tip! Thank you for uploading these videos and sharing your knowledge. Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2023, John, Ireland.
hello sir james, very, very interesting video. I really like how it restores, I always learn from you. i am a fan and i am impressed with how he does it. thank you very much from barcelona, catalonia.
Hello James, I have a Seth Thomas mantle clock in near perfect condition. The works needs to be cleaned and oiled gingerly with thin clock oil. I have been watching videos like yours before I try it so I do not "butcher" it. I am nervous about taking it apart. When I do I will video it so I can get it back together. The face has the escapement visible (looks nice) and the face cleaned up like new with a damp soft cloth. I got the chime works synchronized. Just need to clean and oil it so it will keep running. Thank you for your helpful video. God speed Sir.
Love your videos!!! I'm trying to watch all of them to get as much information as possible before tackling my latest clock find. A Herschede 1917 grandfather clock I rescued from a dumpster!!! I've worked on Seth Thomas and Sessions clocks but this one is special. Any tips, guidance or cautions you could send my way would be well received. Thank you for doing these videos!!
Thank you, This was an extreme case of galvanic corrosion, likely from someone in the past damaging the gold gilt. I agree, Brasso is a good abrasive polish for brass. These movements were plated with gold gilt to protect the brass. Concern abrasive in products like Brasso may damage gold gilt on these movements.
Really nice work. When you put the urethane on, how do you keep it out of the pivot holes and gear teeth? What was the polishing compound you used with wood in the final step of polishing pivots? Thanks.
Thanks Paul, I cover the pivots with masking tape, peg out the pivot holes. Sprocket teeth do light spray from the top side, no angle spray on the gears, and hope for the best. Urethane is a good finish, its the clear that is on cars nowadays. Polishing compound I make it up as I need it. Its Diamantine, Mixed with some oil on a glass plate. Its just a fancy name for a fine grade of aluminum oxide. Its been the clock and watchmakers standard for polishing steel parts since the beginning.
Hello James, another great video with lots of great tips and pointers. Interesting and educational. What do you use to do your solder work, a small torch or? And, silver solder? Keep up the great work.
For low temp, low stress non-structural work, I use silver solder and a solder iron or small torch if needed. For high temp work mainly structural items, I prefer to use the Smiths Little Torch with oxygen and acetylene, this way I can use Harris Safety-Silv 56 Silver Solder Brazing Alloy. The safety-silv 56 rod matches the tensile strength of clock brass. I just got through re-tipping all the teeth on an escape wheel that someone butchered in the past. Standard silver solder would have been too soft for this repair. The Safety-Silv 56 worked great, a higher temp is needed, the Smiths Little Torch worked great, was hot enough to flow the 56 rod on the tips of the escape wheel teeth without destroying them.
my grandparents are/were hoarders and while grandma don't live on the farm anymore after grandpa passed away they had all kinds of things including two mantle clocks in the dining room. unfortunate i hear the house is infested with roaches and mice now but there were signs long before that they were present. (to give you an idea how packed the place was with random stuff, even the property looked like a junkyard and i explored it alot as a kid, i recall kicking a random pile of dirt and finding a real ivory elephant figurine about the size of a chess piece one time, my mother has that now)
@@jamesmartin5370 to be honest, i don't know, a few of my aunts and uncles even when my grandparents lived there would occasionally walk off with things, not to sell of course but they would be spotted inside their homes later. based on what usually wanders off i bet those clocks are still there.
There's no one answer that will correct this defect, source of the defect needs to be found first then corrected. If adjustments have been made that were not addressing source, these adjustments must be taken into account and corrected. Possible sources are: 1st thing to inspect is power to the escape wheel, make sure there is good uninterrupted power. Only make adjustments if all power problems have been addressed. Bent arbor on escape wheel Escape wheel out of round Escape wheel teeth not running concentric with center axis of arbor Worn escape wheel pivot Worn pivot hole on escape wheel Damaged escape wheel teeth Worn escape wheel teeth Worn verge pallet surfaces Verge pivots or pivot hole worn Verge too far away from escape wheel Verge pallet might be out of adjustment from a previous person This should get you off to a good start on what to look for and will in most cases get it running.
I normally use ammoniated clock cleaner made for clocks for cleaning. But this movement was so badly oxidized it took a drastic measure to get the oxidization off. Vinegar and salt produces hydrochloric acid, the acid removed the oxidation. Most brass and copper cleaners and polishes out there have hydrochloric or similar acid in them.
Jewels could be used. I am unaware of any manufacturer who fabricates any of the size needed. I have from time custom fabricated on customer request Lignum vitae bushings for clocks. They out last brass bushings and, because of the natural oils they never need to be lubricated. There is a company selling small ball bearings that can be used instead of brass bushings, probably next best thing to using jewels.
@@jamesmartin5370 Ah. Thanks for the reply. I love American-made clocks and still haven’t managed to get a black mantel clock let alone a Seth Thomas Adamantine!
I understand, My grandkids say that room is haunted. I need to run them before they can be released to the owners. I now have put a noise filter on the camera to help with ticking.
