Hi all,

I've been working on a Vienna-style spring-driven wall clock and I've got it all working nicely except for the striking. The problem is that I didn't make a note of the orientation of the gong and hammer before dismantling the movement. Now I can't remember how it should go. In the attached pictures you can see how I've put the gong in. This seems to be the only way it can fit in. The part that the hammer is supposed to hit is now diagonal, but I don't think that's correct. The last picture shows that the hammer doesn't hit the gong, and if I push the movement back a bit, then the hammer gets tangled in the gong. Can anyone help me sort this out? Thanks in advance.

John

GREETINGS JOHN,THE GONG HAS TO BE TAKEN OFF THE HANGER BRACKET AND TURNED 180 DEGREES, THE STRAIGHT PART OF THE GONG HAS TO BE PARALEL WITH THE BRACKET ARMS ADJUST THE HAMMER SO IT IS IN THE CENTER OF THE STRAIGHT PART OF THE GONG. IT WILL WORK FINE IF DONE THE WAY I HAVE DESCRIBED. EDDIE

Hi Eddie,

Thanks for your advice. I wasn't able to follow it exactly because I couldn't rotate the gong without it colliding with the arms. However, your suggestion of making it parallel with the arms got me to thinking that perhaps it was screwed in the wrong hole. I noticed that the top left hole was tarnished which suggested that something was once screwed in there. Also, I had a spare screw left over which suddenly had a home. The attached picture shows the result and it works just fine after I bent the hammer into the right position. Thanks for putting me on the right track.

John

Hello, John.

Your repair reminds me that some times the easiest fixes and the less obvious fixes are the correct fixes. And, that taking simple digital photos at the start of a project can prove invaluable at the end.

I inherited several clocks from my father-in-law who taught me some repair technigues. I now have a looseleaf 'clock book' that shows a history of the repairs that I've made on each clock. Again, this sounds like a simple idea, but it works great for me.

Good luck with all of your projects, and never loose faith in yourself. You won't learn if you don't push yourself into the unknown and try something new.

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for your kind words. In this case I was thwarted by my own obsession with symmetry -- an obsession that it seems many clockmakers don't share. I just couldn't imagine that the gong wouldn't be centered. As a matter of fact I do take many digital pictures of clock movements before I start work on them; it's the only way I would be able to remember where all the bits go. From now on I'll also photograph the stuff in the case. Finally, here's a picture of the finished clock which actually keeps good time much to my amazement.

John

GREETINGS JOHN, WHAT A NICE CLOCK,I HAVE A LOT OF GERMAN CLOCKS AND I HAVE RESTORED THEM ALL BUT I AM ENVIOUS OF YOURS. TAKE CARE EDDIE HINES