How To Repair An Overwound Mantle Clock
How to unwind an overwound clock.
How to repair an overwound mantle clock. Winding a precious timepiece can be worrisome. We have special tools and equipment here in our repair shop for handling all sizes of mainsprings. 2 dip a 12mm paintbrush in rubbing alcohol and slowly brush it over the pinion teeth and pivots. The delicate machinations that make up the inner workings of a clock can cause you much pause.
Check hammer adjustment and correct chime tone as. Its the best way to get at the spiggot holes cleaned. Unless you oven dry the clock after this the springs will rust and your clock is in very bad shape with an expensive repair bill. We then determine if we can clean and lubricate it or if we have to replace it.
How do we fix it. Keywound mantel clocks 1. Make sure that all the packing material is removed from the movement area. There s many a myth about clocks floating around the world of timepiece aficionados but overwinding shouldn t be a concern.
If you just put it in a bucket of hot soapy water then water gets into the spring barrells. Open the movement case and under a bright lamp light and with the aid of a magnifying glass inspect the gears cogs and. Unwind the carriage clock in half turns and release apply the ratchet between the turns so that the spring pressure is always managed by either your fingers with a firm hold on the key or by the ratchet being allowed to stop the backward movement. Make sure that the clock is wound.
Remove the back of the clock with a small screwdriver like those designed for eyeglass repairs if needed. Remove the screws that hold the movement housing in place. If we suspect mainspring troubles in your broken clock the first thing we do is remove the mainspring from the clock movement. Things you ll need small bristle brush clean cotton cloths clock oil clock cleaning solution.
The safest way is to simply rock the pendulum manually until all tension is gone but that can take hours depending on the type of clock you have and the size of the spring.