Chime will work for 3 days then get out of sync

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2011 10:04 am     Post subject: Chime will work for 3 days then get out of sync

Hello, I have a 1865 New Haven Unbria 8 day mantel clock. I set up the chimes so it does 4 chimes at 4 o'clock and it will work for 2 days and then the chimes will be out. It doesn't all ways happen after 2 days, sometimes it will happen after 1 day or 2 weeks. Does anyone know what is coursing this? It also chimes at 27min past instead of half past. It is correct on the hour so it has me stumped. One last thing, It will keep perfect time for 2 weeks and then it will be running fast or running slow and I have to get it perfect again, and then 2 or so weeks later it will be out again. Any help would be great.
Thanks a lot.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:26 pm     Post subject:

There are simply too many variables that are involved in setting up and causing a clock to chime properly and consistently that it would be very difficult to assess the condition without troubleshooting the movement itself. Simply "setting the chime to chime 4 times at 4 o'clock" doesn't guarantee that it will work consistently. There may be dirt somewhere in the movement that is causing an intermittent binding in the setup of the chiming sequence, the rack may not be dropping onto the notch on the snail shell completely for some reason, there may be too much end play in one gear or set-up lever and it will randomly cause something to stick or not drop into place fully. This is a very short list of possibilities that could make your clock not chime consistently each hour. As you found out, once it is out of sequence, it will always be out of sequence.

Save yourself some anguish and frustration and take your clock to a professional and let him/her troubleshoot it and fix it in a step by step professional manner. If just one of the problems I mentioned or others that I didn't mention is happening, your clock will not ever operate correctly. If 2 or more of those problems are present, it may still operate for a few days before one or more of the problems present will come into play and throw the mechanism out of sequence. I hope your mind is forming some kind of picture of how complicated "setting the chime" can be for the average layman.