{"id":1006,"date":"2016-01-03T21:42:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T02:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freemansgarage.com\/blog\/?p=1006"},"modified":"2023-10-24T20:12:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:12:11","slug":"william-gilbert-mantle-clock-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freemansgarage.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/03\/william-gilbert-mantle-clock-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"William Gilbert Mantle Clock – Repair"},"content":{"rendered":"

I repaired another old antique clock today.\u00a0\u00a0 This one is a 1909 William Gilbert mantle clock.\u00a0\u00a0 It has an 8 day movement and has a gong strike for the hour and a bell strike for every half hour.\u00a0\u00a0 My father in-law bought this clock last summer at a flea market in town for $50.\u00a0 It did not function of course so I got to take it home and try to repair it.<\/p>\n

Its a rather ugly clock in my opinion.\u00a0 It still is mechanical and old which makes it cool so I will get it running again.\u00a0\u00a0 Currently it will run for about 5 minutes and stop which could be anything really but I have a hunch its dirty and probably has some worn out pivot holes just like every other movement I mess around with.
\nThe first thing to do is to get the movement out of the clock.\u00a0\u00a0 I had to remove the wood back and expose the movement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are four wood screws that hold the movement to the clock and that’s it.\u00a0 Remove the four screws and remove the clock face hands and the movement just falls out the back.
\n\"IMG_1551\"<\/a>
\n\"IMG_1536\"<\/a>
\nIts an old one and has the 1909 model stamp on it.\u00a0 Not sure on the year?
\n\"IMG_1519\"<\/a>
\nI removed the movement.
\n\"IMG_1534\"<\/a>
\nI found some worn out pivot holes and marked them with a marker.\u00a0\u00a0 Make sure to mark the side that is worn.\u00a0 You can put some force on the main spring wheel and observe the pivots moving around.\u00a0 It will move towards the worn area of the hole and if there is too much wear the clock will stop.\u00a0 Some guys use pencil but I find it hard to see so just clean off the marker later.
\n\"IMG_1541\"<\/a>
\nI take many pictures of the clock movement before I take it apart.\u00a0 Movements all are very similar but I still forget where some wheels go and some have extra levers or different mechanisms.\u00a0\u00a0 Pictures work perfect and I always have to go back and look!!!\u00a0\u00a0 Make sure to secure the main springs with strong zip ties or wire before you unwind them.\u00a0 Springs are nasty business and you don’t want one of them uncoiling in an explosion which usually breaks gear teeth and could hurt you.\u00a0\u00a0 When its all apart, I clean everything with mineral spirits and a tooth brush.\u00a0 Remove all the old oil and grime around the pivot holes.\u00a0 Clean all the clock wheels.
\n\"IMG_1548\"<\/a>
\nWorn pivots can be repaired with bushings.\u00a0 I drilled out the old pivot hole with a 1\/8″ end mill and pressed in an new bushing that I made on my lathe.\u00a0 I have done this before and have a good explanation in another repair page I wrote.\u00a0 Two pivots shown above are repaired with new bushings (shiny area is new).\u00a0 I even tried to cut the oil groove like the original but I was slightly off center…..still works however.
\n\"IMG_1547\"<\/a>
\nAnother repaired pivot hole.\u00a0\u00a0 Oil groove is centered this time.
\nReassemble the movement and test it out before releasing the main springs.\u00a0 Make sure everything moves and functions as it should.\u00a0 Also oil the movement with real clock oil.\u00a0 Don’t use WD-40 or car motor oil.\u00a0\u00a0 3 in 1 oil is barely acceptable but wont last long since its too thin and runs all over.\u00a0\u00a0 Get a good synthetic clock oil which will stick to the pivots for a long time.\u00a0 I bought a small bottle for less than $20 and it will last my lifetime.
\nRepairing three worn pivots and a good cleaning and oiling was all this 1909 clock movement needed to function again.\u00a0 Its been running for 20 hrs now and I suspect it will run fine for a week before it needs to be wound up again.<\/p>\n