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Worn Out Bushing

12/4/2017

Today we were working on a Grandfather Clock out in one of our customers homes. After setting up our shop we pulled the Grandfather Clock movement out and began cleaning the bushings and surveying the condition of the Grandfather Clocks movement. You can see what we found in the video below.

The bushing is so worn out. There were several just as bad and many not quite so bad. This is a fine example of a worn put bushing.

Unfortunately, we had to take this Grandfather Clock movement back to the shop to be rebuilt. Most of our work can be performed outside in the customers home, however when we get one this bad we will bring it back to our shop to be overhauled.

It looks like a total of 9 bushings will need to be replaced We will polish all the pivots, clean and polish the Grandfather Clocks movement, re-oil, adjust, calibrate and test this customers Grandfather Clock movement for 10 days. If all checks out, it will go back home to be reinstalled into the case and our job will be compleate.

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Clock Won't Stop Chiming Or Striking The Hour

10/3/2017

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We had a service call today for a clock that will not stop striking on the hour. On the top of the hour, the clock would strike until the weight would run down to the bottom of the clock case and eventually stop due to running out of cable.

There are a few things to check here, but This blog is about the problem we found. The clock striking mechanism is called a "rack and snail" on this particular grandfather clock movement. The release section of the rack part of the movement installs on a shaft as pictured. This shaft comes from the factory without any oil on it. At some point in this clocks life, someone did oil the shaft. The oil eventually dried out, collected dirt and finally gummed up turning into a sticky mess. When the lifter was lifted, it was so sticky that it would not drop back down into position. When the lifter stays in the lifted position, the rack cannot drop down to stop the clock from striking. I had to remove the black clip holding the small lift which allowed me to remove the smaller lifter. I was able to clean all the old oil and reinstalled the smaller lifter back into place. After the small lifter was re-installed, I did not add any oil to the shaft. The small as well as the large lifter were able to drop down into position and the clock operated fine.

The picture to the right shows the clock movement back together. The clip was re-installed and the lifters worked as when they were new. Although, many moving parts on a clock movement needs to be oiled, there are a several parts that will not benefit from oiling and some parts that will stop working with oil.

What oil you use is also critical when it comes time to oil a clock movement. Most clocks from the 1990's and earlier were oiled with natural oils that will breakdown and gum up. Newer clocks have synthetic oils in them that do not break down and gum up as quickly as natural oils. Synthetic oils vary in quality and unless you use a high quality, Premium synthetic oil, you could be damaging the clock movement and unfortunately, you will not know it until the damage is done.

We have serviced over 4,000 clocks, mostly Grandfather clocks in the past several years. The clock oil we use is critical to our business. We have done allot of research over the years and have found a small company named Horace Whitlock that sells premium quality synthetic clock oil that is far superior to anything we have used.

Of course there are several other problems that will allow a clock to continue to strike non stop and we will discuss them in another blog.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any other questions.

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Grandfather Clock Repair On A Colonial Grandfather Clock

9/14/2017

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We were called out to service a Colonial Grandfather Clock made around the 1950's. The main complaint was the weight fell off the chain and the chain run up inside the case and up into the movement. Unfortunately when this happens, the only way of removing the chain is to remove the movement from the case and then you will be able to remove the chain. While we had the movement out, we went ahead and service the Grandfather Clock.

The way this movement came out is a little different than a modern day Grandfather clocks. Once we opened the door, we removed the 4 screws that held a decorative piece of trim that covered up the movement. There were 4 screws (2 in each corner) that held the decorative piece on. After removing the 4 screws we were able to remove the decorative piece.

After removing the decorative piece, we were able to remove 2 nuts that held the movement down onto the seat board. Removing them was simple, however reinstalling them turned out to be quite difficult. Lining up the old screw holes was what took so long.

The red line indicates the bolt that held the movement down onto the seat board. There was a nut on the bottom that was removed in order to remove this tie down. After we removed the tie down bolt from the seat board the movement came out of the case with ease.

Once the movement was removed from the Grandfather case, we had to remove the face from the movement. The 2 red arrows indicate where the face clips are located. This face had 4 clips that needed to be removed. These clips just slide on and off to hold the face down to the clocks movement. By pulling on them we were able to remove them without any problem

The Above Picture shows a close up of the face clips for this clock. Notice the ring on the one side. This ring slides down on the face post. The face post has a grove in it so when you pull the face clip, it will slide up the grove and hold the face in place.

Once the face was off we were able to remove the chain, clean and re-oil the grandfather clocks movement. Everything was reversed and the clock was put back together. Once we adjusted and calibrated the grandfather clock's movement we polished the case and cleaned the glass. The clock was back up and running.

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Grandfather Clock Repairs In Charleston, South Carolina

9/13/2017

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Our New Van Has Arived

9/13/2017

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Our 2000 model Chevy Astro van has 261,900 miles on it. Although she is still running strong, we have decided to let her rest for awhile and only service the local Metro Atlanta area.
We purchased this 2017 Ford Transit for our long trips and far away customers. We will have the logos and signage put on it soon. The art work is in and has been approved. We will post a picture of it when it is all finished. At this point we service Grandfather clocks in homes from Chattanooga down to south Atlanta. We will be looking into expanding our service territory in the near future. We hope to start servicing Grandfather clocks from Charleston, South Carolina down through Savannah Georgia. With this new van it will make the long trips well worth the drive.

We will let everyone know in the Charleston South Carolina area when we are ready to come down to provide Grandfather clock house calls in your area.

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Clock Wont Stop Chiming

7/5/2017

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We had a customer call us out for a Grandfather clock repair today. Along with some other problems, one of her main issues was the clock would not stop striking on the hour, it would just chime until the weight would run down. There are a few reasons this happens on not only Grandfather clocks, but all clocks. This Grandfather clock was a modern day Grandfather clock made by King Author Clock company, back in 1985. King Author Clock company is now longer in business, however, they used a Urgoes movement that is still available today. The problem for the non stop striking was the "locking pallets" stop pin was broken off. With the stop pin broken off, there was nothing to stop the locking pallet from stopping. We do carry several Locking pallets on our service van, so I was able to replace the locking pallet without any problems. If we don't have the correct locking pallet on our vans, we have been able to repair the stop in with a tapered pin. Simply tapping out the reaming parts of the stopping pin inside the locking tablet, then installing the correct sized tapers pin and cutting it off to the correct size always works fine.

The pictures to the right will show the process of replacing the new locking pallet. There are just 2 small screws that will hold the locking pallet on to the shaft on the movmeent.

Once the old Locking pallet was removed, I installed the new locking pallet. Lining up the new locking pallet can get tricky sometimes, you have to make sure the stop pin will stop the levers at the correct time. If you are unable to, the stop pin will not catch correctly and the clock movement will not stop striking, giving you the same problem as if the stop pin was broken off.

The picture to the right shows the old and new locking pallet. The locking pallet on the right side is the old one. You can see the new locking pallet on the left side with the stop pin in tact.

As you can see from the picture to the right, the new locking pallet was installed and adjusted. After I cleaned and re-oiled this movement I re-installed the movement back into the Grandfather clock case, calibrated it and got it up and running for our customer.

Her Grandfather Clock was back up and running in less than an hour. She was very happy and was glad to hear her Grandfather clock ticking and chiming correctly.

Placement of the "Locking Pallet"

"Locking Pallet" Removed from the movement

Locking pallet on the right has the stop pin sheared off

41 Comments

Setting The Moon Dial On Your Grandfather Clock

3/14/2017

3 Comments

We get asked all the time about the moon phase calendar on a Grandfather Clock is and how does it work. The Moon phase calendar on your Grandfather Clock (and other clocks) is the Lunar calendar and has NOTHING to do with our monthly calendar. The Moon dial on your Grandfather Clock will show the phase of the moon and not the date of the month.

When the moon is full it is 15 days old. It doesn't matter if the full moon falls on the 1st of the month, the 10th of the month or the 20th of the month.

So when the moon is full, at 15 days old, the center of the moon on your moon dial will point strait up and the center of the moon will point to the 15, reflecting what the moon will look like at that day. In other words, if the center of the moon dial is pointing to the 15, there will be a full moon that evening. Your Moon Dial will move 1 day (or phase) each day, as long as your Grandfather CLock is running properly. If your Grandfather clock stops, so does the Moon phase Dial.

Another example:

When the center of the moon dial on your Grandfather clock points to the #10 the Lunar calendar is 10 days old and that will reflect what the moon will be that evening.

Your Moon phase will need adjusting periodically, because the Lunar calendar is 29 1/2 days long and our monthly calendar is 30-31 days long.

We always suggest to our customers to come back to our website, we have a "Moon Phase" app on the home page, so you can set your Moon Dial to the correct phase when you feel it might get off.

Physically changing the phase with your hands:

When your Grandfather Clocks Moon Dial needs to be changed or moved, you can physically move it, simply by moving the moon dial with your hands. Gently take your center finger and your pointer finger and move the Grandfather Clock moon dial clockwise (as pictured above). It should move freely. Some Grandfather clock moon dials spin freely and others have a "click stop" so you will hear the moon dial clicking as it turns. If when moving your Grandfather Clocks moon dial you feel any resistance, or the moon dial will not turn at all, stop trying to move the moon gear and come back later and try again. The Grandfather Clocks moon dial is tied into the mechanics of your Grandfather Clocks movement and the movement will turn the moon dial each day. If you feel that the moon dial will not turn, its is most likely in the process of turning through the gears on the Grandfather Clocks movement. Typically, this process will take an hour or two to fully engage and turn the moon dial to the next phase.

Sometimes the moon dial gears will become damaged and will not align properly. We have seen where some Grandfather Clocks have been worked on and the service person must not have understood how the Grandfather Clocks moon dial worked, therefore never aligning the gears properly to start with and the moon dial will not turn and keep up with the phase of the moon. If your Grandfathers moon dial will not turn and keep with the Lunar phase, its possible that the gears are not aligned properly. Additional work will need to be performed if this is the case.

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Clock Repair In Atlanta

3/14/2017

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Visit Our Website

Clock Repair Service has a mobile shop and we come out to your home to repair and service your Grandfather Clock. We were in Atlanta the other day servicing one of our customers Howard Miller Grandfather Clock. The clock was showing signs of slowing down on the chiming side. Once we removed the movement, we were able to see a lot of dried out dirty oil.

We have developed a great technique that allows us to clean and service our customers Grandfather clocks without bringing the entire clock back to our shop. Our Tech was able to remove all the old dirty oil and re-oil with a high quality synthetic clock oil. After the movement was re-installed, it was calibrated and adjusted.

The whole Grandfather Clock service takes about an hour and was performed in 1 trip, saving our customers both time and money. Clock Repair Service, Services and Repairs all clocks brands and styles. We do accept smaller clocks to be brought into our shop, however its best for your Grandfather Clock to be serviced in your home. Our service area is quite large, we service Chattanooga to Atlanta, including all areas in between.

Please call us with any questions or to schedule an appointment to have your Grandfather Clock repair or service.

678-462-7856

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Adjusting The Speed Of Your Grandfather Clock

3/13/2017

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Adjusting the speed or Time of your Grandfather clock, although not difficult, it can be tricky sometimes. We have included a small video that will explains how to adjust the speed of your Grandfather clock if it is running to fast or to slow.

Lowering or raising the height of the pendulum bob, will slow down or speed up the time on your Grandfather clock.

Please follow the video or the diagram to the right to adjust the speed of your clock. Please keep in mind that small increments of a turn will drastically change some clocks. We always suggest that you start out with small 1/4 to 1/2 turns at first to see how your Grandfather clock will react.

After your first turn, set the time, than watch your clock for a 24 hour period before you make any further adjustments.

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March 13th, 2017

3/13/2017

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Clock Repair Service is the Factory Authorized Service Center for the Ridgeway Clock Company in the Metro Atlanta and surrounding areas. We have been servicing Ridgeway Clocks for over 15 years now.

Howard Miller owns Ridgeway Clocks now and their products are made in the USA in Zeeland, Michigan and they are the largest grandfather clock company in the world. In addition to repairing RIdgeway Clocks, we also sell their entire line of beautiful timepieces. Visit our online store or the Howard Miller website today!

We have service technicians who make house calls for your Ridgeway grandfather or floor clock. Our Service area is from Chattanooga Tenn., Down to South Atlanta and all towns between and around. Please contact us for an exact cost of a service call in your area.

Ridgeway wall and mantle clocks can either be shipped to our repair shop located at :

2745 Sandy Plains Roar, Suite 110, Marietta, Georgia 30066

You are also welcome to bring you Ridgeway Wall or Mantle clock into our shop Monday through Friday 10 am to 6 pm. We do recommend that you call 678-462-7856 prior to coming to our shop, just in case we all stepped out.

Please visit our website for any additional information.

http://www.clockrepairservice.com

Visit our Website

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Clock Repair Blog

Worn Out Bushing

Clock Won't Stop Chiming Or Striking The Hour

Grandfather Clock Repair On A Colonial Grandfather Clock

Grandfather Clock Repairs In Charleston, South Carolina

Our New Van Has Arived

Clock Wont Stop Chiming

Setting The Moon Dial On Your Grandfather Clock

Physically changing the phase with your hands:

Clock Repair In Atlanta

Contact Us

Adjusting The Speed Of Your Grandfather Clock

March 13th, 2017

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Physically changing the phase with your hands:

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Clock Oil Kit 11 Piece Oil Kit Click to Order

Clock Oil Kit
11 Piece Oil Kit Click to Order