More Clock Repair Uses of Superglue

Transcription

1 More Clock Repair Uses of Superglue By Lloyd L. Lehn PhD, CC Author s Comment: Portions of this article have been published in at least two publications. The content appears here so that others may benefit from it. This version includes colored photos which were not possible in the earlier publications. Enjoy. LLL Copyright by Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 1

2 Introduction I explained my initial use of superglue for clock repair in an article Accelerated Superglue is a Superlative Fix which was published in the August 2003 issue of the NAWCC Bulletin. That article was an adaptation of in article, which had originally appeared in the Clockmakers Newsletter, October & November The article, pointed out how useful superglue was in repairing wooden cuckoo clock carvings that were difficult to clamp together. Superglue was an ideal solution. It also described how I use superglue to attach gear blanks to an arbor for a gear cutting application. You might think I am not a superglue zealot. I am not. However, I use it when I think it might be capable of doing a job a bit better or easier than any alternative approach. This article will share my experience with you on just one clock where superglue was a nice tool to have in my tool kit. The Clock I find clock repair to be an interesting field. The days never seem to be the same. Each and every clock seems to be a bit different and each represents a unique challenge. The clock shown in Figure 1 was no exception. This clock was brought to me by a neighbor. His initial question was Should I put a quartz movement in it? I suggested that we put off that decision until I inspected the movement. I took off the dial. Out came a very nice New Haven movement. While it appeared to have its problems, it was definitely not ready for the scrap heap at this point. He accepted my advice and asked me to repair the clock. He is not sorry about that. What started as a rather useless family heirloom was converted in to a beautiful, working clock. He gave it to his daughter for her birthday. It originally belonged to his father. I am sure she will treasure it for many years and hopefully pass it along to one of her children. Figure 1 Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 2

3 Fixing Those Loose Screws in the Clock Case Most clock repairmen are familiar with the situation shown in Figure 2. This shows two screw holes for screws used to hold the clock movement. The one on the left Figure 2 will still hold a bit. However, any application of significant torque on the screwdriver and those threads are out of there. The one on the right is long past that state. It holds a screw for cosmetic purposes. It barely keeps the screw from falling out. Something had to be done to provide better support to hold that movement in the case. thing to do. Those old holes are tapered. If you put in plastic wood and then screw into that, the screw holds the plastic wood ok but the carrot shaped plastic wood plug pulls right out of the wood. Plastic wood is not a good approach. Another approach is to drill out the holes and put bolts in them through the back of the case. It works but is not very nice looking nor consistent with the original clock design. The way I ve found to be successful is to follow something similar to what we do when bushing arbors of the movement we make a larger hole and insert a plug. With bushings, we then drill/ream out the hole to the correct size for the arbor. With a clock case, you drill a pilot hole, put in a wood plug, and then anchor the screw into the wood plug. The problem with this approach has always been that one must wait 24 hours or so to make sure the glue is dry. If it isn t dry, the screws may pull out or twist loose the plug. for this application. Superglue is very strong. And more importantly it dries almost instantly if you use an accelerant. One does not have to wait 24 hours for glue to dry. With this clock, I needed to put in five plugs four for the movement and one for the gong. Three of the original movement holes were cosmetic and only one held the movement in. The gong screw was an option but since I was doing the other four, I figured I might as well do the gong. Lets take a look at a summary of the whole process and then at photos showing this clock. One of the approaches I ve tried on other clocks is to fill the holes with plastic wood. That is not the That brings us to superglue. Superglue has a couple of advantages Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 3

4 Figure 3 shows the steps I used. First (A): I drew a set of cross hairs to identify the location of the center of the original hole. The purpose is to enable you to put the new hole in the same location. Figure 3 Second (B): the hole is drilled out to the size of the plug that I intended to insert. For this clock I was using a 3/8 th inch hardwood dowel so the hole was drilled one drill size less than 3/8ths. Drills always drill a bit larger than their stated size especially in wood. By selecting a drill a bit on step smaller, I made sure there was no real gap between case and dowel. Third (C): I put superglue in the hole and on the plug. I then shoved the plug into the hole. The superglue is still a bit damp and not yet hardened. A shot of accelerant on the superglue fixes that. It hardens almost instantly. Next I reconnected the cross hairs, punched the center location, and then re-drilled the pilot hole for the appropriate screw. There was no waiting for the glue to harden. Once that accelerant hits the superglue; it is hard in a matter of seconds. Figure 4 Figure 4 shows two holes and plugs ready to be inserted. If you look very closely the cross hair lines are visible. Figure 5 Figure 5 shows the plugs in the holes. Each hole and plug was coated with a thin layer of superglue. I used a Popsicle stick - split and then pointed - to dip into the superglue container. I never use the same stick twice for a little bit of accelerant on the stick could result in a hardened container of superglue. After the both plugs were inserted into the holes, I gave each a squirt of accelerant. The glue hardened in less time than it takes for you to read this. Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 4

5 Figure 8 Figure 6 Figure 6 shows where I re-drew the crosshair and then center punched the wood prior to drilling the pilot hole for the screw. Figure 7 Figure 7 shows the hole after it has been drilled and the screw inserted. It is a good idea to run the screw into the hole to create the new threads before you attach what you plan to hold with the screw. I then installed the gong as shown in Figure 8. I put in 5 plugs in this clock - four for the movement and one for the gong. They are all much stronger than if I had tried to get buy with using the original screw holes. Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 5

6 Figure 9 Fixing the Verge Pin When the owner brought me the clock, he proudly told me that he had installed a new verge. However, one touch and I knew something was wrong with the verge. It wiggled all over the place. As it turned out there were two things wrong with that verge. The holes in the saddle were about 1.25 to 1.5 times the diameter of the pin. I had a choice of attempting to close the hole, bush the holes, or replace the verge. I selected the latter since I happened to have a verge of the same size. The new verge is shown installed in Figure 9, I had to broach out the saddle holes to the right size. A relatively easy task. However, then another problem appeared. The verge still wiggled. But not quite as badly. A quick look at the verge pin identified the problem. The pin wobbled in the hole. Figure 10 shows the pin. An earlier repairman had really worked on this clock. You can see that the arm holding the pin has been scratched over and over from repeated twisting with a pair of pliers. I have been working on another clock, which apparently had a loose verge pin at some time or another. The repairman in that case used solder to fasten the pin in place. Thus, initially I thought solder would be a good approach for this clock. But then it occurred to me that I would have to disassemble the movement solder it. I didn t want to do that. Thus, I thought why not use superglue? Why not glue the pin in Figure 10 the hole? If it works, I would not have to disassemble the clock. It would be faster. It would be easier. I grabbed a can of alcohol and used the alcohol to clean both the arm and the pin. I dried both with a hair drier. I sacrificed another Popsicle stick and carved it down to a point. That permitted me to get just a drop of superglue for the arm and another drop for the pin. I shoved the pin into the hole with a pair or pliers. The pin was tight enough and looked to be at 90 degrees to all directions to the arm. I gave it a shot of accelerant. Zip the superglue was hard. The pin was very solid. Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 6

7 However, there was a bit of excess superglue around the base of the pin. This would have prevented the verge from working properly. A second or two of work with a very sharp pointed Exacto knife cleaned off the excess superglue. I put the verge on the pin and was pleased with the result. The pin was solid. The verge moved properly. The clock was ready to run. And has been running ever since. Copyright Lloyd L. Lehn 2006 Page - 7