I want to put a new hour hand on a Kienzle Westminster mantle clock.

I found one that looks similar. It has a square hole and needs a brass bushing.

Can someone help me with the procedure for bushing the new hand, as well as where to purchase the correct brass bushings?

Thank you,


Nelson

Nelson I believe the bushing will have to be made. can you post pictures. bill@fixoclox

pictures.

Nelson Since you have the broken hand take the bushing out by cutting the hand. When it is out measure it. On the new hand carefully broach it out to fit the bushing.Does the clock strike if so you will need to index the bushing to the hand before peening it.Lightly peen it with a ball peen hammer then index it then make the peen a little tighter. Give it a try you have nothing to loose at this point. Also if the new hand is steel you could solder it. Good luck. bill@fixoclox

I would try to braze the old hand, or find a new one at some place like Timesavers. If you can't find a similar one, settle for one with a lot more "meat" on it and file it down to the desired shape and size.

A word about the bushing:
There is a reason why the hour hand is bushed instead of just having a square hole. When assembling a time train, it can be very difficult to get everything indexed so that the hour hand lines up perfectly. The solution is not to try. Just use a bushing.

Observe the hour hand and see where it is when the hour begins to strike, noting how far off it is and in which direction. Now remove the hand. You can insert a special tool into the square hole, or just use the square tang of a file. Apply some torque and the bushing will give. It's meant to slip under pressure. That's your adjustment.

If you braze it, add some metal to the back side for strength. Be careful not to braze the bushing in place. To hold the assembly in position for brazing, use some iron wire that's been coated in graphite by a plain old pencil. A thin coating will do. The graphite acts as a resist and keeps the wire from sticking. (Unless it gets covered in braze, which is fine on the back side.) If you end up with a huge blob, just file off the excess.

I use silver solder and a flux called "handy flux". It's water based, so if it dries out in the blue and white jar just add water and mix. I use an oxy-propane torch which is available at hardware stores. It produces a superb needle point flame. The metal must be clean and bright, and it helps to "tin" it first with a thin layer of silver solder.

My brazing surface it a square tile of natural slate. It came from a tile store. I intended to pay for it, but they insisted that it was a sample.

Hope that helps.

Best,
Tom

Thank you Tom, I will take your advice and braze it.

The reason the hand broke was that the bushing was stuck and just would not move no matter what. I forced it and the thin part of the hand's stem broke off.

Nelson
Queens, NY