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Grandfather clock repair near me9/27/2023 ![]() Not all clocks require a service to get them running so when the pandemic is over I might be able to resume home visits to work on them in situ. However, I've paused house visits until further notice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is an additional charge (plus travel costs) for personal delivery of the finished movement, installation, and setting up in your own home. I will fit new ropes or gut lines unless the existing ones are in tip-top condition. I always strip these movements completely to clean the parts, looking for signs of wear and redress worn pallets, polish and burnish (or replace) pivots and rebush worn pivot holes, replace teeth or whole wheels, and if required I will then finish all the parts with French chalk to give the brass a good lustre before re-assembly and oiling. Overhauling a longcase movement takes special tools and equipment, like small and large lathes, bushing machine, large depthing tool, Rollimat pivot polishing machine, and countless special hand tools. If you're thinking about it, take a look at the link below for a guide to setting up a clock of this type. It can work but installing and setting up a movement needs more thought than you'd imagine so a local repairer may be the better option. Some enthusiasts remove the movement themselves and bring it to me for overhaul and then refit themselves. For dating tips try Richard Barder's English Country Grandfather Clocks (brass dials) or Brian Loomes' White Dial Clocks. ![]() There are some excellent books, such as Darken and Hooper's English 30 Hour Clocks and Tom Robinson's The Longcase Clock. ![]() Both types will often have a third weight for chiming the quarters (Westminster) but cheaper ones may have no weights at all, or fake ones just for appearance, relying for power on mainsprings instead. Later longcase clock fall into two catergories - those heavy ones designed and often built in Germany around 1900/1940, and those slimmer and lighter ones made in the past 30/40 years or so, usually also with German movements. Some will have a moon phase dial and if you live in the northern hemisphere and came to this page looking for help in resetting the moon dial of your longcase clock, here is a simple visual guide on SETTING A MOON PHASE DIAL.įrom about 1770, the brass dials were superceded by painted iron dials, the syle of which changed in around 1800 and again in around 1830. Most 8-day versions also have a subsidiary seconds hand and some from around 1710 may even feature automata, too, such as Old Father Time ( Image 1) or a ship that rocks back and forth. A few have three weights, the third being for chiming on a series of bells. But an 8-day movement will always have two weights on pulleys hanging from gut lines and these will run for a full week on a single wind using a cranked key in two holes in the dial. A few might have a seconds hand and even fake "winding holes" in the dial to suggest a better 8-day movement is fitted. Some clocks have one weight hung on a pulley from a thick rope or a steel chain which drives a 30 hour movement (Strike and Time) so need winding every day by pulling down on the rope/chain. English antique Longcase clocks generally have a 'seconds' (or Royal) pendulum - that is to say the pendulum (around 39 inches to the centre of the bob) takes exactly one second to swing in each direction.
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