Posted by: DaveOK - 20-09-2023, 03:30 AM - Forum: DUODECIMUS
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After a couple of weeks being out of action, I have finally had a day to finish adjustments to my clock.
Maybe waxing a little poetic here but isn't it a special moment it is when after those long moments of adjusting this and that. Getting the weight finally sorted out and holding my breath as the escapement wheel has one of those "spins of death". Then it happens... one, two three beats and so on. It's alive!
I have certainly learned a lot about my clock in the last 2 months.
Dave, Thanks for your wonderful instruction booklet and videos it would have been tough without them.
For the most part things went together well considering I have very few tools, having downsized last year, so time might have been saved if I had a disc/belt sander and a pedestal drill.
I was able to use a trusty Dremel, a drill and hand tools. Things worked out fine.
Some problems I encountered were as follows.
Ball bearings were tighter than I expected to place on the tubes. I needed to work a bit on polishing the brass tubes and moving them into place.
The drive wheel had 10mm movement (wobble), even with the needle bearing snug in its hole in the wheel, enough to allow it to contact the escapement wheel. There is a lot of force on that bearing so I added a small 20mm Dia by 10mm thick ply disc glued to the drive wheel and another roller bearing. Its solid now even if a bit overkill.
I made a test stand, and it helped a lot while I was adjusting things and putting things together. Getting ready to put it above the fireplace in a position of honor.
I am about to start building a Tredecimus clock. Would appreciate any advise from anyone who has built one about anything that helped them in their build.
I have made 4 clocks now and no matter the design, I have problems with their operation in humid weather. I live very close to Lake Erie in Toledo, Ohio (USA) and it seems like when the humidity gets above 90%, all but one of my clocks all but stop. My second Quardecimus build seems immune to slowing but will stop if I have the doors/windows open when it's raining, then starts up later after the weather passes and keeps on ticking. I was told by David to keep the gears clean from the finish and have done that even though a clockmaker in Hawaii named Clayton Boyer told me to use a construction pencil trimmed back to apply graphite to the contact surfaces of the gear teeth. Do any of you have a quick fix for this syndrome of stoppage? Tia Tracy
Posted by: Dave - 20-06-2023, 03:02 PM - Forum: SEXTUS
- Replies (1)
A critical part of the Sextus are its pendula, as they are at the end of a long gear train they receive the least amount of drive force and if they are not swinging as efficiently as they should then it will prevent your clock from running.
A major source of friction can be the rear bearing on the pendulum arbor, a simple way of reducing this is to shorten the arbor and chamfer the end so that it just about sits in the bearing but can easily move around.
The main weight of the pendulum is supported by the front bearing and the rear bearing is merely to keep the arbor in position.
You can test this by simply comparing the swing times of the pendulum in its original position and when you have moved the pendulum forward by
loosening the ring stops so that the arbor at rear just about sits in the bearing, you should notice some improvements.