|
|
Big Ben and Baby Ben Repair Tips This page is not intended to be a complete repair manual, just some points I want to emphasize regarding Big Ben and Baby Ben alarm clock repair. For the names of some excellent clock repair books, see the recommended reading page . Don’t use ammonia based cleaner on hairsprings. Use waterless non-ammoniated watch cleaning solution, or use alcohol. Ammoniated cleaners tend to eat away the hairspring material, changing the rate. Terminology: I number wheels starting at the main wheel. F and B refer to front or back, and T and A refer to time train and alarm train. For example, T2F refers to the front pivot of the second wheel in the time train (which is the center wheel in a Big Ben or Baby Ben). Lubrication: These are my preferred lubricants. I don’t have stock in any oil company! I just want to share what works for me. Slick-50 with Teflon on mainsprings. Grease ratchet wheels, trip cam, and where trip spring pushes repeat lever. Keystone mainspring medium mainspring lube on T1, A1 pivots. Castrol synthetic motor oil: T2, T3, and T4 pivots, alarm escape wheel pivots, alarm verge pivots (pivots in plates and internal pivots), alarm escape wheel teeth, repeat lever pivots and where tension spring bears on repeat lever, center of alarm trip wheel, washer on trip staff inside back plate (makes it so it won’t fall out in handling if trip staff is removed), clicks (under rivet head, underneath, and where click spring bears on it), center friction assembly. Synta-Visco-Lube (thick synthetic watch oil) on T5 pivots, escape wheel teeth (a dot on 5 teeth), impulse pin (small dot on each side). LaPerle French clock oil on balance pivots. No oil on pallet pivots — causes drag. Don’t leave balance pivots too sharp or they will cut into end screws. Center hairspring in regulator slot when balance is at rest. If rate is erratic, check for rust on hairspring — replace if necessary. Parts to smooth while clock is apart:
Do Before Assembly:
Check after assembly:
Big Ben style 1 front screws: originals are 1-56 thread, a 1-64 will work as a replacement. “Don’t bend dial tabs on Big Ben or Baby Ben clocks!” Polishing Nickel Cases: Use "Rubin-Brite" metal polish. Produces best polish on nickel that I've seen. Take movement out of case before using metal polish. Thoroughly wash off all metal polish when done. Removing Time Set Knob on model Big Ben model 75 movement (single key wind introduced in 1956). Remove movement from case. Bend a brass strip in half and put it over the center arbor between the knob and the back plate. Firmly grasp the center arbor (on top of the brass strip) with Vice-grip pliers. Lever the knob off using 7" diagonal cutters, using the vice grips at the fulcrum. The regular way of prying off the knob will compress the tension spring, as there is no shoulder on the center arbor. Also, if the movement has an aluminum back plate, it may bend. Alarm Trip Assembly The later alarm trip assemblies - the one in which the cam on the trip staff is a steel disc with a cutout, and the trip wheel is steel with a stamped out projection - can be troublesome. I had so much trouble with these parts on a 1970 Big Ben leg model reproduction that I replaced them with the old style trip assembly having the brass finger on the trip staff and a brass trip wheel. This solved the problem of the trip staff being carried around with the trip wheel. I'm still trying to find a way to make the trip wheel move up and down easier on these steel trip assemblies - please if you have any hints! I've tried polishing the lifting surfaces,and chamfering and smoothing the hole on the trip wheel. You can hold these parts in your hand and tell that the old style works much better than the new style. Dealing with Glued Hairsprings (Red cement used starting in the 1960's) The red cement may be dissolved with lacquer thinner to remove the hairspring from the stud. A convenient way to refasten the hairspring to the stud when reassembling the clock is to use orange shellac (in liquid form from a can). This can be removed with denatured alcohol the next time the clock is taken apart. Jim Galazka has suggested using fingernail polish to glue the hairspring, which is an excellent idea. It is easily available, can be removed easily, and you could probably match the original red color if desired!
|
|
