Help with a Devon Sea Clock

[Andy SeddonParticipant @andyseddon34391]

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping I’ve not arrived totally too late for this thread!

Alan, I have exactly the same problem you have described, with probably a near identical clock.

Unfortunately, the pictures posted on this thread don’t seem to be available any more. Do you still have any pictures of the spring set up?

It sounds like I have the same issue with the spring applying pressure in the correct place & it’s driving me totally potty! Any help would be very gratefully appreciated.

Regards,

Andy.

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

Hello Andy

Have a look at my website for more details.

If you want a couple of the 3D printed bosses let me know.

**LINK**

Kind regards

Alan

[Andy SeddonParticipant @andyseddon34391]

Thank you for your reply Alan.

Having had a look at your website, I realise I may have misread the posts in the thread slightly & my clock is a little different to yours.

Mine I am sure is one of the 'Asian Reproductions', where as yours appears to be something a little bit more special than that.

I'm initially going to blame my mistake on my frustration & state of despair at the time of reading! (I hope everyone accepts my excuse!)

Before I mislead anyone, I must say that I am not experienced in any way with working on clocks, I am purely just fascinated with them & try to collect anything that particularly interests me. This could be just for it's looks or the way it works as opposed to any value or having been made by any particular master craftsman.

Had my clock needed anything doing that required removing cogs, gears, sprockets or anything else complicated, I would have left well alone…… but in my inexperience, naivety & possibly a moment of stupidity….. it looked oh so easy……. take that bit off & adjust the spring slightly….. oh what a mistake!

The setup on the spring / pallet of my clock really couldn't be any simpler to look at, it appears to be just a V shape piece of metal for the spring, but I don't want to do what I did in the first place & bend the spring thinking that would cure the problem. I'll try to get some pictures later showing the assembly. (Exactly what I should have done BEFORE I made my adjustments!!)

I'm guessing the technique is having the spring apply the right pressure a) to hold the pallet far enough forward to engage the escape wheel (is that the correct name?) & then b) apply enough pressure to cause the pallet to retract from this position when the opposite pallet has engaged & induced a small amount of recoil on the escape wheel.

Once again, thank you for your time replying.

I'll try to get some pictures posted which may well help someone to see what I'm trying to explained.

Further to that, I am partially reprimanding myself for touching something I know nothing about & at the same time telling myself even Harrison, Breguet & every other clock maker / repairer had to start learning somewhere!

Regards,

Andy

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

Good morning Andy

I would be interested in some pictures when you have a minute. Don't despair, it is all about tinkering and learning new things and new techniques otherwise you don't broaden your skills and knowledge. Keep me posted on your progress and if the pictures reveal any idea I will come back to you.

Kind regards

Alan

[Andy SeddonParticipant @andyseddon34391]

Good morning Alan,

Here's some pictures taken last night….

Regards,

Andy.

[Alan Wood 4Participant @alanwood4]

Good morning Andy

Your model is similar in many ways but I cannot see the fine tune rods that are on mine. These hinge out of the central boss. Looking at your pictures there appears to be something behind the boss that might perform the same function but I can't see what it is.

My method of setup was : –

Measure and check that the two rods are balanced about the central boss.

Set the rods to be vertical with the clock at rest and with a the escape wheel blocked from rotating and clear of the pallets.

I then every so slightly tilted the rods so the balls at the top were closer than than those at the bottom. It is a tiny amount and must not be overdone. If you do the escape wheel will spin and modify your pallet shapes … not good.

Release the escape wheel and then watch the action as you rock the rods back and forth. The pallets will rock in and out and should cleanly engage. You are correct that as one engages it causes a slight backward motion of the escape wheel to release the previously engaged one. This action is assisted by the action and reaction effect of the spring as shown in your picture. Do not try to change the profile of the spring. I had different types of spring and replace them with two compression springs which works OK but is not strictly a correct implementation. I rather like how yours has been done.

Once you have got some motion going there must be a fine tune mechanism which must be to do with the plate I can see behind the central boss. You will have to play with the tilt of the ball rods as per above

I am guessing the rear has the two meshed quadrants that swing back and forth with the ball rods. There will be a timing adjustment on these to set the accuracy. Mine is not wonderful on timing but does provide a great source of interest to the grandchildren. The people who produced mine did not make an accurately toothed escape wheel and the wheel has an eccentric wobble so timing

I am no expert and simply spent a lot of time watching the action and making fine adjustments. No doubt the forum experts will have other opinions but hey ho.

I have posted a copy of the instructions that came with my clock on the relevant webpage which might be helpful.

**LINK**

Kind regards

Alan

[Andy SeddonParticipant @andyseddon34391]

Thank you for your help Alan.

<quote>Do not try to change the profile of the spring<quote>

Ah yes, I do remember those words ringing in my ear as I bent the springs to what I thought was a more appropriate shape…….

After finding some further information & exchanging some very helpful emails with a gentlemen in the US, I learnt / realised that the pallets on mine pretty much rely on balance / gravity to move away from the escape wheel as opposed to yours which have what looks like quite a complicated spring set up.

The spring on mine holds the pallet far enough forward to engage, then as the baton starts to pull away & the opposite pallet induces the recoil on the EW, the balance of the pallet causes it to fall away.

I found three problems. Firstly, the profile of the spring was wrong which I already knew as it was my own moment of stupidity that re-shaped them. I also noticed that I had the right side pallet spring the wrong way around.

I placed the pallets into their mounts without the springs to try to ascertain the point at which the pallet would fall away. I realised that they are quite well weighted to fall away even when they look like they are well past a point of balance.

I also realised that this was not happening very well due to them not mounting correctly in the tiny holes.

I rectified this & reshaped the spring to hold the pallet forward to what appeared to be a similar amount shown in some pictures I had been sent.

I reset it back together & set it running.

I must have struck lucky first time as it appears to run much smoother & definitely much quieter, for some reason I used to get quite a 'clunk' from it occasionally. This has now stopped.

This morning, some 7 hours later, it had lost about 4 minutes in time, but when I've checked other things, I can work on the accuracy bit, previously I had it working at about 2 to 4 minutes a week.

One thing I will do from here on is be very careful & accept that with my lack of knowledge, I think I could very easily get out of my depth!

In an ideal world, I'd love to strip the whole thing down, correct the probably numerous cheap chinese engineering issues, re-polish or even have it Rhodium plated – My wife likes the clock but hates the gold plate!

I think for now I shall leave alone to save ending up with a box full of intricate parts that I can only sit & look at in frustration.

I'll keep you updated on any other experiments I try out!

Just one question if you don't mind, I notice that the page for the pallet set up was page no 10.

Is this from a complete manual that you have for the clock?

Without wishing to be too cheeky, would there be any possibility of me getting a full copy from you?

Whilst there appears to be some fundamental differences between our clocks, I think I could possibly learn a lot from it.

Kind Regards,

Andy.

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