Clock Repair is my passion

[simonhenry700Participant @simonhenry700]

Greetings all. My name is Simon, and I repair clocks – both as a hobby, and for a local Repair Café.

I have a Proxxon lathe, and a Proxxon mill, and I find I quite often need guidance on best practice when using these. I think this forum may be able to help!

My main reason for joining today is to discover whether there is an index of past issues of the magazine. I have been asked to work on a hand-built clock (incomplete) that, as far as I can tell, was made from plans published in Model Engineer magazine.

All I know is that the issue dated 4 April 1957 has a two page article on the clock (pages 492/493). If someone can tell me which issues I might need to buy in order to have the full story, that would be great.

Failing that – is there a better section of the forum where I might pose the question?

Best wishes

Simon

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Could be the ME Musical Clock by Claude Reeve a well respected designer at that time. If so it is quite complex having a music box movement incorporated to play tunes on a set of bells as well as the usual chimes. The articles were also collected together as a book which would be the best route as it covered many issues of the magazine.
Some photos would be interesting.

However the date & page number is for an article about fly cutting wheels by S.W.Carr which while annotated as for the clock above may actually be on another.

There is indeed an index https://www.itech.net.au/modelengineer/

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Welcome Simon!  It could help if you could post a couple of photos of the clock.

[simonhenry700Participant @simonhenry700]

Bayzle, thank you for your very swift and incredibly useful reply.

I cannot be sue yet whether the clock movement in my possession is the one Claude Reeves designed, but there appear to be some similarities based on the picture at the top of the article I referenced.

Here are the photos of what I was presented with:

There is only one nest of bells, plus one conventional bell for the strike (not pictured) , so it is not exactly like the one in the article I referenced which has two nests:

I know for certain that several components are missing and I am waiting to hear whether the daughter of the (deceased) man who built this can track them down. If she can’t then I will be unable to finish this for her, which would be a shame as she would like to see this running as a memorial.

Simon

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

That looks very much like claude Reeves Chiming Grandfather Clock ISBN 0 85242 423 X.!!! MInes an ex Library copy bought for a £1

Abe or world of books have copies

[Andrew CrowParticipant @andrewcrow91475]

There’s one on ebay for about £20, it certainly looks the same as your Clock.

[Dick HParticipant @dickh]

The ME Musical Clock was described by Claude Reeve  in a series of 12 articles in ME from 1957 onwards together with another 5 or 6 describing a case for the clock. Each article was only 3-4 pages long. There are a couple of additional articles on the gear cutters used and other details.

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Curiously enough I’ve been asked to look at a chiming mantel clock for a friend.

It’s not in the same league as the one you are looking at, but it is good quality apparently.

I took it to a local repairer to ask if it was worth doing.  He said probably not unless it had deep sentimental meaning. To service it and get it running he quoted £350 not including any parts that may need replacing!  Wow.

I know the chiming drive wheel pinion is badly worn but I’m happy I can do that as a lathe project.

One of the chime rods has snapped and has been soldered, so it now has a flat sound to it. I’m going to have a go at making a new one from brass rod. Just tuning it may be fun lol.

Other than that I’m confident it will be a nice project to strip, clean and repair.

Good luck with your work on what looks like a really well done build.

 

[bernard towers]

On bernard towers Said:

That looks very much like claude Reeves Chiming Grandfather Clock ISBN 0 85242 423 X.!!! MInes an ex Library copy bought for a £1

Abe or world of books have copies

Thanks for the information. I’ve ordered a copy from Abe Books.

[Plasma]

On Plasma Said:

Curiously enough I’ve been asked to look at a chiming mantel clock for a friend.

It’s not in the same league as the one you are looking at, but it is good quality apparently.

I took it to a local repairer to ask if it was worth doing.  He said probably not unless it had deep sentimental meaning. To service it and get it running he quoted £350 not including any parts that may need replacing!  Wow.

I know the chiming drive wheel pinion is badly worn but I’m happy I can do that as a lathe project.

One of the chime rods has snapped and has been soldered, so it now has a flat sound to it. I’m going to have a go at making a new one from brass rod. Just tuning it may be fun lol.

Other than that I’m confident it will be a nice project to strip, clean and repair.

Good luck with your work on what looks like a really well done build.

 

Good luck with your project too. If you get stuck, drop me a private message.

 

Simon

[Author]

Posts